Kensington is mostly mid nineteenth century stucco fronted terraces and late Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks, and a great deal of it is listed or in a conservation area. Ceiling heights in a first floor reception room run well over three metres, cornice is deep and run in place, and the wall behind the paint is lime on solid brick.
Height changes the job before anything else does. A room that is a day and a half in a suburban semi is three days here, because every coat is off a tower rather than off the floor and there is simply more of it. Pricing a room like this off a photograph and a floor area is how people end up with somebody walking off it.
Mouldings are the job, not the obstacle
In houses like these the cornice, the ceiling rose and any enriched work are the reason the room looks the way it does, and most of the skill in the job is leaving them alone. Generations of paint clog the detail; where it is worth opening up, it is opened up carefully and by hand.
Missing lengths can be run to match rather than replaced with the nearest stock profile, because a stock profile next to an original run is visible from the doorway. Where a section is beyond matching, that is said at the estimate.
Access, and why it is asked about first
Almost nothing here has a driveway. There are permit bays, there are loading restrictions, and in a mansion block there is usually a managing agent, a goods lift with its own rules, a porter, and permitted working hours that are shorter than a normal day.
So the questions come at the estimate and not on the first morning: where materials can be unloaded, whether the lift takes boards, what the block allows and when, and whether the freeholder needs to be told. None of it is difficult. All of it changes how many days the job takes, and a price given without knowing it is a guess.
Mansion blocks, porters, lifts and permit bays
A large share of the work in Kensington is in mansion blocks rather than houses, and a mansion block is a set of rules before it is a set of rooms. Most have a managing agent who wants notice, insurance details and agreed working hours in writing before anybody comes through the door, and many restrict work to weekdays between fixed times.
The lift is the other planning problem, and it is a real one. Boards are 2400 by 1200 and a lot of these lifts will not take one, which means either carrying up a stair that has a carpet and a handrail somebody cares about, or cutting boards down before they come in and accepting more joints on the ceiling. Either way it is decided at the visit, because discovering it on the first morning with a van on a single yellow is an expensive way to find out.
Inside, the fabric is high Victorian: tall rooms, deep run cornice, moulded architrave, and lath and plaster that has usually been patched several times already. Where a building is listed the interior detail is protected too, so cornice is cut into and made good by hand rather than boarded through, and the enriched work is left to somebody who does fibrous restoration if it needs recasting.
And the street outside is its own constraint. Permit bays, suspensions that have to be booked with the borough in advance, and no realistic prospect of parking a van outside for a week. That goes into the programme at the start.
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“Frank very kindly stopped by to plaster a chipped wall. Perfectly done and really helpful and kind guy. 100% calling if I ever need any more plastering done!”
“Although we didn't require any work, Frank was extremely helpful and knowledgable on his visit to inspect our issue. He was prompt and on time and responded quickly.”
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“very pleasant experience in communication and the level of service provided. tradesman was very polite. He came around for a diagnosis before outlining the job in details with cost and what needs doing.”
“Just had Scott round, Arrived on time started straight away and just got on with the job. Pleasant at all times clean & tidy worker will definitely use again. Work looks good and he stuck to his price. Thanks Scott was was good to meet you.”
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“Scott called me before booking a date to come and do work. He reasured me about somethings i was worried about. He come in time he said he would and helped me with another job as well. Very helpful and happy with service”
“Great job by Scott plastering the small room, he managed to sort out the uneven ceiling and walls. Will be using Scott again to sort out a couple of other rooms.”
Plastering, screeding and rendering out of Bromley, across South East London, the Kent border and Central London, on every kind of property, domestic and commercial. If you are outside that it is still worth asking, because it depends on the size of the job and how the week is already booked.
Yes, always in writing, and after somebody has looked at the job rather than off a description. If something turns up behind the plaster once work starts, you are told before it is dealt with, not after.
Most of the work is in occupied property. Floors get sheeted, doorways get sealed where the rest of the house is in use, and noisy work is kept to the middle of the day so the neighbours can live with it.
Yes. Domestic and commercial both, and a commercial fit out tends to run to a tighter programme with more of the work happening out of hours, which is planned for rather than charged for as a surprise.
It depends what is already booked and how big the job is. A single room repair usually fits in sooner than a whole property. The honest date gets given at estimate stage rather than an optimistic one.
Yes. Hacked off plaster, board offcuts and packaging all leave with the job. Nothing gets left in a communal hallway or stacked in a front garden.
Nearby
Bromley, South East London, Kent and Central London
CoveringBromley, South East London, Kent and Central London
Qualifications and training
City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in PlasteringFrank McBride, College of North West London, 2021Federation of Damp: Damp Proofing Technician trainingFrank McBride, January 2026be Accredited health and safety trainingAsbestos awareness, abrasive wheels, confined space, accident and incident, environmental awareness
