A few questions, photos if you have them, and a written price after a look at the job.
Pricing
Written price after a look at the job
Who turns up
Family run, City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma
On site
Dust sheeted, swept and cleared down daily
What we take on
Domestic and commercial, all property types
Interwar and postwar estates
Orpington is largely twentieth century, built out in estates between the wars and again in the fifties and sixties, and that gives it a very consistent housing stock: three bedroom semis and terraces with solid or early cavity walls, boarded ceilings in the newer ones and lath in the older, and almost all of them extended at the back at some point.
Consistent stock means predictable jobs. The commonest by a distance is a full house skim after a purchase, room by room, while the family moves around it. The second commonest is making good where an extension or a knock through meets the original house, which is where the two different wall constructions have to end up as one flat surface.
Artex, and why it is everywhere here
Textured ceilings went on across these estates in the seventies and eighties and a great many are still there under several coats of paint. Taking one back to flat is either a skim over a shallow pattern or a board over a heavy one, and the decision is made with a fingernail rather than a guess.
What never happens is sanding or scraping it. Textured coatings from before the mid eighties can contain asbestos, and disturbing one is the only part of the process that is actually dangerous. Skimmed over or boarded over, it is sealed and left alone, which is both safer and a better finish.
Extensions, and where the old meets the new
A rear extension puts a new blockwork or timber wall against a ninety year old brick one, and the junction between them is where cracking turns up a year later. The two structures move differently, so the joint gets treated as a joint rather than plastered straight over and hoped for.
The same goes for the ceiling line where an extension meets the original room. Getting those to read as one continuous surface is the difference between an extension that looks built in and one that always looks stuck on, and it is mostly about set out and beading rather than about plaster.
Postwar estates, bungalows, and a lot of textured ceilings
Orpington and the roads out through Petts Wood, Crofton and Ramsden are dominated by housing built between the thirties and the seventies, and that period is the reason artex comes up here more than anywhere else on the patch. Textured ceilings went onto almost everything built or refurbished from the sixties to the mid eighties, and they are now the single most common thing somebody wants gone.
Age decides the method. A textured coating applied before the mid eighties may contain chrysotile, so it is never sanded, scraped or dry-removed on a guess. It gets overboarded, which seals it behind new plasterboard, gives a flat ceiling in a day and disturbs nothing. Where the pattern is shallow and the coating is sound and later, a skim straight over it is quicker and cheaper. Which of the two applies is decided by looking at the ceiling and asking the age of the house, not by preference.
The bungalows out towards Green Street Green and Chelsfield bring their own quirk: a single storey roof means the ceiling is directly under the loft, so a cold loft with thin insulation gives condensation staining that looks exactly like a leak. Replastering it without sorting the ventilation is painting over a problem, and it comes back in the first cold snap.
“Good honest business, we called SMB after we had a bad experience with previous contractors. ... The work is immaculate (we had our house skimmed), the detail, care and attention is spot on.”
“Frank and Steve did a fantastic job on my hallway! Really professional team and their work is seamless. I was really impressed, and they even fixed my skirting board and put it back on for me, a very appreciated extra! Would highly recommend.”
“They did a great job. I had an awkward hallway area and a large ceiling to skim. I thought they'd finished earlier in the day as it looked great to me then, but they went over the whole area to make sure that the finish was perfect.”
“Excellent work! Scott plastered our living room including some tricky details around fireplace and bay window. Great finish looks really good, all the work was tidy and well communicated all done on time. Would highly recommend.”
“Frank completed a wall for me that needed plastering, he was on time, very polite and nothing seemed an issue. ... Although only a small job, kept my house tidy, even outside the house, cleaned up after he finished and done a perfect job, highly recommended from myself.”
“Hi, Had the team in plastering for a week. What a joy. There were no problems they turned up on time everyday and very polite. Would recommend them to anyone. Thanks very much guys.”
“I don't often leave reviews, but Frank was so helpful and pleasant to work with that he deserves 5 stars. Very responsive and professional. He did a great job and left our place clean and tidy. Thanks again Frank!”
“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.”
“Very, very happy with Franks work finishing off kitchen walls after having been let down by a builder. It was a tricky job as the granite worktops ect had already been installed but I couldn't be happier with the result.”
“Really happy with the work. Great finish and very professional. Turned up on time, kept things tidy, and did a top-quality job. Would definitely recommend.”
“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.”
“Very professional, was very clear on what exactly will be done. Agreed a price and kept me update all the way through. Happy with the work completed and after care as well. Very helpful and highly recommended.”
“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
