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
The stock, and the jobs it generates
Sidcup sits on the Bexley side of the border and is mostly interwar and postwar: bay fronted semis along the older roads, and larger estates of three bed houses built out afterwards. Cavity walls in the newer stock, solid brick in the older, and boarded ceilings throughout except where an original lath one has survived upstairs.
The work that comes out of it is rarely a whole house. It is one room at a time: a kitchen that has been refitted and left with bare patches where the old units were, a bathroom that has been moved and left a scar across two walls, a chimney breast taken out and never properly made good.
Making good after another trade
A lot of plastering here follows somebody else. A kitchen fitter leaves clean lines and bare wall above the new units. An electrician leaves chases that have been filled but not flattened. A plumber leaves a hole where a boiler used to be. Each of those on its own is small and awkward, and together they are a day.
Done as one visit they cost far less than as three, and the finish is better because the whole wall gets skimmed rather than each patch being filled to a slightly different level. If several things are waiting, it is worth listing them all at estimate stage rather than calling about them one at a time.
Working around a family
Most of these houses are lived in while the work happens and that is entirely workable. Rooms get sheeted and taped, doorways get sealed where the rest of the house is in use, and the dusty half of the job is done early in the day rather than at teatime.
Drying is the part that needs planning. A room that has just been plastered needs air moving through it and cannot be painted for days or weeks depending on the season, so it is worth knowing which room is out of action and for how long before the work starts rather than after.
Thirties ribbon development, and the bay window problem
Sidcup, Blackfen and the roads running out towards Foots Cray are almost entirely interwar, built fast along the new roads in the twenties and thirties. It is a very consistent housing stock: bay fronted semis, solid nine inch brick or early cavity, picture rails, and ceilings that are lath and plaster downstairs and often boarded upstairs where a later owner has already been at them.
The bay is where the work is. A three sided bay has more external corners in four square metres than the rest of the room put together, and it is usually the coldest surface in the house, so it is where condensation and flaking show up first. Getting a bay right means beading every angle, keeping the reveals plumb so the curtain track and the blinds sit square, and taking the ceiling line straight across rather than following the dip the original builder left.
The other thing that turns up constantly here is the removed chimney breast. A lot of these houses lost theirs in the seventies, and a proportion of them lost the one downstairs while the stack above stayed put on nothing more than hope and a couple of corbels. Before anything is made good on a breast that has already been opened, what is holding the rest of it up gets looked at. That is not a plastering question, and the honest answer is sometimes a structural engineer rather than a trowel.
“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
