Walls and extensions, beaded and meshed, prepared to suit the surface.
Internal rendering
Solid walls built up from the brick, ready for a skim or for tiling.
Render repairs
Cracked and hollow areas cut out and matched into what is there.
Not sure which one you have? We can tell you on the visit. We work on flats, terraces, semis, detached and period houses, new builds and commercial premises.
How it works
01
Tell us about the job
Ring, message or send the form. A rough idea of the rooms is enough to start.
02
One of the team comes and looks
A free visit at a time that suits you. Nothing is signed and nothing is owed.
03
A written price
You get a written price after a look at the job, itemised, with no obligation.
04
Agree a date
If the price is right, the work is booked in and the site is left tidy each day.
No charge for the visit, and no obligation after it.
What will my rendering cost?
The price depends on the area of wall, what the existing render and the brick behind it are doing, and how the wall is reached. We visit first, then you get a written price after a look at the job.
Area of wall
A larger elevation is more material and more time on it.
What is behind it
Hollow or cracked render comes off before the new coats go on.
Access and preparation
Height, scaffold and beading all move the cost of the job.
CoveringBromley, South East London, Kent and Central London
Rendering on site
A closer look at the preparation and the work behind the finish.
Rendering means two jobs that share a name. Outside, it is the coat that takes the weather off the brickwork and decides what the house looks like from the street. Inside, it is the backing coat that builds a solid wall out flat and plumb before anything gets skimmed over it.
The outside work is the one that goes wrong expensively, because render that fails does it slowly and out of reach. Most of what comes up around here is a rear extension that needs finishing, or a wall where somebody rendered over a problem twenty years ago and it is now coming off in sheets.
Window pier rendered with beads, afterCChristopherGoogle...The work is immaculate.Kitchen pier rendered with beads, afterRRosieGoogle...their work is seamless.Window reveal rendered, afterGGeoffGoogle...the finish was perfect.Window reveal rendered angle, afterPPhilGoogle...Great finish looks really good.Kitchen window pier rendered, afterAAndrewGoogle...done a perfect job.Window corner rendered, afterJJohnGoogle...they turned up on time everyday.Window corner scratch coat, duringSSuminGoogle...left our place clean and tidy.Blockwork wall before render new buildFFrancescaGoogle...Perfectly done.Kitchen wall scratch coat render, duringJJemmaGoogle...extremely helpful and knowledgable.
“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.”
SMB Plastering and Sons is based in Bromley and covers Beckenham, Orpington, Sidcup and the towns around them. Send a postcode and we will tell you whether the job is one we can get to.
Only if what is there is sound and keyed. Rendering over hollow material means the new coat comes off with the old one, usually taking longer to fail than to do properly in the first place. It gets tapped over before anything is priced.
For anything above single storey, yes, and it is priced separately so you can see what it is. A ladder is not a working platform for rendering and the finish shows it where somebody has tried.
Not on its own. Render keeps weather off sound brickwork. If the wall is wet because the damp course is bridged, the pointing has failed or a gutter is running down it, that gets fixed first or the new render fails the same way the old one did.
Sand and cement render wants a month or so before it is painted, and a breathable masonry paint rather than a plastic one. A through coloured render does not get painted at all, which is most of the reason people choose it.
Render is a finish, not a repair. If the brickwork behind it is wet, if the damp course has been bridged, or if the pointing has gone, rendering over the top hides it for a season and then fails along with it. So the wall gets looked at before anything is priced, and where the answer is that something else needs doing first, that is what gets said.
Where old render is coming off, tapping across the elevation finds the edges of it. Sound render rings solid; failed render sounds hollow and usually goes further than the cracked bit you can see. Cutting back to sound material is the first hour of the job and it decides the size of the rest of it.
External render, beaded and meshed
Beads go on first: stop beads at the edges, bell beads above the damp course so water is thrown clear of the wall rather than running down behind it, and angle beads on the corners. On a rendered plinth the bead across the damp course line is the whole point, and leaving it out is how water gets up past a damp course that is working perfectly well.
The basecoat goes on and mesh is bedded into it, lapped at the joints and taken diagonally across the corners of every window and door, because that is where a render cracks first. Then the finish, whether that is a float finish in sand and cement or a through coloured system that never needs painting.
Internal render on solid walls
Inside, the backing coat does the structural part of the flatness. It builds the wall out where it is hollow, gets it plumb, and is scratched while green so the finish has something to grip. On a solid Victorian wall that has been hacked back, that coat is most of the work and the skim on top is the easy half.
Where the wall has had damp treated, the backing coat is a salt retardant mix rather than a standard one, and it is kept off the floor at the bottom. That is not a detail to skip: the salts that come out of a wall after a damp course will come straight through an ordinary backing coat and show on the paint within months.
Patching, matching and knowing when not to
A failed section can be cut out and made good rather than the whole elevation redone, and on a big wall that is a large saving. It is honest about what it will look like though: a patch in a float finish can be made almost invisible once painted, and a patch into a through coloured render will always be findable in the right light.
So the choice gets put plainly. Patch it, paint the elevation and it reads as one wall. Patch a coloured render and accept that you will know where it is. Or take the elevation back and do it once. Which of those is right is your call, and it gets made with the price for each in front of you.
When to get it looked at
Render that sounds hollow or is cracked in a map pattern
A rear extension in bare blockwork waiting on a finish
A wall where the render runs straight past the damp course
Staining or blown paint on a rendered elevation
A solid internal wall hacked back and needing building up
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
