Nice one Kirk. I always work cheap for the poor elderly and sometimes for free, I did a 3 hour job 2 weeks ago for a little nice old lady who I could tell didn’t have much money, sitting there with her dog telling me her dvd playing had gone wrong, so after I had first finished the work I took a look at the DVD player and could tell it was the laser had pack up, as I was getting ready to leave the lady said can you call back tomorrow for your money, I said the job is free put the money towards a new DVD player. Every job I have done in the last 48 years I have always given my best and most people’s properties are cleaner when I leave then before I went in, I can also say I have never let anyone down if i say I will be there on a certain da and time jam there, I do find it very bad to train some youngsters up to do the same so I tend to just work on my own now, as long as I have my tea ☕️ and radio 📻 I am singing and happy, I am know locally as the singing plasterer 😊

Spot on Kirk 👍🏻 in the past I didn't realise that my sole trader business had to run at a profit, I just wanted a wage!. The penny dropped when a new van was required and I didn't have the money, so I borrowed a tun of money for said van because otherwise I had no business!! People think all that money you get from jobs goes into your back pocket but it doesn't, there's Tax to pay, liability insurance, van insurance, MOT''s consumables, tools, etc. then there's all them night's looking at jobs, you never get paid for that bit. Today is Saturday and I have to run around for the best part of the day getting stuff for Monday morning... down time sorting stuff also needs paying for too! Rant over 🙂 Again top video Kirk looking forward to your next 👍🏻👍🏻

This applies to all trades… what a great vid… I’m at this stage as a self employed painter… Iv been going over all these points for a while now in my head.

Spot on big yin ..I have been doing domestic plastering as a sole trader for 35 years and took me about 10 years to realise I was loosing work for being to cheap ,Great advice I wish you were doing these videos in the 80s 😀😀

Good advice. As a homeowner we chose a plasterer that got back to us as promised, is honest in terms of when he can fit us into his schedule, and he gave us some advice about how we could help him (clearing rooms if we could, disconnecting downlighters etc). As a homeowner it’s also worth asking us when you come to price a job (a room) if we are going to need more work doing later. So whenever we move area and need a new plasterer the first room (normally small/downstairs toilet) is actually a test, to see how reliable/good you are. If you pass the test you get the rest of the house which is where you’ll make a lot more money.

This is the best pro- trade channel I’ve watched….it’s because you are such an engaging story teller. You could easily branch out into other stuff, please ignore the wife and do more videos - with your character you could grow this into a sizeable channel.

Totally agree, customer service and a pride in what you do is very important. Do what you say your going to do and get it spot on is key . We constantly have at least 40 cars in front of us to repair and not advertised for over ten years. Makes your own life a lot easier. Great video and a pleasure to watch.

Clean working is a big thing I have been recommended so many times just by being clean and cleaning up as I have gone along.Good tip.

Mate, your an honest fella and everything you have spoke about I get. I am multi skilled, bathrooms installs, kitchen installs, basically all around and what you said I have been through in the past 12 years. Honouring is the key, nail on the head

Word for word that is what i do and say to customers. I gave estimates on the door step, and ask if its in there budget. And if they say ill have a word with the missus or have a face on, i know there and then i dont be going back. Found this channel today. Liking it so far Kirk

I'm just a DIYer but still found this really interesting. Top quality video

A very Honest vid something you rarely know your getting from a tradesman obviously aimed at other plasters in the trade but will be watched by all those DIYers out there that think they can plaster....im not one of them..thanks very enjoyable watch

This mindset is not just for plasters, i do exactly the same in my biz which is Blacksmithing and steel fabrication, always busy with my rep and struggling to cope with the work, even with 5 men with my mindset working for me. Be the best in your area and will always be busy, the customers aren't just paying for the job but the experience and knowledge you've learnt over the years

Fantastic Kirk. So interesting and a lot of great info that can apply to many aspects in life!

I have the same mentality as you, being helpful and having a good reputation are key for me. Currently helping the village vicar out restoring the old school for this village. Helps I live next door lol

Hi Kirk, Totally agree with you ... have done plenty of "free" jobs in my time too but have never walked away with nothing ... on some occasions even getting literally what I would have charged in the first place, and on a couple of occasions even more so! Even when it's been charity work I seem to get forced into taking something! REPUTATION is everything ... be efficient, clean up after yourself, be on time and communicate with them when you can't give the customer exactly what they are after. (NOT always possible, as some customers, unfortunately, do not live in the real world 🤣) but above all else ... as you say ... Be the best you can be for them! Give them value! Let them see the value you are offering and you'll never be without work, no matter what you are charging!

you my friend are a very very genuine man. i respect that

‘Dropping knowledge bombs brother! Specialised highly skilled experienced labour is worth a fortune nowadays. Love the way say higher your value and higher your price. NO PROFIT = NO BUSINESS

Hi Kirk ,thank you for the video 😊 very eye-opening ,I'm not in the trade. You elevated plastering to an art form .

Totally with you Kirk I couldn't have said it any better way myself 👍

Another quality video Kirk, you've taken my plastering to the next level with all these videos.......overdue beers on the way.

Took the words out of my mouth totally agree great video

Love you 2020 sign !!! Love your info , after 37 yrs doing the trades it’s still interesting getting your pricing

Great insight - recently bought a house that has artex throughout and have been working through the house and getting a plasterer to skim it - I had a semi-retired plasterer doing them for around £160 per ceiling (3-4 hours work) and he let done 4, he completely ghosted me on the last 2 ceilings I needed doing (they're awkward ones). Found another local plasterer that I think overcharged me but I was happy to pay if it was a sterling job - paid them £480 for 2 ceilings and it took 2 of them just under 4 hours. I was gutted it didn't take that long but happy with the result - I've noticed some imperfections now that have annoyed me a bit. Lesson for me is, the job costs what the job costs, if you're overpaying you expect the absolute best.

Well said great video plasterers are always made to feel like messy workers etc but as you said if you clean up tidy up hoover etc people appreciate it more

Like your honesty. Another good video I'm not even a plasterer I'm a plumber and heating engineer

Fantastic advice .❤ Out of all the plasterers I've heard speak you make the most sense.

Hi I’m a painter and handyman, you are very helpful and a great KZfaq mentor thanks for pricing concept / tips will watch all videos

Spot on kirk, i price it like this! If i have 1 weeks work in a quote cheap as i need to work, if i have 2 week work in my day rate goes up, 3 weeks work it goes up again and again and again untill i get to double my day rate.... And have a policy of mates rates are to he offered and not asked for as if they ask you to take a pay cut they are not much of a mate... 👍 I dont really agree with guessing a price face to face though.. i sit down with a brew, check material prices and weigh up any issues then text The quote over so that you both have a record of whats being done and for what price....

Superb vid Kirk. Amazing advice. 👍🏻

A few years ago I had a plasterer do a water damaged bedroom ceiling for me that needed a 5x4 patch of plasterboard cutting in and a skim. Initially it looked like it was only a 4x3 but it grew on close inspection. He moaned so much at the extra size of the patch that I told him straight that if he wanted to quit the job I would pay him for his time to that point and he could leave. He stayed and moaned all through the work. I never had him back despite needing some more work elsewhere.

quoting for work as always been difficult, thanks for making it a lot easier and from now on more profitable. Will be sending you a beer, Great channel pal

This is spot on mate.

Absolutely Bang on. 👍

Even though this one doesn't apply to me... I'm still going to give it a watch!

Great video, this has given me some great ideas going forward 👍👍👍

Legend Kirk loved this video mate

Another great video Kirk. I would never have thought a video on how much to charge for plastering would be so enjoyable! Some great advice in there. Thank you.

Your videos are class mate keep up the good work 👍

Very good video. Your spot on 👌

Excellent advice!

Very well put Kirk 👍🏻

Great integrity. Great video and info.

great one this one. would really like to see more vids about being self employed etc. all the stuff no one spaeks about.

Captin very helpful content m8 will help a few spreaders navigate the pricing issues

Firstly thanks for sharing your knowledge, really enjoy these episodes - I'm a chippy who plasters (for 20 years now) and I've picked up a few good tips! Secondly, I agree with most of your pricing strategy but coming down to meet their budget is something I don't do. I've always told my customer I'll give you my best price first time which is a price I value myself at. For me this keeps me credible and should I price up a job they recommend me for, the prices will match (if you understand). This works for me and now booking late autumn. ATB Rich

Excellent video.. just needed this.

Great advice

FairPlay a lot of info to be fair thank you Kirk

Top bloke great channel, keep it up bro👍

I love the exaggeration of your own accent, I'll just ave 200 pound mate 🤣🤣. Some helpful business tips there Kirk, I make and sell furniture on the side ( oil pipelines is the main job) but the pricing/ valve theory is the same. Started out making just a little bit of money, then soon realised it was Bearley worth my time. I charge a fair price now with a little profit built in to weather the quiet times.....as you say! The plastering is for my own house only, don't feel confident enough to have a go in someone else's yet 🤣. Getting better though with the help from you! Cheers Mate

Honestly your spot on regarding the building trade . If only government would do the same tax’s the super rich and help out the poor with the taxes we pay

My tutor helps me with pricing a job, I’m starting to get the hang of it. I make it clear I’m still learning, so it may take a little longer than a time served plastere. So my price reflects that and if they are able to work with me it’s all good. I always do a good job and get very good feedback. So far I’ve worked on old building with lists of hidden issues 😂😩😅

Listen to you forever.. your an expert bud

It's so true about turning up on time. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't get trades people to show up at all half the time. I'm always friendly, don't haggle pricing, pay invoices promptly, and I don't even complain if I'm not happy with the work. It must be my face or something.

Your spot on pal, some excellent advice for plasterers just starting out or maybe do things a different way.

Good advice there 👍👍👍👍

Decent and honest❤

You are best mate 👏

Really like this guy great tips mate 👍

Kirk im a Bricky and am in the building game and what you say is Spot on but what the Customer is also paying for is your Years of Knowledge and Serving your time in the Trade So you know the Job Inside out Its Like When A Customer Complains about Plumbers who've been there for an Hour and charged £200 there paying him for his Time Fuel and His Served time in the game that's what there Paying for Thats what We went to College for and Seving our Time for 4-5 year on a Pittance for

Great video, very informative and excellent advice, thank you 🙏🏻

Brilliant video again mate on a subject that doesn’t get discussed enough. Far too many numpties out there charging peanuts and massively devaluing the trade, you’d get more a day stacking shelves in Aldi for what some plasterers are charging round our way it’s absolute madness. These are the same lads tho that are outside smoking joints between sets and leaving their empty cans of monster energy in the back garden 😂 Quality isn’t cheap and cheap isn’t quality and that applies to the whole experience from start to finish 👊🏼

Well done big man 🤙

A great video for any trade Thank you

Brilliant watch

Its hard when your starting out; I remember loosing jobs for being too cheap, and winning jobs I overpriced because I didn't want them. Eventually I figured out that by charging a little more I can spend a little extra time sheeting up or whatever. The odd bit for me was that when you get really busy and take on a lad, people are happy to pay more for the same jobs because there's two of you; even when the lads wattless.

Fair points well made, you will be thrown out the magic circle …no plasterer discussed prices amongst each other.it’s all a bit secretive lol. I’m guilty for pricing to cheap , I used to price on how cheap I could do if for and remain competitive.that’s completely wrong it should be how much I can charge.I found I could never go in gung ho , i new the market and was always near enough and that was never mega bucks, if the customer got 3 quotes and your the highest I’m afraid I would lose

God bless you my friend

another great video

Bro, your videos are amazing. I've been a drywall finisher in the states for 25 years. Your videos have helped me start selling plaster where I'm at and increased my value by a factor of 10. There isn't much plaster where I'm at but the people are so rich and no one here does it anymore so I only have to do 8-10 jobs a year do get by. Anything else is extra. So I have so much extra time to spend with my family and the people I care about now. Thank you and guys like you. These videos have actually changed my life for the better. You rock!!

Broadly agree but I think the difference is you can see what you are getting with a car, you don’t know when you employ a tradesperson if you are getting someone honest and hard working like yourself who will do an excellent job (prestige model 😂), or someone pricing similar to you who plans to rip you off it isn’t capable of a great job. In fact sometimes people think the more expensive quote must be better so can get caught out. Would be better in my opinion if there were guide prices for work to give you an idea of what to expect and registered professional status for many trades so that there is comeback when it goes wrong. Loving the channel 👍🏻

Hi Kirk I did what you said for years but the area that I was in was full of tradesmen so the home owners and Builders in this area often called 3 different plasterers to price a small say £ 100 job . They were playing us against one another . I can understand this if the job was more expensive but I found that their expectations were not the same the figure most of them had in their mind was around £ 100 for a days work , I’m going back about 15 years or so now but I came across so many time wasters , if you were the first to look at the job the next guy would ask them what your price was then undercut you It didn’t matter that I had a decent van or that I had good manners had a good website and showed references or photos lots of them didn’t realise that There were bad plasterers good plasterers and good very clean plasterers Us guys need to start working together we need to set a decent rate and now that fuel is so expensive we need to collectively charge a small fee just to price the work even if it’s a tenner , I’ve wasted thousands of hours of my life being messed around by people just trying to get the cheapest possible price not to mention the complete waste of fuel Lots of these jobs were for Domestic customers who of course have no idea of prep , sheeting , tools and hundreds of trips back and forth emptying the bloody van and repacking it 😢 Also I found that most guys worked without a helper just to keep the cost down and earn a little extra for doing the work of 2 people I work for my son now as I’m older now he pays me £ 180 a day cash . There are 6 of us so we can box the work between us and 5 vans His work is mainly medium to large new builds My standard of work is similar to yours and I’m very tidy and friendly A lot of the problem with our trade is that we are at the back end of most trades , they get their share of the money but if the job goes tits up the plasterer , decorator tiler gardener are squeezed and expected to help the poor builder or property developer out 😊 Just like to say that your site is fantastic and your a very good Teacher and a very nice plaster Take care Harry Essex

Exactly right mate . Priced a domestic ceiling job other day 3 days work , went £350 a day + materials and got the job , Came recommended, and client knows it will be left cleaner than I found it 👍👍

Good stuff

What your saying is right on paper but the problem I find is things like check a trade and my builder . The amount of jobs I’ve lost to gardeners “who plaster” when it’s raining .all because they’ve gone £20 cheaper

Just found your channel on KZfaq, what an amazing tradesman you are. nowadays that’s the hardest thing so many people call themselves tradesmen I call them cowboys. your videos are very informative and I must say you are very amusing along with it . Thanks Top Man

Thank you

I papered a lime washed bedroom ceiling one day...when the woman woke up in the morning it had all fallen off over her😂

Video makes a lot of sense will use in future I do use the day rate plus materials petrol 😢

You are honest person . I agree for everything that you have said...most of the people would not think the way you think...your videos hopefully will help the others out there..

Hi Kirk You right about the single mums,I done a ceiling that came down from water splashing out over the bath this week for one,and she turned out to be the best payer I’ve had😉🤫,found loads of work there to be done now 🙄

I agree, the wealthier the client the more you charge. Remember the rich can afford it

Agreed.....This is always the case....Money is not really the issue....it's the value you give as you mention.... If money was the real issue...nobody would buy £200 Nike trainers when a £30 pair of Pumas woll do the same job.....Why buy an £80k Merc....When a Ford Fiesta will do. Perceived value and quality etc.. is where it's at.

Top bloke Kirk your right in everything you say I’ve had peeps say it only take you an hr ! What do they know? you have to get there to do it setup ie cover floor etc them am the 1s to keep away from lol ye I’ve have done them in the past but know more , they pay for the skill that you have taken to learn In my case 43yrs old codger now lol but love the job satisfaction of it when finished god I’m sad lol agin fair play to you 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Wise words these and good advice Kirk. Ime u got two types of tradesmen: Repeat business decent human beings and 'on to the next victim' scumbags

Self employed contractors must develop an emergency fund and a low work fund, ie winter time, rainy days, holidays, sick days etc.. Emergency fund, new tools. Van repairs or replacement, insurance, tax, clothes etc

Another great video! quick question. I’ve done a couple of little plastering jobs around the house with results I’m happy with. I’ve got my hallway to do. I have a big wall to do which goes up the stairs I’m a bit worried I wasn’t be able to get the whole first skim on before it firms up too much too put the second on. I know you can buy products to slow down the process but I would rather not mess around with them. If I attempted it and it went off by time I got round to the start again would it be possible to do the 2nd skim the next day (as long as the first skim was quite flat) ?

Plastering a funny world now our days i been a plasterer 25 years now it will always be the hardest job in the trade my right soldier is hurting bad now ceilings always be the hardest. So true what you saying on prices not the same anymore to many young people in the trade think there can do it. It takes years to get where you are today doing great jobs for customers and trust. one thing in the game never think about the money first. thing about the job first doing a good job and the customer. Just saying

I am really interested in these type of videos as sometimes i try to get people to work on the house and then they don't show up or never give me a quote afterwards or keep pushing the jobs back weeks an weeks then they forget...I mean, I dont know I even question myself, is it something i said, is the job too big or too small... I haven't got a clue most times

I’ve found in forty years of being in the building trade people remember the quality of the job and you could ask them a year later how much you charged and they probably wouldn’t recommend but they would remember if you didn’t do a not very good job I’ve never advertised because you don’t need to great videos

my Fiting charges are more than others, and when customers say they have had cheaper quotes, I then tell them, my prices also cover my 40 plus years experience, the majority of quotes i do, I get the job.

top man

Create a new spreadsheet that makes in data like meters needed to plaster, beads for corners, tape, plaster board, plaster, rubbish clearance etc Then have the spread sheet calculate the price of the job based on different variables. Like number of days, difficulty of job, urgency, travel costs etc Then give the customer an itemised invoice so they know what they are being charged for.

I charge minimum £824.99 per room, more if its a larger room. I wouldn't get out of bed for any less. My customers are all high end clients, a Listers, elites, billionaires, etc. When I have completed the job the room will be perfectly flat, the wall so smooth that if you closed your eyes and felt the wall you'd think it's glass. My finishing is that pristine. If there are any imperfections in the wall, I give a full money back guarantee. I have never had to give a refund yet and I've been doing it for over 30 years. I don't mean to brag, but I am probably the best plasterer in the world.

I live in an above average 1930”s doer upper in North Wales and everyone seems to try and over charge for everything based on the size of the house because they assume we are good for cash, we had new windows and they are the same size as an average size house, the price was more than double from some quotes per window that I’ve had people recommend as they’d just had the work done. I understand everyone needs to make a profit but people turn up and see pound signs because of the size of the house and what’s around it and the views. I just want to be priced for the size of the job and not the size of the house, I’d be happier to have them back for repeat work room by room

Just started watching ur vids as a spread too love the krend advice u give dont get why you went into scouse mode there over 200 quid to plaster ur kitchen mate 🤷‍♂️

I know i 100% undercharge I boarded and tape and jointed a outhouse 3m by 6m cieling aswell took me 3 days £800 spent around 300 on gear. Have i undercharged ?

Spot on plus never do jobs for people who tell you how long the job should take before you’ve even priced it lol

£80-£100 per bag should make you happy:)