Quotes for plasterers, dictated before the dust is swept
Speak to Quote works for plasterers. Walk the rooms and say what you see — what comes off, what gets skimmed, what needs boarding, what's hiding behind the woodchip — and get back an editable, priced quote with each surface as its own line, ready to send from the van.
What a plastering quote has to carry
Plastering is priced on what's under the old finish, and nobody knows that until it's off. The quote that states its assumptions — and what changes if they're wrong — is the one that survives first contact with the wall.
- The system, named per surface
Skim over sound plaster, float and set, hack off and re-board — each is a different job at a different price. "Plaster the room" hides the difference between a £180 wall and a £500 one; a line per surface shows the customer what they're comparing.
- The assumption about what's underneath
You priced a skim assuming the backing is sound. Say so on the sheet — and say that blown or hollow plaster found on stripping is re-priced before work continues. That one sentence is the difference between an extra and an argument.
- Ceilings: overboard or pull down
Overboarding a tired ceiling is a morning; pulling it down is a skip, a day of mess and twice the money. The quote should say which one it's pricing, so the cheaper number can't be mistaken for the same job.
- Drying time, and who decorates
Fresh plaster needs weeks before paint. Say whether a mist coat is included — usually it isn't — and that drying time isn't a delay you're charging for. It stops the "when are you coming back to paint?" call.
- Protection and clearing
Who empties the room, who covers the floors, who makes good around sockets and switches. If the customer is clearing the rooms, the quote should say so — it's priced in.
- Whether VAT is in the figure
If you're registered, show the VAT as its own line so the customer isn't surprised; if you're not, a line saying no VAT is charged reads as clarity. Either way, date the offer and name the deposit if materials are bought up front.
A worked example
Two bedrooms, a hall ceiling and a chimney breast, said once, into a phone. The prices are illustrative — yours come from your own price book, or from what you say.
What you said
Two bedrooms upstairs, strip the woodchip and skim both, walls only. Hall ceiling's had a leak — overboard and skim it. And the chimney breast in the front room wants hacking off back to brick, bonding coat and skim. Customer's clearing the rooms before we start.
Quote · M. Rowe Plastering · TrustMark registered
| Description | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Bedroom one, strip and skim walls Strip woodchip, PVA, two-coat skim; backing assumed sound | 1 | £340.00 | £340.00 |
Bedroom two, strip and skim walls Strip woodchip, PVA, two-coat skim; backing assumed sound | 1 | £340.00 | £340.00 |
Hall ceiling, overboard and skim 12.5mm board over existing, screwed to joists, two-coat skim | 1 | £310.00 | £310.00 |
Chimney breast, hack off and re-plaster Back to brick, bonding coat and skim, front room | 1 | £290.00 | £290.00 |
This quotation is valid until 21 October 2026. Rooms cleared by the customer before start; floors and fixed furniture protected by us. Blown or hollow backing found on stripping is re-priced before work continues. Fresh plaster needs up to four weeks to dry before decorating; mist coat and decoration are not included.
Prices shown are illustrative, not a price list.
Every line is what you said, in the order you said it. Nothing on it was invented: a line whose price is not in your price book comes back at £0 for you to fill in, never with a made-up figure. Edit any line, take one off, add one, then send.
How Speak to Quote handles it
Set your trade to plasterer in Business details and the extraction is worded for it — skim and overboard land as separate lines, "back to brick" stays in the description where it fixes the scope, and the customer-clearing-the-rooms condition ends up on the sheet instead of in your head.
Your rates are yours. Put "Strip and skim walls, standard bedroom" in the price book once and every dictated bedroom comes back priced. Save the whole re-skim package as a job template and a standard job is one tap.
Can't see behind the woodchip? Build it as an estimate first. It is labelled as one, the footer says the final price may vary, and it turns into a firm quote in one tap once the stripping has shown you what you're working with.
The document looks like your firm, not ours. Your logo, your colours on paper, your branding on every quote — with TrustMark, CSCS or any other registration in the header, and the badges along the bottom if you upload them.