Services
Seven services, six of them independently verified on Checkatrade, across seventeen East Lancashire towns. Each has its own page, and its own page in every town covered.
10/10
From 69 Checkatrade reviews
Free
Quotes, with no call-out charge
2020
Checkatrade member since
Local
Rossendale based, Lancashire wide
There are seven services here rather than one vague offer of plastering, because they are genuinely different jobs with different prices, and knowing which one you actually need is most of the way to a fair quote. A wall that is sound but ugly wants a skim. A room where every surface has given up wants a full reskim. One damaged area wants a patch repair. A cold, uneven or failing background wants dry lining rather than any amount of wet plaster laid on top of it.
Six of the seven are independently verified on Lee's Checkatrade profile: plastering, skimming, dry lining, flat ceilings, rendering, and tape and jointing. That verification is worth more than a list on a website, because anybody can type a service onto a page. The two that are not verified there, coving and cornice and painting, are offered because customers ask for them, and they are described here as exactly what they are rather than dressed up into something bigger.
The commonest mistake in this trade is selling the larger job. If a wall genuinely only needs patching, that is what gets recommended. If a damp patch is being fed by a gutter, you will be told to fix the gutter first rather than sold a reskim that hides it until next winter. That approach loses work in the short term and is a fair part of why the Checkatrade profile reads the way it does over five years.
Most of these can be combined in one visit, and it usually costs less that way because the set-up, access and travel only happen once. Plastering with coving to follow, or plastering with the painting on the end so the room comes back into use without a three-week wait for a decorator, are the two most common pairings.
The seven
Each card links to a full page on that service, including what it costs, how long it takes, and ten questions people actually ask about it.
Walls and ceilings skimmed flat and closed off ready to decorate, from a single room to a whole house.
A typical single room is a one-day job, two if ceilings are included.
Plastering in detailEvery wall and ceiling in the room, or the whole house, taken back to one flat, uniform surface.
A full room including ceilings is usually one to two days. A three-bedroom house is around two weeks.
Full Reskim in detailWater damage, cracks, holes and made-good repairs after trades, matched into the surface around them.
Most single repairs are done in one visit, half a day to a day depending on how far the damage runs.
Patch Repairs in detailPlasterboarding walls and ceilings, tape and jointing, and flattening out tired or textured ceilings.
A single ceiling overboard and skim is usually one to two days including the finish.
Dry Lining in detailExternal render and repairs built for Pennine weather, driving rain and exposed Lancashire elevations.
A single elevation is typically several days including cure time between coats, and depends heavily on the weather.
Rendering in detailCoving and decorative cornice fitted, mitred and jointed, including matching original period profiles.
A single room is usually a day, sometimes less for a plain profile in a square room.
Coving in detailFinishing the job you started: new plaster misted, cut in and topped out so one tradesman sees it through.
A single room is typically a day to a day and a half once the plaster is fully dry.
Painting in detailCommon questions
Skimming usually refers to doing a wall or two. A full reskim means every wall and ceiling in the room, or the whole property, done as one continuous run so every surface matches. Once a room needs three or four separate patches, the full reskim is nearly always the better value of the two.
Plastering and skimming, full reskimming, patch plastering and repairs, dry lining and flat ceilings, exterior rendering, coving and cornice, and painting to finish a plastering job. Checkatrade independently verifies plastering, skimming, dry lining, flat ceilings, rendering and tape and jointing on Lee's profile.
The bulk of the work is domestic: houses, flats and rental properties. Small commercial jobs such as offices, shops and lettings are taken on regularly. Very large multi-trade site contracts are not the usual fit for the business, and you will be told so rather than strung along.
Yes, and it usually costs less than booking them separately because the set-up, access and travel only happen once. Plastering with coving to follow, or plastering with the painting on the end, are the two most common combinations.
Yes, materials are included in the quoted figure unless you have specifically asked to supply something yourself, which people occasionally do with paint colours or a particular coving profile. Either way the quote makes clear what is included.
Lee is a Checkatrade member and the profile carries a £1,000 Checkatrade guarantee, terms and conditions applying, which sits alongside the standard expectation that if something is not right he comes back and puts it right. Ask about the specific terms at quote stage so nothing is assumed.
Yes, though Lee will want to see it first. Finishing somebody else's work sometimes means undoing part of it, and it is better for everybody if that is understood before he starts rather than discovered halfway through and turned into a difficult conversation.
If the wall is sound but the surface is a mess, you want skimming. If every surface in the room is a mess, you want a reskim. If one area is damaged, you want a patch repair. If the background itself is the problem, cold, uneven or failing, you want dry lining. If you are unsure, send photos and Lee will tell you.
Small repairs can often be slotted in within the week, particularly close to the Rossendale valley. Full rooms and whole houses usually want a couple of weeks' notice. External rendering is planned further out because it depends on the weather.
Ceilings are priced as part of the job rather than as a surprise addition, but they do add to it, because they are slower and more physical than walls. The quote states plainly whether ceilings are included so there is no ambiguity later.
Tell Lee what needs doing and you will get an honest figure back, usually the same day. Free, no obligation, and no call-out charge.
