How we chose
We built the candidate list from Google Places listings across Telford, Companies House records and each firm's own website, then sourced claimed scheme memberships against the TrustMark register, which covers plastering and rendering work [1][6]. Before scoring, each business must meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and any claimed registration checks out. Ten firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded for years and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. Every check in this round is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Match the plasterer to the surface. Internal skimming over plasterboard suits most general plasterers; lime plaster on older Telford cottages, particularly around Ironbridge and Wellington, needs someone who works in lime rather than gypsum, since the wrong material traps moisture. External rendering, pebble-dash repair and insulated render systems are specialist jobs: ask how many similar elevations they coated last year and go and look at one. Dry lining, coving and screeding each need their own kit, so ask directly rather than assuming.
Plastering has no single statutory register, so your own checks matter more. Look the firm up on the TrustMark register, which covers plastering and rendering firms that meet its standards, and search the business name yourself rather than trusting a logo [1]. Check limited companies on Companies House for active status and a matching trading name [6]. Site cards such as CSCS belong to individuals, not firms, so ask whose card will be on your job. Ask to see public liability insurance in writing, and ask what happens if fresh work cracks or blows within the first year: you want a written making-good promise [3].
Telford and Wrekin adds its own layer. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including Wellington, Newport and the Severn Gorge, where works that need no permission elsewhere can need permission [7]. Rules tighten further inside the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, where extra controls limit even minor changes and the council runs planning surgeries for residents thinking about work to their homes [8]. If your home is listed, altering plasterwork that affects its character needs listed building consent before work starts, and doing the work without it is an offence [9]. If rubble leaves in a skip sitting on the road rather than your drive, the skip needs a council licence arranged through a licensed operator [10].
Then ask for two recent local jobs at a similar scale, and look at the corners, reveals and ceiling lines, where rushed work always shows. A plasterer proud of the finish will point you at a ceiling line without being asked. For damp-affected walls, ask what moisture readings were taken and what was treated before any plaster went on; for older cottages, ask which breathable materials they will use and why.
Get three itemised written quotes that state the preparation (what comes off, what is bonded, what is boarded), the system and materials by name, the number of coats, protection of floors and woodwork, waste removal and VAT [3]. Agree access, water and power, parking for the van and mixer, working hours and a day-by-day plan, since plastering timetables hinge on drying between coats. Confirm whether the price assumes you clear rooms and strip wallpaper first, or whether they do it. Put the scope, the price and the start and finish dates in writing before work begins.
A written quote should read like a job plan rather than a single figure. Each room gets named, preparation gets spelled out surface by surface, materials appear by name, and protection, clean-down, waste and VAT each show as their own line [3]. Where extras might lurk, such as blown patches found mid-job or joinery that needs refixing, each one deserves its own provisional figure before you agree. A quote that names these awkward corners reads as measured; one that prices the whole house in a single line deserves a second look.
A typical job runs in a clear order. First contact is a call or an enquiry form with photos of the walls and the size of each room, then a visit where the plasterer taps the surface, checks what sits underneath and talks through materials. Then comes the written quote and a start date with a day-by-day plan. Preparation opens the job, coats follow with drying time between them, and the run ends with a walk-round in daylight to agree any snags before the team leaves site for the last time.
Manage moisture and dust while the job runs. Fresh plaster needs steady ventilation to dry, so agree how rooms are aired without freezing the house in winter. Dust gets everywhere despite sheeting, so agree protection for soft furnishings and electronics and a daily clean-down. Rubble and old plasterboard taken away for payment must go with a licensed waste carrier, which you can check on the public register [4]. Do not pay the final slice until you have inspected every wall in daylight with the sheets off.
At the end, file the written quote, the invoice and receipts, the making-good promise and dated photos of the finished walls together [3]. For damp jobs, the paperwork should show the moisture cause was treated, not just skimmed over; for lime work, it should name breathable materials. If decoration later fails because preparation was poor, that file is what gets it put right.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough Telford guides look like this. Re-skimming over sound plaster commonly falls between £300 and £1,000 for a small room and £400 and £1,250 for a medium room, walls only, while plastering a room from scratch typically lands between £650 and £2,500 small and £750 and £3,200 medium [5].
Ceilings cost nearly as much as rooms because the work is awkward overhead: overboarding and plastering a small ceiling often falls between £300 and £950 and a medium one between £350 and £1,200 [5]. Rendering the outside of a standard two-bedroom bungalow commonly runs between £2,000 and £5,000 over four to six days [5].
Condition moves the price most: blown plaster that must come off, textured coatings that need testing and careful handling, and high ceilings needing towers all add labour. Boarding, coving, scaffolding and waste removal shift the total too, and lime or specialist finishes cost more than gypsum skim. Telford usually sits below London and South East prices, which set the top of these ranges [5].
Those survey figures include labour and materials but exclude VAT, and waste removal may cost extra, so ask whether VAT is added and who carries the rubble [5]. Get the preparation steps, the materials by name, the VAT position and the making-good terms in writing, and treat any figure set without seeing the walls as a guess, not a price [3].
Patch repairs price differently from whole rooms. A blown patch cut back and re-skimmed, or making good after a new doorway or a rewire, usually bills as labour time plus materials rather than by the room, so the count of patches and how far apart they sit matters. Matching a textured or period finish takes longer than a flat skim, and each match rewards a plasterer who has handled that finish before.
Lime and other breathable finishes sit above gypsum skim for honest reasons. The survey takes longer, the materials cost more, curing is slower with misting and aftercare, and fewer hands do the work well. Agree the system by name, the coats and the aftercare before figures are discussed, and treat any lime price given without seeing the wall as provisional.
Timing and access move the total on any job. Cold-month work dries slower between coats, which stretches multi-room programmes; tight parking for the van and mixer, rooms that cannot be cleared and working above ground level all add handling time. A quote that names these constraints reads as measured, while one that ignores them leaves you carrying the difference.
Red flags
Quotes per room without seeing the walls, tapping for hollow patches or asking what sits underneath the existing finish.
Promises to skim straight over blown, damp or mouldy plaster with no plan to cut back, treat or ventilate the cause.
Cannot show insurance, gives no written making-good promise, or the Companies House record does not match the trading name [6].
Asks for full payment before the plaster has dried enough for you to inspect it in daylight with the sheets off.
Leaves wash-out, rubble and old plasterboard for you to deal with, or cannot name the licensed carrier taking the waste [4].
Gives one fixed price for a large job with no breakdown of labour, materials and VAT [3].
Will not put the scope, price and start date in writing before lifting a trowel.
Starts skimming while the room is still wet from a leak that no one has traced to its source.
Offers a discount for cash with no invoice and no receipt trail.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.