Well I'd thought I'd update on my experiences.
The £350 quote man, never turned up and blanked all our calls. We spoke to him just days earlier, as he had called us to confirm the job. why?
We then got 6 other quotes.
4 of them were professional and reassuring, their quotes ranged from £950 to £1750.
A foreign chap and his polish assistant quoted £300, and was just saying yes to everything, but then when I asked to skim the ceiling he said he couldn't do that and needed someone else to do it . I just wrote off, as he had agreed to skim the walls and I don't think he would have done that.
The last quote was for £400. He was a young lad just starting out on his own. He reckoned 1 day to skim walls and ceiling, then 1 day to prep walls, woodwork and paint.
Well this is how it went. After 1 days plastering, he run out of time and needed to come back for half a day. We agreed to pay him another £50. He came back and finished the job. Looked good so pleased so far.
He then came back the next week and tried to do it all in a day, just never stood a chance and left the job unfinished with lots of snags.
He confessed he'd made a big mistake and hadn't realised how much work it would take and underestimated the materials he would need.
We have agreed to take him back for 1 day to finish the job for an extra £125, but if we aren't happy with the finish we don't pay. He is happy to do that so we will see him next week. Total job price will be £575, which is still not a bad price way under the others.
So the moral of the story, is you get what you pay for!!!!
If you want a good stressfree job pay for the higher quotes. If money is more important and you can put up with the stress go with the cheaper quotes.
Man, I wished I paid £900.