Plastering is a trade where the finish looks simple once it is done. That makes it easy for customers to underestimate the prep work and skill behind it. Pricing and communicating clearly from day one heads that off.
Pick per-room or per-m² pricing and stay consistent
Mixing pricing methods within a single quote makes it hard for a customer to sanity-check your total. Per-room is easier to follow at a glance. Per-m² is fairer when room sizes in the same job vary wildly. Choose one approach per quote and apply it consistently instead of switching mid-document.
Never let prep work disappear into the finish coat
Filling cracks, PVA sealing, and patching old plaster is often what determines whether a finish lasts, but it is invisible once the skim coat goes on. Price it as its own line instead of assuming it is bundled in. That protects you on older properties where the walls genuinely need more work than a visual survey shows.
Set drying-time expectations before you finish, not after
The single most common plastering callback is a customer who scheduled painters too early and calls about a "ruined" finish that was actually still curing. State "allow 48 hours before decorating" clearly, both verbally and on the invoice. It prevents almost all of these calls before they happen.
Photograph exposed lath or unusual wall construction the moment you find it, before you re-quote for a job that has turned out to be different from what a visual survey suggested. It is the clearest way to justify a revised price to a customer.
Old properties sometimes need a different technique entirely
Lath-and-plaster construction, common in older buildings, behaves differently to modern plasterboard and needs different materials and technique. Note in your quote that pricing assumes standard plasterboard or dot-and-dab, with a re-quote if lath-and-plaster turns up once work starts. It protects you from a job that turns out structurally different from what you priced.
Quote materials separately from labour on larger jobs
Plaster, beads, and scrim tape are a small but real cost that varies with room count and condition. Break materials out as their own line instead of folding an estimated amount into your labour rate. Then a bigger-than-expected job does not quietly erode your margin on materials you under-costed at the outset.
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