Had a quote to remove an internal double door (between front room and dining room), build the stud wall, add an electric socket, then plaster board and skim - came out at £940.
Seems excessive when i think i could do most of the work myself - just not the skimming.
anybody else done something similar and can give a guide to what they were quoted??
Hi mate, do you mean that the stud wall is just to fill the gap where the double door was, or is there anything else? If so, the plasterboard is about £30, the timber for the studding probably the same, and a new socket, junction box and 3 core cable will be about £25. Add on the plaster and skirting, some fixings and sundries and I'm being generous to the fella to say that total materials will be about £150 - £200 all in. So he's charging you around £750-£800 for labour.
I'm fairly handy so no fucking way would I get someone in and pay that. I did a cinema room in my house which involved building a 3m stud wall to hide a chimney breast which was right where I wanted my screen to go. I did the studding in aluminium, which was dead easy, covered that completely with OSB, then a layer of plasterboard. I skimmed it myself at that time, and i was useless at it. Took me about 4 goes to get it bang on, but in the end I was made up I did it myself. saved a fortune.
If you could do most of the stuff yourself, then do it. If you're worried about the plastering, then either just get a lad in for a couple of hours to do that for you, or go on a 2 day course and learn skimming yourself, If you're local, there's a lad in Kirkby that does it and he's fantastic. You'd be amazed how good you get on day one with a proper teacher. At the end of day 2, you'll defo be confident and proficient enough to tackle a small job like the one you're talking about. It'll cost you around £300, but you'll still be way ahead cost wise, and you'll have learnt a new DIY skill that you'll use almost non stop [ask me how i know lol]. It doesn't make you a professional plasterer, but it certainly teaches you enough to do small plastering jobs around the house really well.
One caveat though, not sure how happy you are doing electrics. The socket should be properly certified [under a minor works cert] by a qualified spark if its new. Its dead easy to fit it yourself, but to cover yourself re house insurance etc. its a sensible precaution to take. Its also nice to have someone confirm you've used the correct rated cable/JB etc.
That's my two pennies worth anyway - hope it helps.
