Skim Coating Quote

Holy cow! I had my apartment skim coated and painted, for just under $6,000.
Granted, it was empty at the time, so it was easy to do the job. This quote is insanely expensive. The surface was 1,100 sq ft. I would recommend the contractor, but he moved back to Ohio last year.

considering that the paint at most would cost you a couple of thousand dollars, the rest is what, labor?

I guess its labor. My apartment is empty as well so it can't be the hassle factor. For $6K, I would hire maly's guy, pay for his plane ticket from Ohio and hotel room for the week and a half it takes and still put me WAY ahead.

I have used someone really great AND cheap for this whom I can recommend. Do you have to have someone with a liscense?

I believe he would have to be licensed, since its a coop. We are having other work done in the apartment so we are hiring a general contractor but do you think its possible to pick my own painter (though hopefully one of the other contractors I really liked will come back with a more reasonable bid!)

It took 3 guys a week. The guys who did the plastering part were incredibly good and fast.
How many contractors have you asked? Get 5 or 6 names, because 1 won't show at all, one will never get the quote in, one will be too cheap and one too expensive.

I have met 6. They all showed for the appointment but most are not getting bids in. If I end up with three bids I would consider myself victorious.

See, part of the problem is there's really no way do portray the quality of the skim coating which will be done. I don't know of any architectural standards to describe it. but there's a HUGE difference in cost of you want your walls totally flat and smooth as galls because you are having them glazed, or just having the cracks removed and big pits and such feathered out. It also depends tremendously on how carefully the are going to prep: if they are going to go around the entire apartment, sound out the walls looking for delaminated areas, secure them with anchors, fill, etc. If the are going to take every crack and rather than put a patch on it, dig it out, re-plaster, patch, skim, etc.

If you really "do it right" re-plastering an old apartment/house with a significant amount of loose plaster can be AMAZINGLY time consuming.

galls = glass

Well, while I may agree with you, 30 years, that maybe I would get a better product, I am not sure I am willing to pay 10x more (not to mention the 25% add'l they charge) to get everything 100% perfect. Honestly the walls aren't in such bad shape to begin with. It is making me rethink skim coating in the first place.

We had our place skim coated in 2003. They just leveled it where at one time plaster mouldings existed on the coffered ceilings etc. It was grouped in with the gut reno generally, but I'd say it cost $10K? It was BY FAR the most time consuming labor of the entire reno job.

Lead paint abatement may be part of the price.

It's true that it will depend on the finish and the details. My place is very modern, no mouldings at all. The finish was amazing, and to watch them work was hypnotic, they were so precise and measured it was like a dance. I had to leave when they started sanding. If you have a more traditional apartment, I can see how it could be more expensive, but not to that extent.
You should try asking for recommendations on Brownstoner.

you should find out from the coop board if the painter needs a license. some boards feel that painting is part of regular maintenance and do not require it.

my painter removed wallpaper from 600 sq ft of my apartment, primed with oil primer, skim coated twice, primed again with oil primer and finally painted for $2000 materials. it took more than a week with 2 guys.

skim coating is very labor intensive and requires the guys to take a break every 3 days or so.

But if I skim coat do I need to do lead paint abatement? I would prefer not to get into that in any event.

Thanks for the brownstoner recommendation, I will post a question there!

Pette- The lead paint will likely be removed in the process.

Maybe then I don't understand what skim coating is. I thought they applied plaster over the existing wall. Do they actually scrape down to the bare wall when they do this?

"Well, while I may agree with you, 30 years, that maybe I would get a better product, I am not sure I am willing to pay 10x more (not to mention the 25% add'l they charge) to get everything 100% perfect. Honestly the walls aren't in such bad shape to begin with. It is making me rethink skim coating in the first place."

My point wasn't that everyone should do it, but that there really are Ferrari's BMW's and Volkswagen's out there (and even mopeds). And what's worse, you don't really know which one you are getting just because of the price quote. But also that I can conceive of such a job at such a price not being a rip-off.

I may be missing something here, but I thought skim coating is not just putting on a few layers of pplaster. It requires a mesh layer after the initial sanding and prepping and plastering, than more plastering and sanding. Usually, real skim coating is done on plaster walls (pre-war buildings) and helps prevent cracking on plaster walls. Very labor intensive and very messy. Definitely more than just a usual paint job. So the quotes you are getting may not be apples to apples, but apples to oranges.

Usually not something required on sheetrock walls

It depends upon the condition of the walls. Are we talking water-damaged and 100 years old, or just average paint job that can be improved?

Average paint job that can be improved is what we're talking about. Their is minor water damage in one of the bedroom walls (literally a maximum of 2 ft. by 1 foot space). What is confusing me is how much paint are they scraping off? Are they literally scraping down to the original plaster?

They are trying to rob you. That's all you need to know.
They'll scrape excess paint and anything that sticks out, fill out the holes, then apply thin coats of plaster, sand, and repeat. It's labor-intensive and messy, but unless you live in 5,000 square foot mansion, this quote is either a joke or a mistake.

I ended up having to GC our reno after a contractor disaster. Got two skim coating recommendation from Brownstowner: Junior (from Brazil) and Alex (Russian) DO NOT HIRE THEM. Tried servicemagic and hired Daniel (from Queens Union Labor South American). DO NOT HIRE HIM! Wasted about 6K for the 3 above. Finally found a really great Irish guy who completely re-plastered our apartment. Paid him a salary. It is the glass finish the 30year is talking about. I think it was about 15K maybe even a bit more. The state of the walls was really-really bed and also tons of damage from electrical re-wiring though (classic 6 apartment a bit more square footage then yours). 60K is not reasonable!

ksdg520: If you paid $15K (+, +, + =6k; $21k total) for a diamond in the rough worker who you put on salary, based THAT ALONE, how much do you think a contractor with insurance, a crew, advertising, etc. should/would/can charge for the exact same thing. Personally, based on the above, 60K seems only MARGINALLY high from a GC.

Although I do have to say i find it rather amusing that everyone is saying "go to Brownstoner and get recommendations, and you come here and say "Got two skim coating recommendation from Brownstowner: Junior (from Brazil) and Alex (Russian) DO NOT HIRE THEM. Tried servicemagic and hired Daniel (from Queens Union Labor South American). DO NOT HIRE HIM! "

I'm with 30yrs on this. I've gotten quotes for 5k and 30k for the same place. The low bids were just repair and feathering. The high ones were with mesh and super smooth finish. I heard about a guy who got a quote for skim coating just the hallways in his brownstone for 250k. Guys were going to fly in from Italy with special plaster.

FWIW: I'm not an expert on this, but I'm a voice on here usually telling people who ask about skim coating prices that it isn't cheap and can be extraordinarily expensive in some cases. But here, $60K is beyond anything I have ever heard for a 1200 sq.ft. space. My knowledge of costs in this area is somewhere between first and second hand--for over 15 years during the time we were together, my ex worked on high end residences at places like the Dakota, the Pierre, the Sherry-Netherlands, the Century, 830 Park, etc, etc. and I took a lot of interest in the jobs. While I recall some costing up to $10,000-15,000 a room to finish the walls, these were plaster walls in the very worst shape imaginable in large rooms. I suppose if you have a large classic 6 or 8 that's been beaten to heck, $60K is ballpark for what'll take to make those walls gorgeous again. But for 1200sqft? Are you kidding?

"I heard about a guy who got a quote for skim coating just the hallways in his brownstone for 250k. Guys were going to fly in from Italy with special plaster."

Did he buy them (and the plaster) seats on the Concorde??

Exactly--my walls are not in bad shape at ALL. No bubbling, no visible cracks (except in one limited area in the ceiling in one place), they are actually relatively smooth. I just think the apartment will look a hell of a lot better with super-smooth walls. Just received another quote, which strikes me as much more reasonable--$17.5K (my place is actually a Classic 6, we just aren't skim coating all the rooms, i.e., not the kitchen, not the maid's room/office, bathrooms are being gutted with new tile up the walls, so those don't need to be skim coated either).

60k is f'ing ludicrous
a great crew of poles did my classic 6 soup to nuts for 20K--they did an excellent job-not glass, but worthy of glossy paint (which shows imperfections clearly)-prep is key and several of my walls were wet or had been wet for years before drying out and turning powdery--one ceiling and several walls just fell in to the room after minor scraping--many areas needed serious mortar application to underlying gyp blocks prior to plaster fill--be sure your guy uses lots of tape to prevent cracking--and after seeing my polish crew use "plasterweld" i inssit on it--plasterweld is an epoxytype product that is applied to the wounds left after scraping--it is formulated to solidify the wound and provide and surface that chemically bonds to hot mix plaster-- where plaster weld and good taping were used, there was none of the typicsal cracking that happens with in a year of a big plaster job

gaian key is the prep--check that all loose stuff has been ripped prior to beginning

maybe the guy meant 16K?
60k is absurd

30yrs, My point was:
1. Be careful with recommendations on Brownstowner and to warn people of the specific skim-coaters that did a really bad job.
2. Hiring someone without a GC can be more expensive as in my case the 6K overhead. Not to mention the aggravation of having to fire 3 people.
Also, 15K in my case is what it cost to fix walls that where in horrid condition. The worst you can imagine. My walls where re-plastered and not merely skim coated. So scraped, primed with oil, mash was applied and then 3 layers of lime plaster! 2 rooms where done in Venetian plaster finish. All plaster used was lime plaster which is more $$ then compound. I think if it cost me 15K to do that without a GC then a GC would charge a 30% mark-up thus about 20K. Also, I don’t have the feeling that Pette78 walls need the amount of work mine did.
I do completely agree with you that skim coating is expensive and tedious work but from Pette78 description of the work-needed 60K is not at all reasonable. I would expect to pay 3K per room including painting.

my friend had her classic 7 -- scraped primed (removing cracked plaster and using plaster weld (pink!) and painted twice, wall papered removed and redone in the dining room and closets done... 2000 sq ft for $20K. The contracvtor does not want the job or should swim with the fishes... either way tell him to go pound sand.

yay foxy...pink it is (plasterweld)

tell the guy he should consider standup comedy for his next career

3k per room including paint sounds about right.

What qualifies me to answer this? I am a Master Painter & Plaster Man with over 30 years I
n the industry..only 3 years late here lol

I am engage in a project that requires 6,200sq. foot of skim coat and primer, is for a hotel lobby, the walls are kind of orange peel, rough, some walls are 16' high, the walls will receive venetian plaster, so we need level 5 on skim coating and primer, a company came with a price of $ 28,600.00, can someone tell me if this price is reasonable? need some advise

Hi Guys, i paint and repair inside outside houses i charge for skin coat 1,200 sq. foot $2,400 just labor, Supplies could be $400. to $600. but there are some facts that can raise the price:

wall is in bad shape:
-A lot cracks need to be open and fixed
-Plaster weld need to be used to bond the plaster and the coat that it need to be apply
-Fiber glass screen need to be installed to prevent futures cracks.
so guys for the worst case that it need this extra work i charge $3 sq foot, but the place need to be check before pricing, like the high wall and other things but most the time my price is $3 .

Dont even think about it! They just gona make it look worse! I just had and experience with some guys they waste 60 shetts off drywall compound and labor. They gona have to change everything again so just dont listeng to them..