Skim Coating

"How else do you know if you are being charged the right price?"

The holy grail... shop around and get references

yea of course...but if there are some general guidelines out there I would love to know them before I start talking to different people.

Well, for one thing, make sure you are talking apples to apples when getting quotes. Some people think skim coating just refers to the plaster work. I think it should include applying the fiberglass mesh to avoid future cracking, then plastering over that.

Right...the guy Im currently talking to says he will do that, but still, I would love to know if there is a general rule of thumb for skim coating with the mesh (like a 10 x 10 wall should be X dollars) as well as just replastering a wall.

Also, this is for an apartment that is going to be rented. So I'm thining that maybe I don't need that glass like finish...just nice enough. Or as long as I am doing it might as well go for the best? Any thoughts?

skim coating depends on the walls. if you are removing wallpaper and the walls are fine, that's one type. if you have significant cracking that will require a lot of "digging" and putting down fiberglass mesh, that's a whole other ball game. from one to the other the price difference is triple, if not more.

contractors do not like to give details, they like to discuss things in nice round numbers, like 5,000 or 10,000. Saves them time and having to explain themselves. The nice part is that 90% of people do not care enough to take the time to nail them down.

yea...i've noticed that...very frustrating.

Gcondo,

Please understand contractors like myself cannot give a precise estimate on a project that we have not seen or sometimes we even need drawings. I am pretty sure 90% of contractors would be more then happy to break down their estimate. Perhaps you hired the wrong contractor.