Plasterer staying on premises overnight!

Hi Maureen,

Is he traveling a long way and just wants to get the job done asap?

I would quite admire that.

Is your friend sure of the recommendation?

Hi Maureen,

I personally wouldn't have any issues with it. If anything I'd see it as a good thing as you have some house sitting for you and they'll get the job done sooner!
The key question is how good is the recommendation and have you met them?
The other question is where do they live? If they live an hour away or even longer then I'd understand especially as rush hour can be a nightmare each morning however if they live down the road I would think it's odd and my alarm bells would be ringing.

Dan Sawyer

Cherry Picked Properties

The overnight tenancy I'm sure is all done on a handshake, and I would probably agree to that myself, but just be sure he fully understands that its a one night stay off his own back, that he is probably not covered by any landlords insurance etc.

"He has been recommended by a friend of a relative." - Oh dear me!
I had exactly the same experience some years ago. The two plasterers staying over were from Sheffield. The house was in Kent.
The recommendation was from a close friend who had just had them do work for him. He did not share with me until some time later the problems that he had with them!
It was a total and very expensive disaster!
There really is no substitute for you doing your own face to face assessment.
You might be very surprised at the number of so-called plasterer that can only skim plaster board and are reluctant to do two coat plaster.
Many have no spirit level or even if they have one they do not use it. Few have a plasterers derby.
Be very wary about recommendations or anyone that is readily available! A good plasterer will be booked up for many weeks ahead.
Try Checkatrade as a starting point but interpret the feedback critically. Focus on those plasterers with feed back in the last six months with a score from customers of at least 9 out of 10 for workmanship.
You will still have to be patient and you will have only reduced the risk and not guaranteed a good result!

I cannot see a problem with this if you trust the guy alone in the house - which presumably you do. I have had workmen camping out in a house being refurbished for weeks and working 12-14 hour days.

I generally agree with Dan Sawyer and others that provided you are sure of these guys and you do some basic backround checks then I can see no problem with this someone staying in the property to complete the work. I have been on both sides having developed a number of properties it is not a particularly unusual practice. I have had overnight stays by tradesmen in my own properties and indeed, when I was myself operating as a small builder, I stayed overnight on several jobs which brought many benefits both to the job and the client (landlord). Also, I do agree with most of what Paul Sears says. Except, I would not use Checkatrade as any kind of recommendation, my experience of Checkatrade registered individuals is pretty abysmal, I would personally steer well clear of Checkatrade or at least be very careful indeed and do your own vetting and research.
Best of luck,
Pete

Despite what I said in my above comment, I agree with Peter Jones regarding being wary of Checkatrade.
However:
1. You need to use the reviews critically before inviting a tradesman to quote. If, for example a man has excellent reviews but nothing relevant in the past year then it should raise suspicions.
2. You have to start somewhere and unless you already have had a good experience of a tradesman, then I have found Checkatrade to be as good a starting point as any.
I'm bound to say that I have found the sourcing competent tradesman has been by far, the most difficult of challenges.

If you know other local landlords or have good tradesman you already use their recomendations are a the best starting point. As others have said beware anyone who can start within a week, good tradesmen rarely advertise and are usually booked up for several weeks. In this situation maybe ask to see the job they did for your relatives friend and check if it is the same type of work you need.
As Paul says there is a big difference between someone who can do old school plastering needing base coat and skim and someone who can just skim plasterboards/existing flat walls.
Bad plastering looks terrible and is expensive to fix.
I wouldn't worry too much about the overnight unless they live within an hours commute - they are prepared to rough it to get the job done faster and get paid earlier - I'm assuming they gave you a price for the job.