He should have known the walls were plaster not drywall by the age of the house and feeling the walls. His estimate was wrong, that is on him.

Anonymous wrote:1900 over the original quote. So you are splitting 3800? Yeah..... that is not a reasonable amount.

Plaster is messier than drywall, and you typically have the plinths under the plaster, but I would estimate that it adds about 20% more time.

General Contractor speaking.

Thanks. That was my gut feeling.

1900 over the original quote. So you are splitting 3800? Yeah..... that is not a reasonable amount.

Plaster is messier than drywall, and you typically have the plinths under the plaster, but I would estimate that it adds about 20% more time.

General Contractor speaking.

New poster here. My contractor did the kitchen, and two bathrooms in less than 10 hours. This included removing the cast iron tub and jack hammering the concrete in the floor. I was shocked when I came home. Plastic sheeting on all the doors and minimal dust. He was an experienced contractor, so he knew the walls were plaster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that removing plaster and lath will uncover the studs which may or may not be the right size for drywall. We did that and had to put in some new studs and shims to girl the drywall upright at the right depth. It's a lot of work to orep for drywall.
Do you have to remove the plaster? I would patch the plaster instead if at all possible.

Hopefully the estimate already includes removing the plaster and putting up new moisture resistant drywall/ greenboard in the walls of the shower area - that's probably already 1/3 of the bathroom right there. It might be worth the extra $ to do the rest of the bathroom and get nice new walls.

It is included and we plan to add the extra, I just want to know if I'm being gouged and should negotiate. He agreed to "split it" with us for $1900 extra.

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that removing plaster and lath will uncover the studs which may or may not be the right size for drywall. We did that and had to put in some new studs and shims to girl the drywall upright at the right depth. It's a lot of work to orep for drywall.
Do you have to remove the plaster? I would patch the plaster instead if at all possible.

Hopefully the estimate already includes removing the plaster and putting up new moisture resistant drywall/ greenboard in the walls of the shower area - that's probably already 1/3 of the bathroom right there. It might be worth the extra $ to do the rest of the bathroom and get nice new walls.

Pp again and yes 3 days is an overestimate to gut plaster. We gutted a 10x10 plaster kitchen to studs and that was 2 days. Walls, floor, ceiling etc. 2 guys worked 10 hr days though and it was really really messy.

Keep in mind that removing plaster and lath will uncover the studs which may or may not be the right size for drywall. We did that and had to put in some new studs and shims to girl the drywall upright at the right depth. It's a lot of work to orep for drywall.
Do you have to remove the plaster? I would patch the plaster instead if at all possible.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how much it should cost, but it is a lot of labor. Are there mudded tiles embedded into the plaster? I think we had a 3-day demo in our tiny bathroom for those kind of walls. Huge mess to clean up as you demo.

He already did the tiles on the bottom half of the walls/shower area. Was planning to drywall those parts and match it up with the plaster. But the plaster is in awful shape and we pointed that out during the "down to the studs" conversation. So if you had a 3 day gut including the tiles, that means 3 is a big overestinate. Drywalling was already pet of the contract, this is just increasing the amount of drywall. And I promise our bathroom is tinier than yours. Thanks for the comparison.

I don't know how much it should cost, but it is a lot of labor. Are there mudded tiles embedded into the plaster? I think we had a 3-day demo in our tiny bathroom for those kind of walls. Huge mess to clean up as you demo.

This is in a tiny bathroom gut job. Contractor claims that wasn't part of the estimate although contract says "remove everything in the bathroom" and he described that as "down to the studs" Whatever. I get that we're screwed; I just think his estimate to add that (3-4 days of labor) plus materials is absurd. It's probably about 60 sq ft total. Thoughts?