Smith's Plastering Inc

Wonderful. Very professional.

Great! Did an awesome job!

unknown

Declan was awesome! He answered my call promptly, came to give a quote in a timely manner and was reasonable price wise. The day of the work he arrived on time and ready to work. He left the house clean and the work was done perfectly. My Dad is a contractor and was impressed with the quality!

Declan was a pleasure to work with. He was very responsive, gave us the best quote and was able to fit us into his schedule fairly quickly. He repaired our ceiling in a few rooms, arrived at 7:30am and was done around 12pm. We came home to a perfectly clean house and excellent work.

Declan was great. He was at my house at 7:30. He made repairs in 5 rooms and was gone by 11. He cleaned up after the job was complete. He was a pleasure to work with and would recommend him for any plaster/drywall repair needs.

unknown

Declan was outstanding in all facets of the job. First, he promptly called me back the same day I called him. Despite it being a small job, I very much appreciated how he handled it with the utmost professionalism. When he arrived, he and his partner enthusiastically jumped into the work. I was quite impressed with how clean he was throughout the process. He laid out mats to catch dust and keep my floor clean, and completely enveloped the work area to avoid dust from spreading throughout my house. When he was done, he wiped down all surfaces, including those I wouldn't see until months after the job, like on top of the cabinets. He went beyond the call of duty by spraying special disinfectant into the ceiling opening to ensure that no mold could grow in the area. Finally, he stuck with his estimate, which I felt was a reasonable amount. Not only would I hire him again, I plan on recommending Declan to my friends.

It is challenging to write an unfavorable review. This is our first. If a review is too negative then it may not be considered reasonable and accurate. It might not be taken seriously. If a review is not negative enough then the message may be lost. Declan Smith is personable but strictly business. He returned my first call to him within a few days. We arranged a time to meet but he never arrived, which he admittedly forgot. When we finally met several days later, he reviewed the project and he gave me a quote of $350.00 to plaster the bathroom walls and ceiling, which was less than two other quotes I received. The blueboard was pre-installed with considerable care and it was properly secured in place. The walls were remarkably close to level and plumb in our ninety year old home. He was busy, as were other plasterers, but he was available within a week and I accepted his offer. It was an acceptance I regret. He originally planned to arrive at 7:30AM but he rescheduled to 1:30PM and he arrived on time. He arrived with an assistant, who immediately covered the stairs, hallway and bathroom work area with drop cloths. After taping the blueboard seams, Declan started to plaster the bathroom walls and he finished the project in approximately two hours. During that two hour period, I overheard him talking on his cell phone on several occasions and, at one point, he met with an associate or friend in the street and he talked with him for several minutes as the veneer plaster started to set and harden. When the project was finished, I immediately noticed that a corner line was noticeably not straight. When I queried him, he suggested it was a result of an uneven surface, which is questionable and unlikely under the circumstances. In addition, the edge where the walls meet the ceiling was noticeably uneven. I would describe it as "wavy." As we discussed the aforementioned, he said, "Most people wouldn't notice." I did and he should. Considering that response, I suggest that Declan may not apply himself in a way he would if more people noticed. He has been plastering for thirty-seven years. It may be that he just doesn't care anymore. In retrospect, Declan was clearly in a hurry to compete the project. He admitted that he left a project to work on our bathroom and that he was returning to complete the first project. By his own admission, one reason he was in a hurry is because his assistant had a dentist appointment that afternoon. Declan and his assistant removed the drop cloths and cleaned the area. After the veneer plaster dried in a few days, my wife and I noticed a multitude of imperfections in the walls and ceiling, which required considerable time to repair. It was necessary to painstakingly patch and sand those areas with joint compound. Compared to the work performed by a plasterer we hired several years ago to plaster the walls in another bathroom we renovated, we consider Declan Smith's work as subpar. It is very unfortunate. The photographs I posted of the bathroom walls and ceiling he plastered were shot in black and white without a flash. This was done to provide the best rendition of the plastered surface and to accurately illustrate the staggering number of imperfections. It looked like the surface of the moon. To reiterate, accepting Declan's offer to plaster our bathroom walls and ceiling was a mistake and one I regret. It was not a positive experience. My wife and I hope this review is helpful to other Angie's List members considering a plasterer in our area. UPDATE (09/15): Earlier this month, my wife and I finally applied the ceiling paint, which revealed some additional imperfections that we didn't notice initially when I wrote my review of Smith's Plastering. I posted a picture of the white ceiling with blue arrows pointing to some of the ceiling imperfections we noticed after we painted the ceiling. In addition, after we applied paint to the walls last week, we noticed another imperfection that also initially went unnoticed. It was a curved impression in the plaster that became more visible to us after the paint was applied. We had to fill and sand that area with joint compound as well. I posted two pictures to illustrate that imperfection. A picture really is worth a thousand words! Apparently, the other Angie's List members who gave Smith's Plastering a positive review must have hired a different "Declan Smith?"

We had a hard time finding someone to even call us back/show up for estimates so we turned to Angie's List to look for someone. Mr. Smith showed up when he said he was going to (on time!) and was able to repair both rooms (with one helper) in the time frame given (one day) with minimal clean-up, on our part. The ceilings and wall look amazing. We will definitely recommend him to any one who needs dry wall repair/replacement and use him for any future jobs that we need completed. Well worth the money spent to be able to resume use of the two rooms later that day without having to do a ton of cleanup.

work went fast and was good quality - i will use him again this was the third ceiling decan has put up for us.

Excellent. Declan came to my home the day I called him. I told him I needed the walls done ASAP. We arranged to have them done 4 days later. He came at the exact time he said, performed the service that was requested. The walls look great!. My painter even commented on what a nice job he did. Would definitely recommend.

Declan Smith did the job within a week of contacting him. He ended up coming in a bit under his estimate. He was letting my 3 year old son be his helper. Pretty excellent all around. Declan Smith is a model for how other contractors should operate. From the old school

unknown

.

pla

we bought an old house (pre 1900) and gutted the 2nd and 3rd floors. Needed plaster on 2nd and 3rd floors and on the first floor I needed to cover an old ceiling with new plaster to cover some cracks. I got three quotes for the project. Time and money were very important. Declan was not the cheapest nor the most expensive, but gave me what I thought was a fair price and was very responsive not only with getting me the proposal and addressing all my concerns but also with making sure that the quality was what i was expecting. Plastering is a messy job, and these guys did a great job keeping the mess to a minimum. The ceiling on the first floor turned out to be a challenge - mostly because of my time constraints - my electrician was was installing recessed lights and my flooring guys were pounding away overhead at the same time. There turned out to be a couple of cracks in the ceiling after the initial installation, but Declan returned 3 times - never a complaint, never once tried to place the blame - just fixed the cracks and made sure that I was happy with the work. He'll be back for the kitchen renovation for sure.

Perfect service all the way around.

Our living room wall was heavily damaged over the winter from ice dam leaks, and we needed to replace the entire thing. Declan came by to give us an estimate (after work hours, major plus) and it was super reasonable. (He never sent us a written estimate, but he stuck to the verbal agreement.) He and an assistant showed up early on the scheduled day, took care to cover everything in site and did the demo work on the old horsehair-plaster-and-lathe wall. He encountered some rot behind the wall and gave us the option to pay him half (for the demo work) and leave it exposed so we could get a carpenter in, or to cover it back up as planned; we took note of where it was and asked him to finish, figuring we will address it later. They added insulation, hung the blueboard and plastered it over (+ replaced about 3 feet of the ceiling running the length of the wall), and it came out looking terrific.