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Minehead is a small Somerset coastal town on the Bristol Channel with Exmoor rising immediately behind it, and a plasterer here works across two quite different building fabrics in the same week. The old town climbing towards the hill is traditional West Country building — rubble stone and cob under lime render, with thatch above some of it. Down on the flat is the resort town: Victorian and Edwardian villas and guesthouses from its seaside heyday, post-war and modern housing, and the large holiday accommodation trade that the town lives on.
The work follows that split exactly. Lime work and repair on the old fabric; skim, dry-lining and reboarding across ordinary housing; external render and insulated render systems on exposed seafront and estate elevations; and heavy seasonal turnaround work in holiday accommodation, compressed into the changeover windows between lettings.
The exposure that costs a plasterer money is not the trowel, and it is rarely the fall. It is the specification. Cement render and gypsum plaster applied to cob and rubble stone trap moisture in a wall that was built to breathe, and the damage — decayed cob, blown render, rotting embedded timber — appears months after the invoice is paid. That is a workmanship and professional liability argument rather than a simple make-good, and in this part of Somerset it is the single most avoidable claim in the trade. Apex arranges cover that reflects how the trade actually works across this stock, placed by a named broker who will present your risk properly to insurers who understand it.
Two building traditions meet in this town, and the wrong material on the wrong one is where the money goes.
Specification on historic fabric. This is the claim that defines the trade in this area. Cement render or gypsum on cob and rubble stone traps moisture, and the wall behind decays. It surfaces long after completion, it is expensive to put right because the repair is a conservation job, and the argument is about the judgement you made rather than the finish you applied. If you are choosing the system, you need professional indemnity as well as public liability.
Water and damp tracking into finished work. Plastering sits at the end of the sequence, so it catches other people’s water. A leak above a fresh ceiling, or moisture rising into a new render, produces a failure that is blamed on the last trade on site. Recording the condition of the substrate before you start is the cheapest defence available.
Dust and disruption in occupied premises. Cutting, sanding and mixing in an occupied guesthouse or home puts dust into rooms, soft furnishings and equipment well beyond the one you are working in. It is a frequent, individually modest claim that adds up quickly, and it is also a COSHH matter where silica is involved.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 — external render work from towers and scaffold, and internal ceiling work from hop-ups and podiums.
COSHH duties on respirable crystalline silica from cutting and sanding, and on the burn risk from lime and cement.
CDM 2015 duties on larger contracts and repeat commercial fit-out work.
Listed building consent and conservation area controls, which reach external render, finishes and the materials you are permitted to use.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 — textured coatings applied before the 2000 ban can contain asbestos, and sanding one is exactly the wrong way to find out.
Cement render or gypsum applied to a cob or rubble stone wall traps moisture and the wall decays — professional indemnity territory rather than public liability, and the repair is a conservation job.
Water from a leak above tracks into a freshly finished ceiling and the failure is blamed on the plastering — a workmanship argument that substrate records have to answer.
A skim blows and has to come off, taking the decoration with it — a defect claim, with the making good frequently larger than the original contract.
Dust from cutting and sanding gets through an occupied guesthouse into rooms, furnishings and equipment — public liability responds, subject to the wording.
Because cob and rubble stone walls are built to let moisture move through them and evaporate. Lime plasters and renders permit that; cement renders and gypsum plasters do not, and they hold water inside the wall instead.
Professional indemnity. Public liability responds to injury and physical damage caused by your work; a claim that the system you recommended was the wrong one for the building is a claim about your judgement, and it may produce a financial loss argument rather than a straightforward damage argument.
It affects the consequences of delay and disruption. Changeover programmes have no slack, and a room that is not ready is the operator’s lost income rather than an inconvenience.
Frequently, yes. Some underwriters treat external render and insulated render systems as a distinct activity from internal plastering, and manufacturer system discipline matters — mixing components from different systems generally voids the guarantee and moves the argument onto you. Tell us what proportion of your turnover is external so the cover reflects it explicitly.
It needs care and it needs declaring. Listed building consent can reach internal and external finishes, so what you are permitted to use may not be what the client asked for. Near thatch, any heat or hot works needs managing seriously, and dust and debris controls matter more than usual.
Tell us about your business and we’ll place it on the specialist market — or leave your number and a named broker calls you back, usually the same working day.
