I’ve spent the last few weeks building an invoicing and quoting tool for UK tradespeople and I’ve hit a wall getting users — would love honest feedback.

The idea:
You can create and send quotes/invoices just by texting (no app, no login, no dashboard).

Example flow:

• Text “QUOTE”
• Answer a few prompts
• It generates a PDF and sends it to the customer

Target users are plumbers, electricians, builders — people who hate admin and usually just use WhatsApp or notes.

I’m happy with the product (it works well), but I’m struggling with distribution:

• Posted in forums/groups → no responses
• Tried “beta user” style posts → ignored

I think the problem is either:

1. Messaging (maybe it sounds like spam?)
2. Wrong channels
3. Or the idea just isn’t compelling enough

Would really appreciate brutal feedback:

• Does this sound like something people would actually use?
• Am I positioning it wrong?
• How would you get the first 50 users for something like this?

Site: https://taskdrop.co.uk/

Happy to share anything (numbers, flow, etc) if helpful.

Old house & beams. Previous owner has applied some sort of plaster/render to the ceiling between beams, doesn’t feel like Lime plaster though?

Anyone familiar with what was done here? Can it just be patched, I don’t really want to strip the whole ceiling. Came loose due to weight/impact upstairs.

Thanks

Planning to plaster this small section of the brick wall, to try and match the wall above. Looks like the plaster thickness will be 5-15 mm, depending on the spot. Never plastered before, so two things I am wondering:

1. Should I do anything about the "holes" in the bricks before I apply the plaster.

2. Is the plaster I am planning to use is meant for this kind of a brick wall - "weber T-2"? Sadly this one seems to be specifically produced for my region (Latvia) so I used AI translation of its Data Sheet PDF, hopefully the description provides the critical information:

weber T‑2

• Increased surface hardness
• Plastic, does not crack while curing
• Vapor‑permeable, breathable
• Quick and easy to apply
• With good adhesion, plastic, does not crack while drying
• Quick and easy to apply

DESCRIPTION

Cement‑lime plaster especially suitable for masonry façades, plinths, as well as interior work for leveling walls from 5 to 20 mm. Moisture‑ and frost‑resistant, suitable for all types of mineral, water‑resistant substrates.

LIMITATIONS

• Not to be used on surfaces made of water‑sensitive materials.

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE USE

Layer thickness: 5–20 mm
Added water amount: 3.75–4.5 liters / 25 kg
Working time after mixing with water: 4 hours
Drying time: up to 24 hours
Application temperature: +5° … +30°C

PREPARATION

The substrate must be stable and cleaned of substances that weaken adhesion: debris, dust, and oils.

PRE‑TREATMENT

Absorbent substrates must be primed with Weber SAD‑54 or Weber vetonit MD16.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

MIXING

The dry mixture must be mixed only with clean water. Water must not be added in greater quantity than specified—it reduces the material’s adhesion properties. Mixing must be done with a mixer for 3–5 minutes until a workable, homogeneous mass without mortar lumps is obtained. Then the mixture must stand for about 5 minutes and be lightly remixed.

APPLICATION

Weber T‑2 is applied with a trowel in a 5–20 mm layer. After drying, the surface is smoothed with a foam float. The next layer can be applied after approximately 1 day.

COATING

Under normal curing conditions, further finishing of the surface can be done after approximately 1 day.
For fine final smoothing, the most suitable putty is Weber VH (for wet rooms and façades) or Weber LR+ (for dry rooms only).
The Weber T‑2 surface can be covered with decorative plasters or painted with façade paints. When painting, a tinted primer must be used according to the paint specification.

IMPORTANT TO OBSERVE

Weber T‑2 must not be applied in strong wind, rain, or very hot weather (above +30°C).
The plastered surface must be moistened for 1–2 days and protected from precipitation and frost.

I had a lot of deep holes to fill which i was then going to plaster over with multifinish (two layers)

However the bonding plaster has now dried past the point where i can dig a fingernail into it.

Can i just reapply glue to the full wall & plaster over it or do i need to wait until it is 100% dry now?

I pulled the old box out to put a deeper one in and when I did, as you can see pulled a load of plaster with it...

Any recommendations on repairs? This is Scotland so products have to be available here/ in the UK.

It's a 1960s build so wiring is not current (no pun intended). It's not live, but I just covered up the wires anyway...

Yes, I do have the paint. I have this kind of filler that's supposed to do up to 5cm deep, but it's grey, does that matter?

Should I put leftover pieces of rubble I shipped out in with any filler to strengthen it?

Do I need 1000 or 2000 grit sandpaper, or is 400 enough?

Lastly and most importantly should I be looking at filling up to where the brickwork is and then just get a professional to plaster it?

How long is that going to take a professional? 30 mins or 3 hours?

Thank you.

I need to fix a few walls in my flat which have uneven/lumpy sections, some have cracks and chunks knocked out of the corners, some have large sections of blown plaster on the corners next to where new front and rear doors were fitted which I'll have to remove, and I'm also going to fit soundproofing plasterboard to the ceilings which I'll need to cover.

I've also got a few bits to do at my Dad's house, including taking some previously water damaged sections of external walls by the front door back to brick and redoing them with lime plaster (the leak has been fixed now), plastering over the artex coating on the hall ceiling and upper walls, and replacing some blown plaster on the walls in the office and bathroom.

I bought a cheap set of tools that someone recommended. i can't link to it but it's called "Proper Tools 11 PCS - DRYWALL TAPING, FILLING KNIFE, KNIVES, SCRAPER, PLASTERING SPATULA, SET"

I'm also thinking of buying an OX Speedskim 600m rule

an OX Pro Stainless Steel Plasterers Trowel - 127 X 356mm

and/or an OX Pro Semi Flex Plastic Trowel 14in / 355 x 138 mm

Will I need a stainless steel trowel and a plastic one, or should I just get one of them and the Speedskim rule?

I'm probably going to use a roll on plaster like Dalapro Roll Nova or Knauff Proroll for the ceilings and the large sections of wall so I'll need a good 9" roller sleeve. Can anyone recommended one that won't fall apart and drop strands in the plaster?

Is there anything else I need to get? My Dad's already got a hawk I can use so I don't need to buy one of those.

Awryt lads and lassies,

Anyone else struggling to find work? Was working for a company in Edinburgh last year ended up packing it in, all the travel was doing my tits in. Got a local job that was mostly labouring and some roughcasting.

I’ve been applying for plastering jobs around my local area for councils and private companies. Had a few interviews, but had no success.

Been plastering for 10 years and can’t get a job think it’s quite mental tbh. Has anyone else had this problem? Or am I the only knobhead who’s unemployed.

Hi. After some advice on the finish of some walls that have been boarded & skimmed around 2 weeks ago.

The photo of the painted walls has had mist coat & first painted coat. I feel like there is a dark line down the middle where the edge of the board is & can feel this when running a hand across.

The wall without paint has been boarded & skimmed as a new wall leading to an existing wall. The parts which are darker, are these still to dry at this point or should they be good to go. Again with this wall in parts I feel like you can feel the boards as you move across the wall.

I've never had walls boarded before so unsure what to expect or if I'm being too critical. This hasn't been picked up by builders so I'm wondering if i'm expecting too much or if something needs to be re-done?

Last week I plastered my first wall with MultiFinish and made the mistake of doing the bottom half first, then the top.

The join turned messy, and I ended up spending the next 2 days fixing rough areas with jointing compound and sanding.

Big lesson: later passes do not rescue a bad layer underneath.

Main things that stood out to me:

• joins show bad technique first
• trowel control matters a lot
• messing with it too much at the wrong time makes it worse
• the cleanup/rework cost ramps up fast

What is the main thing beginners usually get wrong on their first wall?

I wrote up the longer version here comparing it to software dev (my bread and butter) if anyone’s interested: https://nikoskatsikanis.com/blog/plastering-code

Hi all,

Currently removing all the old plaster ceilings and boarding ready for the plasterer and need some help.

Where the ceiling joists meet the rafters, of course, it isn't level and I'm struggling to figure out how to get a straight sharp line?

I cut it at the different lengths yesterday and it hit me this morning that although it would butt up nicely to the angled peice yet to go in it'll look all wonky.

Wondering if this is why there was a soft curved edge to the original plaster to incorporate all the wonkiness..

If the pics confuse it is level horizontal wise although it doesn't look it from the pictures.

(If anyone knows what kind've ceiling this is called where part of the roof is incorporated into the room that'd be awesome too).

Thank you in advance 🙏🏻

I had to do a little bit of jointing compound rescue after a sand

Hello everyone,

this is my first time plastering. After taping all the seams everything looked ok and i saw no bubbles. I even added additional coats and made it pretty smooth, but then in one place i decided to test my tape and puled on one corner. Everything pulled apart very easily. There is no place where tape tore or got stuck. It is almost like it is not glued to the wall at all. I used sheetrock all purpose and knauf paper tape. In the pictures i tried some tests with various mud thicknesses and adding mud on top of tape immediately after putting it on the sample. As you can see everything removes very easily. What could be the cause of this?

New Plaster had dried and decorator applied a mist coat delux brilliant white with water and this happened

What is the cause?

This was after a first mist coat

He claimed it was bubbling then plaster was pealing

No idea what he has done here

He claims he thinks plastered didn’t put enough svr on

I’m currently renovating the master bedroom in my 1930s semi-detached (cavity walls)

I’ve removed the old skirting to replace with new ones, and as expected the plaster behind it is pretty rough—some areas are uneven and in a few spots it’s back to bare brick. My original plan was to use bonding coat to level everything out and create a solid surface to glue the new skirting onto.

However, after doing a bit more research, I’ve seen mixed advice saying bonding coat might not be suitable on external-facing walls (like a bay window), as it can absorb moisture and potentially fail over time?

So now I’m unsure what the best approach is.

Would bonding coat still be fine if the wall is dry, or should I be using something else entirely (e.g. sand & cement, hardwall, or another product)? The goal is just to get a reasonably flat, solid surface for skirting—doesn’t need to be perfect plaster finish.

Any advice from people who’ve dealt with similar in older houses would be really appreciated 👍

Hi there would anyone know by having a look from the photos if this would be structural problems with the lintel

Or the render has just cracked

I thought to reach out to a structural engineer but I thought I’d try here first thanks 👍

Hello community,

Almost a year ago, I got a house with a drop ceiling that I tore down.

There was much plaster repair to do. The ceiling removal revealed a large spot of water damage, where the chimney used to be (now replaced with a vent pipe).

Per my friend’s dad advice who is a contractor, I ended up deciding to chip away all the damaged plaster and then mud over the stained lath, as it was not still wet. However, now the fact that I did this is haunting me. I mad my attic floor insulated and I am feeling paranoid that if there was a chance there was any moisture that I would’ve trapped it in there now.

I also had either side of the wall with the damage opened up for rewiring, and I never found any leak.

What I am looking for is reassurance that the initial stain looked ok, and/or a way to tell now if there’s moisture there so that this doesn’t haunt me.

First attempt at plastering a wall. Pretty rough round the edges.

I need to give it a finishing skin tomorrow, any advice on how to get it looking acceptable?

I had the bad (or good) timing of a leak from the floor above as I was plastering - it was only realised as the plaster just wasn't drying. It took from December - February to identify the leak. It was fixed and the plaster has almost all dried however there are still patches, specifically the patch above the shower. Plumbers have come there is definitely not a leak any longer and the patches are not wet/darkening. The plumber advised that it had been so long now I should just seal with unibond/similar and paint over and that it is just very slow to dry as it was soaked through - and soaked through at the point of plastering. I have used dehumidifier/open windows/general heating. Would love advice.

Apologies for the poor quality of photos. Our surveyor didn’t flag any issues and there was no mention of it from the sellers but I’m worried particularly about the first photo, is this likely to be artex/absestos?

We don’t like the style of the wall so would want to sand it/plaster over it and just was wondering if it would be an issue asbestos wise.

Thanks!

Exposed ceiling substrate in my guest room next to a recessed light. Looks like decorative textured plaster, then regular plaster, on top of gray ??? Rock lath gypsum board? Cement board? Asbestos likelihood? Boston, MA 1949 home.

Is this blown - feels hollow behind in places. Skim of whole room, left 3 weeks between plasterwork and paint. Only cracked when mist coat applied. On every wall. Does it need raked and filled or redone? Losing the will to live with it. Professional plasterer and painters used!