Rough idea on price for mounting TV to pasterboard?

HenryGregory

HenryGregory

Joined
26 Jul 2018
Messages
149
Reaction score
4
Country
United Kingdom
Hi there,
I am in a one year old house.
Got one company out to do a quote for me. I want a 46inch screen mounting to a partition wall in a front bedroom. It is a plasterboard wall and has a bedroom the otherside of it.
There are battens behind it.

The have quoted me £390 to supply an articulating mount (and all cables) so I can pull the screen round when in bed, cable it up but do cables hidden behind plaster and also run a connector down from loft where my box is for tv areals.
Seems expensive, but they say they need two guys to fish the cables through etc.

Can anyone advise me if this sounds about right? I am close to London.
The chap who came out seemed knowledgeable and knew his stuff, would rather get someone who knows what they are doing, but just not sure if this is too expensive?
 
It's not really possible to answer unless it's known what else is involved.

* Are they going to be doing electrical work that requires signng off for Part P?
* Is there some work to hook up to the aerial system and possibly your Sky/VM or other 3rd party TV supplier service?
* Will this involve breaking in to the wall, and then replastering to make good
* What quality is the bracket? I have done jobs with full motion fingertip-control bracket that along cost £400-£500. On the other end I have sourced decent but inexpensive brackets for under £50. Then there's the cheap rubbish for under £25 that never stays level.

There are a lot of people who will respond that any price seems expensive. Often they have no clue about what things cost to do, and they underestimate the work involved, and don't factor in the costs of running a business.

There are guys local to me who will do a basic "bang-and-hang" bracket installation for around £80. For that, they're installing the customer's own bracket, then supplying a bit of D-line trunking down the surface of the wall to carry mains plus aerial plus one thin HDMI cable. The job takes 90 mins max. They'll make far more money doing three of these in an afternoon than each of the two guys would make spending a whole day doing a more complex job.
 
Last edited:
No doesn't include the tv but does include bracket.

They will not be doing any electrical work that requires signing off as there are already plug points in relevant places. They will just be making some square holes in plaster and adding brush plates plus fishing through all cables needed.
There will be some minor work involved in terms of hooking up existing aerial system - the junction box is directly above in the loft, so they will be adding a cable to the junction box.
They should not need to break into wall and have mentioned that they will fish the cables through but need to guys to do this properly.
Not too sure on the quality of the bracket.I had a quick look on Amazon, and you can get brackets for about £40. They are charging £75 for the bracket so would expect it to be good quality. I could go back and ask them?

They have broken things down for me...

Cabling and connections £65
Swivel bracket - £75
2 men labour £250
Total £390

Thanks for your comment on the bang and hang style stuff, totally understand what you mean. I was wondering if this was why the price seemed higher as obviously, they have a business to run. My only worry is I have other rooms I would like to do in the future, and this is not going to be financially viable. Maybe I should go ahead with this but stand and watch them so I can do it myself next time!
 
you seem to have explained what you want doing quite well , so is it not something you could attempt? there are plenty of videos on you tube which could give you all the info
 
Sureitsoff? said:
you seem to have explained what you want doing quite well , so is it not something you could attempt? there are plenty of videos on you tube which could give you all the info
Click to expand...
Thanks! I have done a lot in the house, but I am not willing to attempt hacking my walls around! I cannot stand when you have to plaster over holes and can't get it perfect, so as much as I would love to, I really don't feel confident enough which is why I thought I would get the professionals in!

I did similar when hanging curtain rails. I did all other than the lounge which required a pole over 3 meters long and accompanying very heavy curtains. I gave it a swerve and got a proper person in to do it for me! Same thing, didn't want to drill holes and then find it wasn't right, measurements were off etc.
Sometimes, you need to know your limits! :LOL:
 
A decent enough swivel TV bracket to mount a 46" TV should cost no more than £40. See Amazon or eBay, the reviews speak for themselves.

5m of aerial, 3m of figure 8 power lead and HDMI should cost no more than £20. Again see Amazon or eBay.

Is it REALLY a 2 man job? I don't think so.

It's not notifiable work.

I think it's steep. I'd get more quotes. If your well off and more concerned about watching I'm a celebrity tucked up in bed asap get them in and have done.

Also if you've done previous DIY work in the past and have a drill already this really should be achievable. Watch some videos, take your time. You'd be surprised. Doing it yourself should cost no more than £90, bracket, cables, brush plate, proper fixings, drill bits etc which you may not have.

£390 or £90?
 
Last edited:
CJRatch said:
A decent enough swivel TV bracket to mount a 46" TV should cost no more than £40. See Amazon or eBay, the reviews speak for themselves.

5m of aerial, 3m of figure 8 power lead and HDMI should cost no more than £20. Again see Amazon or eBay.

Is it REALLY a 2 man job? I don't think so.

It's not notifiable work.

I think it's steep. I'd get more quotes. If your well off and more concerned about watching I'm a celebrity tucked up in bed asap get them in and have done.

Also if you've done previous DIY work in the past and have a drill already this really should be achievable. Watch some videos, take your time. You'd be surprised. Doing it yourself should cost no more than £90, bracket, cables, brush plate, proper fixings, drill bits etc which you may not have.

£390 or £90?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post, very fair comments and you are 100% right on the bracket. I did point this out, but I presume he will use extra strong ones and at least for the cost, I know if it flies off the wall, he will have to sort me out.

I do have all of the tools, I have a drill, cable detector etc, I also have the Fix It fittings just for putting up a TV.

So my questions are...

Here is my wall...
Wall1.png

I have a stud detector, but it just doesn't work on this wall. The chap who came to quote knocked along the wall and found two partitions instantly. I just cannot differentiate between the noises when knocking.

This is what the power plug and behind it looks like...

BackBox1.png


BackBox2.png

It looks like there is some wood behind the power socket but I an see that there is a gap behind the plasterboard and the next wall behind this room.

How am I going to work out where the stud is to drill into that? I could then use the grip it fixings for parts that the bracket would cover which are plasterboard.

Do you think this is deep enough a gap behind the plaster to do the brush plates and if so, can you recommend anything to fish the cables through with?
 
is there any timber to either side of the socket back box? if you can tap out the prepunched circles with a screwdriver(I know!!) and there is a space, using a straightened coathanger you can work out how far along the wall the stud is. same applies to the top of the box to see if there are any noggins. if you have a strong magnet passing that across the wall might find the nails or screws that fix the plasterboard to the studs as well
 
An update for you all. I got a company in who charged less. Still a lot but less money.

They managed to do everything but could not run a brush panel at plug socket level and one behind tv. The reason for this was because there is a horizontal length of timber behind the plaster running about 80cms up from the floor. Really annoying as the guy had already cut out the holes for the brush panel. He said the only way around it was to cut a hole where the timber runs, make a hole in the timber for the cables and then put the plaster back that was cut, plaster the gaps up and re-paint. I would be looking at a cost of £70-80 for that. Don't particularly want my walls hacked apart, so for now have run power down from loft, so the tv still looks like it floats.

He has put both brush panels in, even the one which does not have anything going to it, but he seems to have just screwed them straight into the plaster rather than put a backbox in. One has already come loose, which is not ideal. I am sure I have some self-tightening single backboxes in one of my storage boxes. If I get a knife or similar and make the square holes slightly bigger, could I push these in? It looks deep enough from what I can see to accommodate for a back box.

Overall, I am glad I got someone in as I would not have been able to do this myself. Particularly drilling down from the loft and fishing the cables in.

TV.png
 
And that's why they charged less.

> They didn't factor on the horizontal noggins. That's a rookie mistake but also a failure to adequately site survey before cutting

> Brush plates screwed directly in to plaster. That's just sloppy, and if they turned up to a stud-wall-job without drylining boxes then that's incompetence in planning and preparation


I'm pleased for you that you got some progress. I do wonder though, when you factor in the additional cost for getting past the noggin, plus the extra work you'll have to do yourself to put the back-boxes in, will you have saved anything compared to the two guys who could have done this all in a day?
 
Lucid said:
And that's why they charged less.

> They didn't factor on the horizontal noggins. That's a rookie mistake but also a failure to adequately site survey before cutting

> Brush plates screwed directly in to plaster. That's just sloppy, and if they turned up to a stud-wall-job without drylining boxes then that's incompetence in planning and preparation


I'm pleased for you that you got some progress. I do wonder though, when you factor in the additional cost for getting past the noggin, plus the extra work you'll have to do yourself to put the back-boxes in, will you have saved anything compared to the two guys who could have done this all in a day?
Click to expand...

I agree, should have just gone with the two guys, but lesson learned and at least it is up.
Do you think I can cut the plaster with a knife or should I go and get a proper saw?
Glad I stood and watched though as I have learned a lot today and would be able to do my own in future.
 
Yiou can cut it with a sharp Stanley-style knife. It can be hard work though relative to the simplicity, ease and control that you get with a drywall saw. However, you're only really enlarging the holes rather than cutting fresh, so you'll be shaving rather than cutting a new furrow.
 
Lucid said:
Yiou can cut it with a sharp Stanley-style knife. It can be hard work though relative to the simplicity, ease and control that you get with a drywall saw. However, you're only really enlarging the holes rather than cutting fresh, so you'll be shaving rather than cutting a new furrow.
Click to expand...
Perfect, thanks. If I get time, I will nip into ScrewFix and get one, but not sure when I will next be passing them.

Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top