I get asked about this most weeks, usually by someone who has had a quote that seemed high and wants to know if it is fair. So here is exactly what I charge, and more usefully, what makes one job an hour and a near-identical one three.
I’m Richard. I’ve been doing this around Aylesbury for twenty years.
What I charge
£40 an hour, and no call-out fee. Small jobs are charged at a minimum of one hour.
That makes most jobs easy to work out in advance:
| Job | Typical time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Picture shelf, up to 1.2m | Up to 1 hour | £40 |
| Two or three shelves, same room | 1–2 hours | £40–£80 |
| TV up to 43″, flat bracket, straightforward wall | 1–1½ hours | £40–£60 |
| TV 44″–65″, flat or tilting bracket | 1½–2½ hours | £60–£100 |
| TV over 65″, or full-motion arm | 2–4 hours | £80–£160 |
| Cables hidden behind plasterboard | Add 1–2 hours | Add £40–£80 |
| Cables in trunking, painted to match | Add 1–2 hours | Add £40–£80 |
| Heavy mirror or large frame | 1–1½ hours | £40–£60 |
| Half day | 4 hours | £160 |
| Full day | 8 hours | £320 |
Brackets, fixings and trunking are extra if I supply them, and I charge you what they cost me.
I’ll tell you on the phone if I think a job is likely to run over, and if I’ve quoted you two hours and it takes three because of something I should have spotted, that’s on me, not you.
If you’ve got a few bits that need doing, get them done together. Three shelves and a TV in one visit works out a lot cheaper than four separate visits, because a fair bit of any small job is setting up and clearing away rather than the drilling.
It’s the wall that sets the price, not the TV
This is the part most cost guides skip. Nearly all the variation in what I charge comes down to what you’re fixing into.
Timber stud with plasterboard. Most internal walls in houses built since the 1960s. The studs are usually at 400mm or 600mm centres. If a stud happens to land where you want the bracket, this is quick. If it doesn’t — and with a TV bracket that needs to catch two studs, it often doesn’t — I’m either repositioning slightly or fitting a timber batten across the studs and mounting to that. That’s the difference between an hour and two and a half.
Dot and dab. Very common on the newer Aylesbury estates. Plasterboard is stuck to blockwork with dabs of adhesive, leaving a cavity of 10–25mm behind the board. This one catches people out badly, because the wall feels solid when you knock it. It isn’t. A standard plasterboard fixing bridges nothing, and a TV hung off one will eventually pull the board off the wall, usually taking a chunk of plaster and the TV with it. It needs long fixings driven right through into the blockwork behind. Slower, more expensive, and non-negotiable.
Solid brick or block. Older properties and most external walls. Straightforward but slower going — a decent SDS drill and proper frame fixings or sleeve anchors. Strongest wall of the lot once it’s in.
Lath and plaster. Victorian terraces around the town centre and the older villages. Horizontal timber laths with plaster pushed through the gaps. There is no fixing that holds reliably in the plaster or the laths themselves — everything has to go into the studs behind, and finding them without making a mess takes patience. I’d always want to look at one of these before quoting.
The bit that actually matters: what’s inside the wall
Electrical cables in walls are meant to run in defined “safe zones” — vertically or horizontally in line with a socket or switch, or within 150mm of the top of the wall or a corner. So if you’re drilling anywhere directly above, below or beside a socket, you’re drilling in the most likely place for a cable to be.
Two things worth knowing.
The zones are where cables are supposed to be. In a house that’s been extended, rewired, or had a kitchen fitted by someone in a hurry, they’re a guide rather than a guarantee. I detect before I drill, every time.
And a cheap stud detector from a DIY shed will find a stud in clean plasterboard and not much else. It won’t reliably see a cable behind dense plaster, and it won’t see a copper pipe behind a dot-and-dab cavity at all.
Should you just do it yourself?
Plenty of this is DIY-able, and I’d rather tell you that than take money for twenty minutes’ work.
Have a go if it’s a lightweight shelf or a picture on a plain plasterboard wall, well away from any sockets or switches, and you’ve got a drill and a detector. Use proper plasterboard anchors rather than the plastic plugs that came in the box — those are for masonry and will spin uselessly in board.
Call someone if it’s a dot-and-dab wall, lath and plaster, or you’re not sure which you’ve got. Or the TV is over about 50″. Or you want the cables out of sight. Or it’s above a fireplace, where the bracket has to cope with heat and the wall is often not what it appears to be. Or it’s going above a bed, a cot or a sofa where somebody sits — a 65″ TV is 25–30kg, and a fixing that’s merely “probably fine” isn’t good enough over a bed.
The jobs I get called to fix are almost always one of two things: a plasterboard fixing that’s been asked to hold a masonry load, or a bracket that’s caught one stud instead of two. Both look fine on day one.
Questions I get asked
Will you take the old bracket off and make good?
Yes. Filling and touching in the old holes is part of the job, not an extra.
Can you hide the cables?
Behind plasterboard, usually yes. Into solid brick it means chasing the wall out and making good afterwards, which is a bigger job — I’d talk you through whether it’s worth it. Mains sockets behind the TV have to be added by an electrician, and I’ll say so rather than bodge it.
Do I need to buy the bracket?
Buy it if you’ve already got one in mind, and I’ll check it’s right for your wall and TV before I start. If you’d rather not, tell me the TV size and model and I’ll bring something suitable and charge you what it cost me.
How long does it take?
Most single TV installs are done inside two hours. Shelves are quicker. Cable concealment can run to half a day.
Where do you cover?
Aylesbury and the surrounding villages. If you’re not sure whether you’re in range, just ask.
How do I book?
Call or message me. Tell me the TV size, roughly what the wall’s made of if you know, and whether you want the cables hidden — that’s usually enough for me to give you a firm price over the phone.
What people say
“Richard did a great job hanging four heavy mirrors. Punctual, courteous and extremely efficient. Completed the job to a very high standard. I would definitely recommend.”
— Siobhan, Leighton Buzzard
“Richard was punctual, polite and very tidy. Excellent work would use again.”
— Caroline, Leighton Buzzard
Get it booked
If you’ve got a TV, a shelf or a wall full of pictures waiting to go up, drop me a message with a photo of the wall and I’ll come back with a price.
Richard Anslow — TradesPro
07723 966130 or 01296 312 922
richard@tradespro.co.uk
Aylesbury and surrounding villages