Phil L wrote:

* Regardless of which option above is best, is it cost-effective to do
the plasterboarding myself and then pay a plasterer to do the
skimming, or should I just get the plasterer to do the whole job if
I'm not planning on skimming it myself?

Better to ask individual plasterers, some want the boarding some don't

Agree with that; last time I had one done the plasterer wasn't at all
happy with me proposing to board it as he said he knows how much gap he
likes between adjacent sheets etc etc (ie. basically a crappy boarding
job can make it much harder to skim plaster afterwards). In the end I
didn't argue as the price for the all in job wasn't that much higher
than for skim-only. Incredible how fast the guy was able to chuck the
boards up, with his screw gun etc.

David