Plasterer Spotlight: Tristan Bethell

From the sweeping curves of coastal homes to tight-radius handrails, Sydney-based plasterer Tristan Bethell has built a name for himself and his company, Dream Linings, by doing the jobs others say can’t be done.

Today, Dream Linings has grown to a seven-person team tackling complex work across the Northern Beaches of Sydney. But it all started simply enough for Tristan when, 25 years ago, a job at a plasterboard supplier led to an unexpected apprenticeship.

“I fell into the industry,” he recalls. “I never thought about what I was going to do. School wasn't always for me, but I always like working with my hands, being hands-on, finding the creativity and all that sort of stuff. There's a lot of curves and all that cool high-end work, so it was fun!” 

‘I like to do a job once, do it right, and that’s it.’

What’s kept Tristan in the trade for over two decades? Among other benefits, it often comes down to the creative challenges. Visit Dream Linings on their Instagram page, and you’ll see what we mean — his work is full of smooth curves, sleek lines and pristine finishes. And Tristan prides himself on not just getting it right, but getting it right the first time, with no callbacks.

“I think we're trusted to achieve the finish that people are after,” says Tristan. “We like to do the jobs that other plasterers go, ‘Oh, you can't do that, I don't think you can do that.’ Well, you can do it. You can do anything. You just got to put your mind to it and figure out the best way to do it so that you're not going to have any failures with it. Sometimes you do jobs that have never been done before, but we have that knowledge and know-how to know that we've done everything we can so that it won't fail. I like to just do a job once, do it right, and that's it — there's no callbacks, no coming back, and everyone's happy."

‘We couldn’t do it without Trim-Tex’

Part of ensuring a flawless, long-lasting finish, with no callbacks, comes down to using the right materials. And Tristan trusts Trim-Tex for his finish for a couple massive reasons: for one, he works in a coastal region, where metal beads will rust and corrode. And, two, Tristan likes plasterboard with tight curves, sharp lines and a dash of added flair — and, as any veteran plasterer knows, from archway corner beads to Tear Away L Bead to shadow and reveal beads, the Trim-Tex catalog is chockablock with these kinds of solutions.

“It's a game changer — we couldn't do it without Trim-Tex,” Tristan tells us. “I know when I first started, we didn't have any plastic beads. They were all metal. The majority of our work is in a coastal area. We're on headlands, on beaches, there's salt. That was a big problem. We used to have to buy stainless-steel metal beads, and they were just a pain to use. You're quite restricted with all that. Since we've had the Trim-Tex, the installation's been a lot quicker. We can achieve so many more tighter curves and detailed work that we would never have been able to achieve 25 years ago, when we didn't have those things in Australia.

“I don't think we could have done [our archways] with any other product — there's nothing else that we could have done to achieve that. Not to have the nice, tight, clean finish that we get from that, and the installation down to completion. It's just flawless. It's a game-changer for us. It's so quick, so streamlined and efficient, and the range of beads and stuff that we have these days is great.”

Thanks to Tristan for taking the time to talk to us! You can find out more about Tristan's company, Dream Linings, here. Want more contractor spotlights like this one? Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter below to never miss another story!