How to Price Plastering Work in the UK: 2026 Rates Guide

Plastering is one of the easiest trades to underprice. The work looks quick, the material cost is low, and clients expect a round number for the room. Then the walls turn out to be blown, the ceiling needs overboarding, and two days becomes four. Here is how to price plastering work in the UK for 2026, with a worked quote from first principles and the costs that get left off almost every quote.

The Three Types of Plastering Job You Are Pricing

Be clear which of these you are actually being asked to do, because they carry very different labour outputs.

1. Skim Only

A two-coat multi-finish skim over a sound existing surface or fresh plasterboard. A good plasterer covers 40 to 60 m2 a day on clean, flat walls. The risk is not the plastering, it is the substrate. Artex, flaking paint, gloss and old distemper all need sealing or the finish will fail.

2. Board and Skim

Supply and fix plasterboard, tape the joints, then skim. You are pricing two operations plus materials. Boarding runs at roughly 40 to 50 m2 a day for a plasterer and labourer, with the skim following the day after. Dot and dab onto masonry is quicker than fixing to timber studs.

3. Float and Set

Two-coat work onto bare brick or block, usually hardwall or bonding followed by a finish coat. Output drops hard, to between 15 and 25 m2 a day. This is where most underquoting happens, because people apply a skim rate to a float and set job and lose half their labour.

UK Plastering Rates 2026

Typical supply and fix ranges outside London. Add 20 to 30 per cent inside the M25 and across the South East, and take 5 to 10 per cent off in parts of the North and Wales.

• Skim over existing plaster: £11 to £16 per m2
• Skim over new plasterboard: £10 to £14 per m2
• Board and skim, dot and dab to masonry: £22 to £30 per m2
• Board and skim to timber studwork: £26 to £32 per m2
• Float and set onto brick or block: £28 to £40 per m2
• Ceiling work: add 15 to 25 per cent over the equivalent wall rate
• Plasterer day rate: £180 to £260, rising to £250 to £320 in London

To build your own rates, a 25kg bag of multi-finish is about £9 to £12 and covers roughly 10 m2 at 2mm, and a 2400 x 1200 x 12.5mm plasterboard sheet is around £9 to £13 for 2.88 m2.

Measure the Job Properly

Walls are perimeter multiplied by height. Ceilings are length multiplied by width. Deduct any opening over 1 m2 and leave the small ones in, because you still have to cut around them and bead them out. Then walk the job and note what changes the labour rather than the area:

• Ceiling height over 2.7m, which means trestles or a tower and slower work
• Blown or hollow-sounding plaster that has to come off before you start
• Artex, which needs sealing and may contain asbestos in anything pre-2000
• Occupied property, where masking and clearing up eat a real part of the day

Worked Example: Re-Skimming Two Bedrooms

Bedroom one is 4.0m x 3.5m x 2.4m high. Walls are 15.0m perimeter x 2.4m, which is 36.0 m2, less a door at 1.6 m2 and a window at 1.8 m2, giving 32.6 m2. The ceiling is 14.0 m2.

Bedroom two is 3.2m x 3.0m x 2.4m high. Walls are 12.4m x 2.4m, which is 29.8 m2, less 3.1 m2 of openings, giving 26.7 m2. The ceiling is 9.6 m2.

That is 59.3 m2 of wall and 23.6 m2 of ceiling, so 82.9 m2 overall. Now build the price:

• Labour: 82.9 m2 at 45 m2 a day is 1.8 days of skimming, plus half a day of prep, PVA and beads. Call it 2.5 plasterer days at £220, which is £550. Add half a labourer day at £130, so £615 in total.
• Materials: 10 bags of multi-finish at £11 is £110, PVA £12, scrim and beads £25, dust sheets and sundries £15. That is £162.
• Waste: bags and a tip run, £40.
• Travel: 2.5 days at £15, so £38.

Direct cost is £855. Add overheads at 12 per cent, which is £103, giving £958. Add 20 per cent margin, which is £192. The quote is £1,150 plus VAT, and that works out at £13.87 per m2. It sits neatly inside the £11 to £16 skim band, which tells you the build-up is sound.

The Costs Plasterers Leave Off

• Prep and protection: masking, sheeting and moving furniture is often half a day on an occupied job and is almost never priced.
• Making good before you start: hacking off blown plaster and dubbing out hollows is separate work, not part of the skim rate.
• Access: tower hire for a stairwell or high ceiling is a real line item.
• Waste: mix waste, bags and tip charges. Ten per cent on materials covers most jobs.
• Your own overheads: van, fuel, insurance and the hours you spend quoting. If you are not adding 10 to 15 per cent before your margin, your margin is paying for them.

Day Rate or Square Metre Rate?

Quote per m2 wherever the work is measurable, because the client can see what they are buying and you get paid for output rather than hours. Fall back to a day rate for patching, repairs and anything where you cannot see what you are walking into.

Get the Quote Out the Same Day

The plasterer who sends a clear, itemised quote that evening usually wins against the one who promises a price by the weekend. Tools like MyQS turn your measurements into a priced, professional quote in minutes, with your own rates behind it, so you can price on the drive home instead of on Sunday night.

FAQ: Pricing Plastering Work

Q: How much should I charge to skim a standard bedroom?
A: A typical 4m x 3.5m bedroom is around 46 m2 of wall and ceiling once you deduct the openings. At £12 to £16 per m2 that is roughly £550 to £750 plus VAT for a full re-skim, assuming the existing surface is sound. If the walls need hacking off or the ceiling needs overboarding, price that separately.

Q: Should I charge extra for ceilings?
A: Yes. Ceiling work is slower and harder than walls, so add 15 to 25 per cent to your wall rate. One blended rate is fine as long as it reflects the actual wall to ceiling split on that job.

Q: What if the walls are worse than expected once I start?
A: Put a condition in your quote before you go near the job. State that the price assumes a sound, dry substrate, and that hacking off, dubbing out or overboarding will be quoted separately if found. That single line turns an awkward conversation into an expected variation.

Price It Right, Every Time

Good plastering prices are a measured area, a rate you can defend, an honest allowance for prep and waste, and a margin you do not discount away on site. Build every quote the same way and the profitable jobs stop being luck.

Ready to stop losing evenings to paperwork? Create your free MyQS account and build your next plastering quote in minutes.