When it comes to plastering, many of us probably don’t even consider how much work goes in to the smooth walls we take for granted in our home or how many various plaster options there are. However, plastering is a vital decorating job, and one that you may need to have done, particularly if you live in an old house. Plastering is also often done as a repair job if your walls are damaged.
Plaster is an essential part of the walls in modern homes, as it seals the brickwork, creating the dust-free interior of our homes. It also creates the smooth surface that we need to paint over. Without plaster, the walls of your home would be either rough brickwork or insulation – so it’s very important, even if you don’t often think about it.
So, if you need plastering work done on your home, how much is it likely to cost you? In this guide, we’ll cover the price you can expect to pay for your project, as well as some information on what affects the price.
The price you’ll pay a plasterer for your plastering job depends on a few things like the type of plastering you need, the size of your room, and the condition of the existing plaster. On the table to the right of this page, you can view the prices for a simple plastering job in a medium sized room, with the variations across the country as labour costs are different depending on where you live. Note that this price is for a fairly straightforward re-plastering job – read on to find out more about the different kinds of plastering and the costs of each.
There are three main types of plastering: skimming, plastering or replastering, and rendering. We’ll explain what makes each type unique as well as give you some indicative prices for each one. We’re quoting prices per room – if you just need one wall plastering then divide each price by around 3. Bear in mind that a portion of the cost will be simply for the plasterer coming out, so it’s not quite as easy as dividing the price by 4 for each wall.
Skimming is an option for if the walls you need to be plastered are in good condition but just need a bit of a touch up. For example, if you’ve got small holes from picture hooks etc., or just need the surface to be smoothed over a bit. Skimming is cheaper than a full replastering job. Expect to pay around £400 for a small room, £550 for a medium sized one and £700 for a larger room. Bear in mind that your walls do need to be in good condition for skimming to be an option, so if you’re not sure it’s worth speaking to a plasterer to get their opinion.
Replastering a room or wall means stripping off the existing plaster and then replastering. This is more time consuming than skimming, but it will guarantee you smooth walls no matter the existing damage, and for big holes or damaged walls it’s the only way to get them back to perfect quality. Because it takes longer, it’s more expensive, so you should expect to pay around £700 for a small room, £850 for a medium sized one, and £1200 for a large room.
So far, we’ve been discussing plastering internal and external walls. But there’s another surface in your home that’s commonly plastered – the ceiling. This may be to remove Artex or other decorative work or even to fix a leak. As with other kinds of plastering, if the ceiling is only lightly damaged you may be able to just reskim it, but to fix large holes or after Artex removal, a full replastering job will be needed.
For skimming ceilings, expect to pay around £150-£200 for a small room, £200-£300 for a medium sized room and £300-£400 for a larger room. For full replastering, it’ll be slightly more expensive, with small rooms costing around £200-£300, medium rooms £300-£450 and large rooms around £500-£750.
The main things that will affect the cost of your plastering project are the size of the walls or ceiling and the condition of the existing plaster. Beyond that, there isn’t a huge amount that will affect the price except for variations between the amount different tradespeople charge you. Because of this, it’s always worth getting several quotes from reputable plasterers to shop around for the best rates and to discuss what’s included in the job.
As we’ve already mentioned, the main thing that will make your plastering project more expensive is the amount of plastering that there is to do. Simply put, the more wall or ceiling that needs to be plastered, the more you’ll pay.
The other thing that will affect the cost is the condition of the wall of ceiling and the plaster already there. As we’ve discussed in this article, if you’ve only got light damage, you could save money by just having the wall or ceiling skimmed. But, if there’s serious damage, you’ll need to have it fully replastered, and this adds to the overall cost.
| Job | Estimate |
| Rendering a 4-bed detached home (no scaffolding) | £9000 |
| Rendering an external wall per sqm | £50 per sqr metre |
| Plastering a medium sized room (walls only) | £700 |