Plaster - Internal skim – cost per m² – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Plaster - Internal skim

per m² · supply & lay

£18 – £53 / m²

What is it

A thin finishing coat of gypsum plaster applied internally to walls or ceilings to provide a smooth surface ready for decoration.

Rate guide

Standard two-coat skim to new plasterboard walls£18 – £24/m²

Skim to sound existing plaster walls£21 – £30/m²

Skim to plasterboard ceilings£22 – £32/m²

High walls or stairwells with access constraints£28 – £42/m²

Small, isolated or heavily broken-up areas£33 – £53/m²

Labour output

Open-plan walls with continuous working70–100 m²/day

Typical rooms with doors, windows and corners45–70 m²/day

Ceilings or high-level work from podiums30–50 m²/day

Small rooms, stairwells or restricted areas18–35 m²/day

Key rate adjusters

Substrate preparation

Priming, scraping and local filling to variable backgrounds can add £3–£9/m².

Beads and reveals

Numerous angles, stops and window reveals can increase the overall rate by 10–25%.

Working height

Podiums, towers or repeated access moves typically add £4–£12/m².

Area and repetition

Large uninterrupted areas can reduce the standard rate by 5–12%, while small isolated rooms attract higher minimum charges.

Surface geometry

Curves, sloping soffits and intricate junctions commonly increase labour cost by 20–40%.

Programme constraints

Out-of-hours working, phased handovers or accelerated drying sequences can add 15–35%.

Quantity surveyor insights

Waste and buildability: Plaster waste is usually modest on open walls but rises sharply where small mixes, awkward access and fragmented workfaces prevent continuous application; coordinated boarding, completed first-fix services and dry backgrounds materially improve productivity.
Scope and procurement: Clarify whether the package includes primers, beads, mesh reinforcement, local making good, access and protection, as these are frequent scope gaps; early procurement with room-by-room quantities and a defined readiness standard reduces daywork exposure and trade-interface disputes.

Estimate Anything AI answer · indicative budget rates · updated 31 August 2026