Thermoplastic Road Markings / Lining – cost per metre – UK 2026 Rate Guide

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

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

Road markings / lining (thermoplastic)

per m² · supply & lay

£1.4 – £2.3 / m

What is it

The supply and application of a ~100 mm continuous thermoplastic (hot-applied screed) road-marking line to a prepared, sound carriageway surface, priced per metre of line. A road-marking gang melts the thermoplastic screed in the pre-melt boiler and applies it to line with the screed applicator, dropping glass beads onto the hot material for reflectivity. This rate prices the supply & application of the continuous line ONLY — surface preparation, pre-marking / setting-out survey, removal of old lines, reflective studs, arrows, letters, symbols & hatching, and the carriageway courses laid or planed are all separate items. The rate carries three operations:

Melt — the thermoplastic screed brought up to temperature in the LPG pre-melt boiler.
Apply — the hot screed laid to line at ~100 mm width by the applicator, to the pre-marked set-out.
Bead — glass beads dropped onto the hot line for skid resistance and night reflectivity, and the line made good.

Rate range by marking spec

Standard highway screed£1.4 – £1.8 / m

Reflective white / yellow£1.6 – £2.0 / m

High-build / high-friction£1.8 – £2.3 / m

Budget rate per m².

3 key cost drivers

Line width, type & access

A 100 mm continuous solid line on long open runs lays fastest and is the priced default. Wider 150 mm or double lines raise the material used; short estate runs, junctions, bends, setting-out, removing old lines, night working with traffic management and restricted access all slow the gang and lift the rate per metre. The London & South-East market runs dearer. Region rides this note, not a dropdown.

Marking material spec

A reflective white or yellow thermoplastic screed with dropped-on glass beads is the priced default. A plain standard highway screed is the lower end; a high-build, high-friction or preformed thermoplastic system runs dearer. It is the largest single driver of the rate — the calculator flexes the marking material across its delivered price band.

Location

London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

Marking material spec

£1.6 – £2.0 / m

Covers the thermoplastic screed & glass beads, the road-marking gang, applicator & boiler and O&P · excl. surface prep, pre-marking/setting-out, removal of old lines, studs, symbols/hatching, traffic management & VAT

Exclusions

Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Surface preparation, pre-marking / setting-out survey, and removal of existing / redundant lines (a separate grind / blast item)
Reflective road studs, arrows, letters, symbols & hatching (per nr / m²), the carriageway courses laid or planed, traffic management, prelims & VAT
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
VAT