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.
75mm sand:cement screed
per m² · supply & lay
£21 – £42 / m²
What is it
The supply and laying of a 75 mm nominal traditional sand:cement (1:4, sharp sand) floor screed, site-batched in a mixer and ruled to level over a structural base to receive a floor finish, priced per m² of finished floor. A screed is the levelling topping between the structural slab and the floor finish — not the structural base itself. The rate carries two operations:
Site-batched & laid — a traditional 1:4 sand:cement screed mixed on site, barrowed to place and laid to a nominal 75 mm over the prepared base.
Ruled & floated to level — screeded off to rails/datums and floated to a level surface ready to receive the floor finish; unbonded/floating on a normal ground-floor base.
Rate range by screed thickness
50 mm£21 – £27 / m²
75 mm£27 – £34 / m²
100 mm£32 – £42 / m²
Budget rate per m².
3 key cost drivers
Screed thickness
A thicker screed uses proportionally more material per m²; 75 mm nominal is the default. Thickness is the main lever on the material cost, the larger part of this rate.
Area & access
Large open bays with easy delivery lay fastest; small cut-up rooms or upper floors (barrow/hoist) slow the gang and lift the labour per m². It is a key driver of laying output.
Location
London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.
Estimator
Budget rate generator
£27 – £34 / m²
Covers the sand:cement screed material, the laying gang and O&P · excl. the structural base, prelims & VAT
Exclusions
Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
The structural base / slab beneath, DPM / radon barrier & floor insulation
The floor finish, under-floor-heating pipes, the SBR primer for a bonded screed & power-floated wearing finishes
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare