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.
Second-fix carpentry — softwood skirting
per m · supply & fix
£14 – £29 / m
What is it
The supply and fixing of a second-fix softwood skirting run — softwood (redwood) torus/ogee skirting measured, cut, mitred at internal & external corners, scribed to the floor and fixed (grab adhesive plus pins or screws) to masonry or studwork, with caulk & filler to finish — priced per metre of run. A 25 × 125 mm softwood torus/ogee board is the mainstream UK budget skirting. The calculator also prices the two sibling second-fix mouldings run the same way — softwood architrave to door & opening surrounds and softwood/MDF window board to reveals (different sections and outputs, so different BoQ rates); internal doors & ironmongery and staircases are separate rates, and the decoration is a painter’s rate. The skirting run carries three operations:
Set out & cut — the run measured, boards cut to length and mitred at internal & external corners.
Scribe & fix — scribed to an uneven floor, grab-adhesive applied and the board pinned or screwed off to masonry plugs or studwork.
Finish — decorator’s caulk to the top edge and filler to fixings & scribes, ready for the painter.
Rate range
Low£14 – £17 / m
Typical£17 – £21 / m
High£22 – £29 / m
Budget rate per m.
3 key cost drivers
Room complexity & access
A simple room with long straight runs fixes fastest; many internal & external corners, bays, short walls, pipe/radiator cut-outs or restricted access add mitring, scribing and cutting time. It is a key driver of the labour per metre.
Profile & material
Softwood torus/ogee 25 × 125 mm is the priced default. Pre-primed MDF, hardwood and large-section moulded profiles are dearer boards at different material cost — priced by swapping the board. It is a key driver of the material cost.
Location
London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.
Estimator
Budget rate generator
£16 – £20 / m
Covers the softwood skirting board, adhesive, fixings & sundries, the carpenter and O&P · excl. decoration, making good & VAT
Exclusions
Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Internal doors & ironmongery and staircases (separate second-fix rates); the door leaf/lining under the architrave
Decoration (knot/prime/undercoat/gloss) of the skirting, architrave or window board, making good the wall behind, and access / scaffold
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare