How Much Do Plasterers Cost?

In short: Published 2026 UK cost guides put a plasterer's day rate at roughly £180 to £300, and skimming the walls of a medium-sized room at about £425 to £625 including materials. A full re-plaster, where the old plaster is hacked off, costs considerably more. Prices are lower in the north of England and the Midlands than in London and the South East. The condition of the wall, not its size, is what separates a cheap job from an expensive one.

01 How much do plasterers cost?

A plasterer costs roughly £425 to £625 to skim the walls of a medium-sized room, according to the 2026 cost guides published by MyJobQuote and Rated People, with labour and materials included. Small rooms come in lower, large rooms and ceilings higher, and a full re-plaster costs more again because the old plaster has to come off first.

Which? publishes wider ranges from a survey of its Trusted Traders, because it includes the awkward jobs as well as the straightforward ones. The table below sets the published figures side by side, with the date each source gives.

MyJobQuote figures from its skim-a-room guide (updated 25 September 2026) and plaster-a-room guide (updated 2 September 2026). Rated People gives one range for skimming a room, stated accurate as of 2026. Which? figures are from a survey of 9 Which? Trusted Traders in November 2025, published 1 May 2026, and exclude VAT. Room sizes differ slightly between sources.

02 How much do plasterers charge?

Plasterers charge in one of three ways — a fixed price for the job, a rate per square metre, or a day rate — and for domestic work a fixed price is the most common. MyJobQuote notes that although a day rate covers an eight-hour day, most domestic plastering is quoted as a fixed total.

Per square metre, MyJobQuote's September 2026 guide gives £15 to £25 for skimming over existing plasterboard, £30 to £40 for a full two-coat re-plaster, and £35 to £55 over old or uneven walls that need extra preparation. Its skim-a-room guide puts typical skimming at £13 to £30 per m². Rated People lists skimming a wall at around £22 to £26 per m².

03 What is a plasterer's day rate?

A plasterer's day rate in the UK is typically £180 to £300 in 2026, depending on the region and the source. MyJobQuote puts the national average at £180 to £250 a day in one guide and £200 to £300 in another; Rated People gives an average of around £250 a day, or £15 to £50 an hour.

Region matters more than anything else. MyJobQuote's regional table puts London and the South East at £250 to £350 or more, the Midlands at £200 to £275, and the North of England at £180 to £250. Rated People's 2026 kitchen cost breakdown lists plasterers at £150 to £250 a day.

04 How much should you pay a plasterer per day?

In North Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire you should expect to pay a plasterer somewhere between £180 and £275 a day, because the area sits across the Midlands and North of England bands in MyJobQuote's regional table. A day rate well below that usually means a less experienced plasterer or a job that will take more days; well above it usually means specialist work such as lime plaster or Venetian finishes.

A day rate is only a fair price if you know how many days the job takes. As a guide, Which?'s traders put a medium-room re-skim at about two days and a medium-room re-plaster at three to four. Ask for the number of days in writing, and ask whether materials, waste removal and making good around sockets and frames are included.

05 What makes plastering cost more?

The condition of the wall moves a plastering price more than the size of the room. These are the things that turn a one-day skim into a bigger job.

• Blown or damp plaster that has to be hacked back to the brick and rebuilt in two coats — a re-plaster, not a skim.
• Artex on a ceiling, which has to be checked for asbestos and stabilised before it is skimmed.
• Ceilings in general, which are slower and harder work than walls.
• Lath and plaster in older houses, which may need overboarding rather than patching.
• Making good after other trades — chases for cables and pipes, a removed wall, a new doorway.
• Access: stairwells and high ceilings need a platform or scaffold tower.
• Location: London and the South East cost noticeably more than the Midlands and the north.

06 How long does plastering take?

Skimming one room takes one to three days and a full re-plaster of a room takes two to five, depending on its size. Those are the ranges given by Rated People and by the traders surveyed by Which?. Fresh plaster then needs 5 to 7 days to dry in a heated room before it is painted, and the first coat should be a watered-down mist coat. Our guide to skimming over artex covers the ceiling question in more detail.

07 How do you tell a good plasterer?

A good plasterer looks at the walls before giving a price, says plainly whether they need a skim or a re-plaster, and puts the scope and the number of days in writing. The finished wall shows the rest. Hold a torch flat against it: good skimming is flat and smooth, with no ripples, trowel marks or ridges at the joints. The corners and window reveals are straight, the beads are buried, and there is a clean line where the wall meets the ceiling.

These are the things to check before you book.

• They come and see the job. A plasterer who prices a room from a photo has not tapped the walls to find where the old plaster has blown.
• They tell you whether the job is a skim or a re-plaster, and why. Skimming over blown or damp plaster is the commonest way a cheap job fails.
• The quote lists the preparation: PVA or bonding, beads on the corners, scrim tape on board joints, and protecting floors and fittings.
• They ask about artex before touching a textured ceiling, and talk about testing it for asbestos rather than scraping it straight off.
• They can show you recent rooms they have finished, and give drying and mist-coat advice without being asked.

08 How do we price plastering?

Barbers Bathrooms & Kitchens does not publish plastering prices and does not work to a day rate for homeowners. We look at the walls, tap them to find where the plaster has blown, and give you a fixed written quote that states what is included — preparation, beads, making good and clearing up — so the figure you agree is the figure you pay.

You can read more about our plastering service, or, if you are in or around Chesterfield, our page for plasterers in Chesterfield. The figures in this guide are a sound way to judge whether any quote, ours included, is in the right range.