If you are pricing up drylining for a single room, most UK homeowners end up paying somewhere between £600 and £1,800 depending on size, method and finish. That is a wide range, so this guide breaks down what sits behind it, using the rates we see day to day working across Harlow, Essex and the wider M11 corridor.
Drylining is usually priced per square metre of wall or ceiling. As a rough guide in 2026, dot and dab plasterboard onto a sound masonry wall tends to run £22 to £35 per m2 including boards and adhesive. Boarding onto a new timber or metal stud frame is more like £30 to £45 per m2 once you include the framing, and insulated plasterboard for cold external walls typically adds £10 to £20 per m2 on top of standard boarding.
Those figures cover boarding and taping or skimming, but not decoration. In Essex and the Home Counties, prices sit slightly above the national average because labour rates are higher than in the north, though generally below inner London rates.
A small box room of around 2.5m x 2.5m has roughly 20 to 25 m2 of wall area once you deduct the door and window, so a straightforward dryline and skim often lands between £600 and £900. A typical double bedroom or living room, around 4m x 3.5m, is more commonly £900 to £1,500. Add the ceiling and you are usually looking at another £250 to £450 for an average room.
If the job includes stripping old lath and plaster, battening out wonky walls, or insulating solid brick external walls, a full room can reach £1,800 to £2,500. It is worth getting the state of the existing walls assessed before you fix a budget, because preparation is where most surprises live.
Method matters more than most people expect. Dot and dab is quick and cheap but needs reasonably flat masonry. Stud framing or metal furring channel costs more in labour and materials but lets you hide pipework and cables, straighten bowed walls and add acoustic or thermal insulation. Board choice also shifts the number: moisture resistant boards for bathrooms, fire rated boards near boilers or garages, and acoustic boards for party walls all cost more than standard 12.5mm plasterboard.
Finish is the other big variable. A taped and jointed finish ready for paint is common in new builds and slightly cheaper, while a full plaster skim gives the traditional smooth finish most homeowners in older Harlow and Essex properties prefer, adding around £8 to £12 per m2. Access, ceiling height, waste disposal and whether the room is empty or furnished all nudge the price too.
Ask each firm to quote the same specification: the boarding method, board type and thickness, whether insulation is included, the finish, and who handles rubbish removal. A quote that looks £300 cheaper often just excludes skimming or skip hire. A written, itemised quote also makes it far easier to query anything later.
Be wary of anyone quoting a firm price without seeing the room or at least good photos and measurements. Existing plaster condition, damp and hidden services genuinely change the scope, and an honest contractor will say so rather than guess low and add extras afterwards.
Usually yes, particularly on larger areas, because boarding is much faster than applying multiple coats of wet plaster. Drylining also dries in days rather than weeks, so decoration and the rest of the job can move on sooner.
Standard plasterboard makes little difference, but using insulated plasterboard on cold external walls can noticeably cut heat loss in solid wall homes. Expect to pay more per square metre, with the saving recovered gradually through lower heating costs.
A typical bedroom takes one to two days to board and a further day to tape or skim. If a skim finish is applied, allow around a week of drying before painting.
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