If you are pricing up a renovation or a new stud wall, the figure you will hear most often is a rate per square metre. In this guide we set out realistic UK drylining rates, explain what the number actually includes, and show you why two quotes for the same room can differ so much.
As a broad guide, most UK homeowners pay somewhere between £22 and £45 per square metre for drylining supplied and fixed, with the finish included pushing that higher. In the South East, including Essex and the London fringe, expect the upper half of that range because labour and parking or access costs run higher than the national average.
The method matters. Dot and dab, where plasterboard is bonded straight to a masonry wall with adhesive, is usually the cheapest at roughly £22 to £35 per square metre. Boarding onto a new timber or metal stud frame costs more because the frame itself has to be built first, and insulated drylining, where a thermal laminate board is used to warm up a cold external wall, can reach £50 to £70 per square metre once materials are counted.
This is where most confusion starts. A bare drylining rate usually covers the board, fixings and the labour to hang it. It often excludes the finish, which is either taping and jointing or a full plaster skim, and that finish can add £10 to £25 per square metre on its own. Always ask whether a quote is to a paint ready standard or just boarded.
Rates also rarely include stripping out old lath and plaster, moving sockets and switches forward onto the new wall face, or building pattresses for radiators and wall units. On older Essex housing stock, particularly pre war properties around Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Epping, removal and disposal of the existing plaster is often the biggest hidden cost, sometimes matching the drylining itself.
Small jobs carry a premium. A tradesperson still has to travel, unload, protect floors and clean up whether they are boarding one chimney breast or a whole house, so a single small wall might be priced as a half day at £150 to £250 rather than by the metre. Per metre rates only really settle down once a job passes 40 to 50 square metres.
Other factors that move the price include ceiling height and awkward access, the board specification, since moisture resistant, acoustic and fire rated boards all cost more than standard 12.5mm plasterboard, and how straight the existing walls are. A wonky solid wall may need battening or an independent frame before any board goes up, and that is extra time and material a cheap quote may simply have ignored.
Ask every firm to quote the same scope in writing: the drylining method, the board type and thickness, whether the finish is tape and joint or skim, who handles rubbish removal, and whether making good around windows and sockets is included. Once quotes cover the same items, the price gap usually narrows a lot.
Be a little wary of a rate far below the ranges above. It usually means something has been left out, the boards are being spaced too far off the fixings, or the finish is not included. A mid range quote from someone who has actually visited and measured the rooms is nearly always better value than the cheapest number given over the phone.
Usually yes, because it is faster and involves far less drying time. A tape and joint finish in particular avoids the two coat wet plaster process, though a skim over plasterboard sits somewhere between the two in cost.
Not always, but on solid brick walls with no cavity it makes a noticeable difference to warmth and condensation. Building Regulations can require a minimum thermal standard when you renovate more than half of an external wall, so it is worth checking before you commit.
A typical bedroom of around 25 to 35 square metres of wall can usually be boarded in one to two days, with taping or skimming adding another day or two. Decorating should wait until joints or skim are fully dry, normally around a week for skim.
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