Plastering quote template and how to price per m²

How plasterers usually price a job

Plasterers usually price per m² for areas they can measure, per room or per ceiling for common jobs they know their times on, and per day for patching, repairs and awkward work. Beads, coving and reveals are often priced by the metre.

How to price plastering per m²

Work out your own rate per m² for each type of work from your day rate and how many square metres you finish in a day, add your materials cost per m², then multiply by the measured area. Add everything that is not flat area as separate lines.

1. Measure the walls. Length of each wall times its height, added together. Take off large openings if you price that way, but remember reveals add work.
2. Measure the ceilings. Length times width for each ceiling.
3. Group the areas by type of work: skim over sound plaster, bond and skim, board and skim, or render.
4. Find your labour rate per m² for each type: your day rate divided by the m² you can finish in a day on that kind of work.
5. Add materials per m² using the coverage printed on the bag, plus your own waste allowance, then your markup.
6. Add the extras as their own lines: hacking off, beads, reveals, preparation, protection, making good and waste removal.
7. Add VAT if you are registered.

Markup and margin

Markup on materials pays for buying, collecting and storing them. Know the arithmetic before you choose a figure:

VAT

Add VAT only if you are VAT registered. GOV.UK says you must register if your taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, measured on a rolling 12 months rather than your tax year. The standard rate is 20%, but some goods and services carry a reduced or zero rate, so check GOV.UK's VAT rates if you are unsure. If you are not registered, say on the quote that no VAT is charged.

What to include on a plastering quote

A plastering quote should let the customer see exactly which surfaces are being done, to what finish, and what they need to sort out before and after you.

1. Your details, including your VAT number if you are registered.
2. A quote number, the date and a valid-until date.
3. The customer's name and the site address.
4. The scope, surface by surface: which walls and ceilings, the type of work, and the preparation.
5. The measurements you priced from, so a change in size is easy to price.
6. What is not included, such as decorating, the mist coat, removing and refitting sockets and switches, skirting and coving, and damp treatment.
7. A price breakdown: materials, labour and other costs.
8. VAT, or a line saying no VAT is charged.
9. Drying time: tell the customer the plaster needs time to dry before decorating.
10. Payment terms, how changes are handled and how to accept.

Extras, variations and blown plaster

Write an assumption on the quote that unsound plaster or damage found once work starts will be shown to the customer and priced before you carry on. Plastering is full of things you only find when you start hacking off.

• Old plaster that blows and has to come off.
• Damp, cracking or a background that will not take a skim.
• Extra rooms or ceilings added once you are on site.
• Other trades not finished when you arrive.

Note each change, the price and the customer's agreement before you do it.

Deposits, payment terms and how long the quote lasts

Put the deposit, any stage payments, the due date for the balance and a valid-until date on every quote. Customers rarely argue with terms they agreed before you started. They argue with terms they first hear about on the invoice.

Deposits and stage payments

How much deposit you ask for is your decision, but tie it to something real, such as plasterboard and materials you are buying for that customer. Citizens Advice tells customers that if a deposit is worth more than the work done so far, they can propose a figure and ask for the difference back, so a deposit that matches what you have spent on their job is easier to defend than a round number. On a whole house, link stage payments to finished floors or rooms rather than to dates.

When the balance is due

Write the due date in plain words, for example "balance due within 7 days of completion", and say how to pay. If your customer is a business, GOV.UK explains that on late business-to-business payments you can claim interest at 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt. If no payment date was agreed, the payment counts as late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice or you finish the service, whichever is later.

How long the price stands

There is no fixed rule, so choose a period and write a valid-until date on the quote. Board and plaster prices move, and a clear date stops an old price being held against you. Citizens Advice says a trader generally cannot raise an accepted quote just because their own costs have gone up, so that date is what protects you if a customer comes back months later.

Rules plasterers should know before quoting

For most domestic plastering the rules that matter are about waste, VAT and how you are paid when working for a contractor.

Taking waste away

If you take waste away in your van, check your registration. GOV.UK says a business that transports waste in England must register as a waste carrier, and that registration usually costs nothing if you only carry waste you produce yourself. Put disposal on the quote as its own line so the customer can see it.

Working for a contractor: CIS and the VAT reverse charge

If you work as a subcontractor for a builder or main contractor, the Construction Industry Scheme will usually apply. GOV.UK says contractors deduct 20% from payments to registered subcontractors, 30% from unregistered ones and nothing for those with gross payment status. The deduction is worked out after taking off VAT and materials the subcontractor paid for, among other items, so show materials as their own line on your quote and invoice.

If you are VAT registered and you work for a VAT-registered contractor who reports the payment under CIS, the VAT domestic reverse charge usually applies: the customer accounts for the VAT to HMRC instead of paying it to you. HMRC's technical guide says the invoice must say "reverse charge" and make clear the customer must account for the VAT. It does not apply to work for householders, or to a customer who has told you in writing that they are an end user or intermediary supplier (GOV.UK guidance).

Put it in writing, and know the cancellation rules

Send every quote in writing and get the acceptance in writing too: a signature, an email reply or an online accept button. Citizens Advice describes a quote as a promise to do the work at an agreed price, and an estimate as the trader's best guess at the cost. If you can see and price the whole job, call it a quote. If part of it cannot be known until you start, say so, and either call it an estimate or quote the known part and list your assumptions.

If you agree the job with a customer in their home, it is usually an off-premises contract. Business Companion, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's guidance for businesses, says the customer then normally has 14 days to cancel a contract for services, starting the day after the contract was made. If you do not give them the cancellation information, that period can be extended by up to 12 months. To start inside the 14 days, the customer must expressly ask you to in a durable medium such as an email, and if they then cancel they pay for the work done up to that point. Contracts of £42 or less are exempt.

Common plastering quote mistakes

Plastering quotes usually go wrong on everything that is not flat wall.

• A per-room price with no room size written down.
• Walls and ceilings lumped together at one rate.
• Forgetting beads, reveals and making good.
• No allowance for protection, dust sheets and clearing up.
• Not saying whether hacking off and waste removal are included.
• A vague scope such as "plaster lounge".

Quote on site with Graft'd

Graft'd is a quoting, invoicing and job app for UK tradespeople. Talk or type the job and it builds the quote with a plain-English scope of works for you to check. Parts are priced from supplier guide prices or your own rates, and it is set up for the way plasterers price, per m², per room or per day. Your customer accepts the quote online, you invoice in one tap and get paid through your own payment link, and Graft'd chases late payers for you. Job notes, photos and receipts stay with the job, and CIS and the VAT reverse charge are handled on invoices.

It runs in your phone's browser, so there is nothing to download from an app store.