Having a partition wall installed: what does it cost, finishing included?

Partition wall, lining wall or boxing-in: what are you having installed?

All three are lightweight walls that you add to a space afterwards. The difference lies in where they stand and what they are for. A lightweight wall usually consists of plasterboard on a metal or timber frame; there are also walls made of plaster blocks.

For the finishing it makes little difference which of the three it is. They all have board joints and screw heads that you do not want to see after painting. A boxing-in also has external corners along its whole length, and these get a corner bead at €16.00 per metre.

What has to go in the wall is best decided before it is installed. Pipes and sockets go in while the wall is still open. That is why we plan the electrics in the same step as the wall, and the finishing only afterwards.

Do you need a permit for a new partition wall?

Usually not. Interior alterations are generally exempt from a permit as long as nothing changes in the load-bearing structure or the fire safety of the building. A lightweight, non-load-bearing partition normally falls outside that.

It is different if the wall does carry something, or is heavy itself. A brick wall on a timber floor loads that floor, and then the question is whether the floor can take it. If in doubt, have a structural engineer assess it.

With a listed building, even interior work may need a permit. If you want to be sure, check with your municipality and do the permit check for your renovation on the Omgevingsloket (the Flemish online permit portal). If a wall is coming out rather than going in, different rules apply, especially if you are having a load-bearing wall knocked through.

What does it cost to finish a new partition wall? A worked example

Take a partition wall 4 metres long and 2.6 metres high, dividing a large room into two bedrooms. On each side that is 10.4 m², 20.8 m² of wall in total. With the new wall, the two rooms have 70 m² of wall between them. The measurements are an assumption, not an average.

Prices from our 2026/2027 price list, valid from 1 September 2026. Prices exclude VAT; for homes over 10 years old, 6% VAT usually applies.

Finishing only the new wall costs €39.82 per m² here, because a small-job surcharge applies under 50 m². If you include the rest of both rooms, that drops to €24.42 per m² with plaster, and the old and new walls look the same.

Note the difference between the two finishes. The renovation fleece price already includes one coat of paint. On plaster it comes on top: priming and painting walls costs €18.99 per m². On plasterboard we therefore usually choose renovation fleece wallpaper, also because the fleece bridges small hairline cracks at the joints.

Renovation fleece can go on plasterboard if the joints and screw heads are properly finished and the board has been skim-coated. Every layer with which you finish plasterboard goes with its own finish level for the joints.

Isn’t it cheaper to arrange the wall and the finishing separately?

Perhaps for each part, but the risk lies in the handover. The plasterboard industry guideline, drawn up by Eurogypsum and the European plasterers’ association UEEP, defines four finish levels for plasterboard. If no level has been agreed, Q2 applies: the joints are filled, but they may remain visible under raking light. A smooth, painted wall needs Q4.

If one contractor builds the wall and another paints it, it sometimes only emerges on the day itself that the joints are not flat enough for paint. An extra coat of skim plaster or renovation fleece is then needed, at a moment when the schedule is already fixed.

With us, that coordination sits with one company. We agree in advance which finish the wall gets, and the contractor team builds the wall accordingly. That way the finishing is in the quote from the start, and you pay the call-out charge once.

How do you have a partition wall installed by us?

Request a quote or call us on weekdays between 9:00 and 17:00. Tell us where the wall is going, how long and how high it will be, and whether it needs a door or sockets. In the free consultation we discuss the wall and the finishing, and then you receive a plan and a quote.

If you agree, we measure up and check the walls. The final price and the schedule are then fixed, and we start on the day we agree together. You pay 50% on the first working day, once all materials are on site and we have started, and 50% on completion.

The wall is built by one of our four own contractor teams of four people each. The wallpapering, plastering and painting are done by our 97 in-house tradespeople. We work throughout Belgium, in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. If it involves more than one wall, you can also have your whole home renovated, at the fixed prices from our price list.