Plasterer’s quote: what should it include and how do you compare?

What belongs in a plastering quote?

A plastering quote is only useful if you can work out the final amount without guessing. That only works if every item is listed, each with its own price.

Prices from our 2026/2027 price list, valid from 1 September 2026. Prices exclude VAT. For renovating a home more than 10 years old, VAT is usually 6%, otherwise 21%.

The floor protection runner goes down on every job: splashes and lumps harden and do not always come off the floor without scratches. Corner beads only go on external corners, such as around a chimney breast or a reveal next to a window. So count those corners beforehand.

What does not belong in the quote matters just as much. A paint-ready wall is ready to be painted, but it has not been painted yet. Priming after plastering and painting are separate items, as is scaffolding for work at height: we hire that in externally and the cost is added.

How do you compare plasterers’ quotes fairly?

By making them like-for-like first. Two quotes can only be compared if they assume the same area, the same finish and the same items. Check those three points before you look at the total.

The same area. A price per m² refers to the wall, not the floor. A room of 5 by 4 metres and 2.60 metres high has 20 m² of floor but 46.8 m² of wall. If a quote just gives a number of m² without explanation, ask whether it refers to floor or wall.

The same end point. A wallpaper-ready wall is flat enough to hang wallpaper on, while a paint-ready wall can be painted straight away. The difference between wallpaper-ready, paint-ready and plaster-ready does not show in the price, but it does show on the wall.

The same items. Put the lines side by side: materials, corner beads, floor protection runner and call-out fees. If one is missing, ask whether it is included, charged separately or not done at all.

If a plasterer quotes an hourly or day rate, convert it back to m² yourself. A plasterer covers an average of 100 m² per day. For small repairs, a plasterer by the hour or by the day makes sense; for whole walls and ceilings, the total is only fixed in advance with a price per m².

What does a complete plastering quote look like?

This is a quote for paint-ready plastering in an apartment with 160 m² of wall, 45 m² of ceiling, 10 metres of external corner and 70 m² of floor. The measurements are an assumption for this example, not an average.

Prices exclude VAT. The VAT rate (6% or 21%) is stated in the quote.

If you also want everything painted afterwards, priming and painting are added: €18.99 per m² for the walls and €19.99 per m² for the ceilings. In this example that is €3,038.40 plus €899.55. Plastered and painted, the apartment then costs €9,230.88.

With 205 m² of wall and ceiling, a plasterer needs about two working days. The layer then has to dry: according to the gypsum manufacturer Knauf, gypsum plaster can be dry enough after roughly four weeks under good conditions. Only then can it be painted.

For a larger house the sum works the same way. In the example of plastering a whole house, we also work out the cheaper route with skim coat and glass-fibre fleece (renovlies). You can work out individual walls with the price of plastering per m².

Isn’t the cheapest plasterer simply the best choice?

Only if nothing gets added afterwards. A cheap plasterer is only cheap if the quote covers the same walls, the same finish and the same items as the others.

If a price per m² is strikingly low, ask where the difference lies. It could be a price without materials, or wallpaper-ready instead of paint-ready. If the floor protection runner and corner beads are missing, then in the example above that is €434.99 you end up paying later anyway, or work that nobody does.

The biggest risk is in the wall itself. If nobody comes to look before the work starts, you do not know whether there is a loose layer on it. If that only turns up on the day, removal gets added after all: with us, €14.99 per m² for a thin layer.

That is why we always inspect the walls ourselves before the work starts. What the wall needs then goes into the final price, so there are no extras on the invoice afterwards.

How do you request a plastering quote?

The more you send, the closer the quote will be to the final price. This information helps us most:

• the m² of wall and ceiling per room, or a floor plan with measurements;
• the substrate: plasterboard, sand-lime brick, concrete or old plaster;
• whether you want the walls paint-ready or wallpaper-ready;
• the number of metres of external corner and the floor area;
• when you would like us to start.

If you do not have the measurements yet, work them out with the m² calculator. Within 24 hours you will receive a free quote: an estimate based on a price indication, with every item listed separately.

If you accept, we schedule the on-site survey. We measure up and check the walls, after which the final price and the schedule are fixed. We start on the day we agree together. Is it a big job? Then we are happy to come and meet you.

The work is carried out by one of our 32 in-house plasterers, from a team of 97 tradespeople on permanent contracts. If painting is needed after the plastering, our own painters schedule it as soon as the wall is dry. We work throughout Belgium: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.

Curious what you get from us when you hire a plasterer, or which plastering suits your walls? A project manager will talk you through it by phone.