What does plastering cost in Teesside?
Plastering in Teesside costs £300 to £600 to skim an average room in 2026, £180 to £300 for a ceiling alone, £500 to £1,000 to board and skim, £1,800 to £3,500 for a three-bed house, and £40 to £70 per square metre for external render. Coving starts near £150 a room and patch repairs near £80.
The 2026 figures by job
Plastering prices are built from area, condition and access. The figures below are what a homeowner in the TS postcodes can reasonably expect to see on a written quote this year.
| Job | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Skim one room, walls and ceiling | £300 to £600 | Sound existing plaster underneath |
| Ceiling skim only | £180 to £300 | Average bedroom, standard height |
| Board a room | £200 to £400 | Before the finish coat |
| Board and skim a room | £500 to £1,000 | Old plaster stripped off first |
| Three-bed house re-skim | £1,800 to £3,500 | Empty, done in sequence |
| External render | £40 to £70 per m² | Sand and cement to silicone |
| Coving, one room | from £150 | Plain profile fitted and jointed |
| Patch repair | from £80 | Cheaper again if batched |
What pushes a quote up
- Condition of what is underneath: the single biggest variable. A papered wall in decent order skims straight away. A wall with blown patches, ten years of filler and lost corners needs an hour of making good per wall before the finish coat is worth putting on.
- Ceiling height and staging: the high-ceilinged Victorian rooms in Saltburn, the Hartlepool Headland and the older Middlesbrough streets are slower to work than a standard estate room of the same floor area.
- Access and parking: mixing happens outside, and materials come in by hand. A terrace with permit parking and a long carry is genuinely slower than a driveway on an estate.
- Batching: per-room prices drop when several rooms are done in one visit, because setup, mixing and drying overlap. Whole-house work is the best value per square metre by a distance.
- Waste: a strip-out fills bags fast. Ask whether a skip is in the figure or whether the rubble becomes your problem.
- Season: winter work in an unheated house dries slowly, and a plasterer who has to come back a week later to finish has priced that in.
Reading two quotes that look different
Two prices for the same room usually differ because they describe different jobs. One may assume a skim over existing plaster while the other has priced hacking off and boarding. Ask three questions and the gap normally explains itself: what is coming off, how many coats are going on, and who removes the waste. A cheap price with no preparation line is rarely the bargain it looks like, and an expensive one with a full strip-out may be the only honest option for that wall. Where the decision genuinely hinges on the condition of the plaster, the skim or full replaster guide has the tests.
Where the money is wasted
Three ways, repeatedly. Skimming over plaster that has already parted from the wall, which reappears as a crack within two winters. Booking single small jobs on separate days instead of gathering them into one visit. And painting far too early, which lifts the paint, wastes a tin and leaves you doing the room twice. Fresh plaster is ready when the whole surface is a uniform pale colour, commonly four to seven days in summer and longer in a cold house.