Skimming is the most common plastering job we quote for, and prices vary more than most homeowners expect. This guide sets out realistic figures for Edinburgh, Fife and the Scottish Borders, explains what pushes a price up or down, and helps you judge whether a quote is fair.
For a standard room, most Edinburgh homeowners can expect to pay somewhere between 250 and 600 pounds to have the walls skimmed, with the ceiling adding roughly 100 to 250 pounds on top. A small box room with sound walls sits at the lower end, while a large living room in a Victorian tenement with high ceilings and tired old plaster sits at the upper end, sometimes beyond it.
Plasterers price in different ways. Some quote per square metre, typically 12 to 20 pounds for skimming over existing plaster or fresh plasterboard, while others quote a day rate of around 200 to 300 pounds plus materials. Materials themselves are a modest part of the bill, as a bag of multi finish covers a good area, so most of what you pay is skilled labour and preparation time.
The condition of the existing surface matters more than anything else. Skimming over new plasterboard is quick and predictable. Skimming over old painted walls means the surface needs cleaning, keying and priming with a bonding agent such as PVA or a grit primer before any plaster goes on, which adds time. If the old plaster is blown, meaning it sounds hollow when tapped, sections may need to be hacked off and patched or boarded first, and that can change the job significantly.
Property type plays a part too. Edinburgh has a huge stock of tenement flats and older stone houses across the city, Fife and the Borders, and these often have lath and plaster walls, high ceilings that need extra scaffolding or hop ups, and ornate cornicing to work around carefully. Access is another factor: parking restrictions in central Edinburgh and third floor tenement stairs both add time to a working day.
Removing woodchip or heavily layered wallpaper before skimming is a common extra. If you can strip the paper yourself before the plasterer arrives, you will usually save a meaningful amount, but be honest with yourself about the state of the wall underneath before you rely on that saving.
Get two or three quotes and make sure each one covers the same scope. One quote might include stripping wallpaper, priming, skimming and clearing away waste, while a cheaper one might cover the skim coat alone. Ask specifically whether preparation, ceilings, window reveals and making good around sockets are included, as these are where quotes quietly diverge.
Be a little wary of prices that look too good. A proper skim is applied in two coats and trowelled up over several hours, and a plasterer who quotes half the going rate is usually planning to rush it. Uneven walls, misses around edges and cracking within months cost more to put right than doing it properly the first time.
Fresh plaster needs to dry before you decorate, and in a Scottish winter that takes longer than people expect. Allow around a week for a skim over plasterboard and up to two or three weeks over solid backgrounds, until the surface has turned uniformly pale pink. Keep the room ventilated and heated gently rather than blasting a heater at one wall, which can cause cracking.
When you do paint, start with a mist coat, which is emulsion watered down by roughly a third, so the paint bonds properly. Skipping this step is the most common reason new plaster ends up peeling, and it undoes an otherwise good job.