How much does plastering cost in Adelaide?
Adelaide plasterers charge $46–$110 an hour, with $71 the typical rate in our table, and a booked day on site costs $320–$780. New plasterboard, hung and set, costs $23–$60 per square metre in labour, with the sheets extra. Half of all Adelaide dwellings, 51.3%, are three-bedroom homes, compared with 39% across the country (ABS 2021 Census); separate houses make up three in four. That makes a whole-house job easy to rough out. Count the rooms at $550–$2,300 for a single-room re-skim of the walls, then add the ceilings, at $735–$2,750 for each one replaced.
Comparing cities, or after the Australia-wide picture? See the national guide: Plastering cost in Australia.
Detailed Pricing — Plastering Cost in Adelaide 2026
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plastering (hourly rate) | $46/hr | $71 | $110 |
| Plasterboard / Gyprock, labour (per sqm) | $23/sqm | $38 | $60 |
| Patch repair (small hole) | $140per job | $210 | $260 |
| Crack repair (per crack, filled and set ready for paint) | $74per job | $155 | $275 |
| Single room re-skim (walls) | $550total | $1,100 | $2,300 |
| Ceiling replacement (single room, 12–16 m²: strip-out, new plasterboard, set ready for paint) | $735total | $1,750 | $2,750 |
| Cornice installation (per linear metre) | $9/lm | $14 | $46 |
| Water damage repair | $275per job | $645 | $1,375 |
| Skim coat (per sqm) | $14/sqm | $26 | $46 |
| New stud wall (non-load-bearing, framed, plasterboard both sides, set ready for paint; per m² of wall face) | $55/sqm | $87 | $140 |
| Acoustic / soundproof plasterboard (per sqm) | $32/sqm | $51 | $78 |
| Full day plastering | $320per day | $505 | $780 |
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Get Adelaide quotes →Prices include GST. Based on Adelaide metro area, October 2026. Outer suburbs may vary.
Adelaide plastering prices: gyprock by the square metre, by the room and by the hour
Cost of gyprock per square metre in Adelaide
Plasterboard (gyprock) is $23–$60 a square metre in Adelaide, typically $38. Acoustic plasterboard is $32–$78 a square metre. Our table has no whole-house price; the square-metre rate applies to the wall and ceiling area being sheeted.
Cost to plaster or gyprock a room in Adelaide
Replastering the walls of a single room is $550–$2,300 in Adelaide, and replacing a room ceiling $735–$2,750. Smaller jobs: a patch repair $140–$260 and crack repair $74–$275 per crack.
Plasterer hourly and day rates in Adelaide
A plasterer in our Adelaide table is $46–$110 an hour, typically $71, or $320–$780 for a full day.
These answers use the prices in the table on this page.
What Affects Plastering Costs in Adelaide
What a house re-sheet involves
The cost to gyprock a house is one of the most searched questions here. Plasterers price from the area of sheet rather than the bedroom count: at the typical rate, each 50 m² of wall or ceiling is about $1,900 in labour, before board, compound and cornice. Just a quarter of Adelaide homes (25.3%) reach four bedrooms or more, well under the Australian 34.8% (ABS 2021 Census), so full jobs here usually cover fewer rooms.
Winter rain and ceiling leaks
Adelaide gets most of its rain in the cooler half of the year: June tops the chart at 72.1 mm, with May and July close behind (BOM averages). A cracked tile or overflowing box gutter during that wet stretch often shows up as a stained ceiling. Water damage repair costs $275–$1,375; if the sheet has sagged, a replacement ceiling is typically $1,750, once the roof is sound.
Dry summers for setting work
January and February see roughly 20 mm of rain each and daytime tops near 29 °C (BOM averages), and Adelaide's NCC zone is 5, warm temperate. That gives long dry spells for jointing, though on hot days compound can skin over before it has firmed underneath. In July, when nights average 7.6 °C, coats dry slowly instead, so ask how many days the quote allows between coats.
Licensing in South Australia
South Australian law requires a building work contractor licence of any business that does or arranges building work for other people, and that includes subcontractors. Domestic building work is defined broadly, covering renovation of and repairs to a house, and licences can be looked up on the public register kept by Consumer and Business Services. Below $20,000, the law treats a job as minor domestic building work, which carries lighter contract rules.
Cracks, holes and repeat repairs
Each crack, filled and finished for painting, is $74–$275, while patching a small hole costs $140–$260. If the same crack keeps reopening after it is filled, the wall may be moving, and that is worth investigating before more filler goes on. For the 28.4% of Adelaide households that rent (ABS 2021 Census), repairs like these are arranged through the owner or agent.
Cornice, skims and shared walls
Cornice is its own line at $9–$46 a metre, so check every quote has it before comparing totals. Skimming a worn wall runs $14–$46 a square metre. Semi-detached homes make up 16.3% of the city's dwellings (ABS 2021 Census), and acoustic board on a party wall costs $32–$78. Framing a fresh partition, sheeted on both sides, is $55–$140, priced by the square metre of wall.
How to Save Money on Plastering Cost in Adelaide
Plastering Cost in Adelaide by Room Size
Say a bedroom in Adelaide has 32 square metres of wall and 14 square metres of ceiling, 46 square metres of sheet. At $23–$60 a square metre that is $1,058–$2,760 in sheeting labour, to be read beside the walls row of $550–$2,300 and the ceiling row of $735–$2,750. The ceiling row also covers strip-out and a paint-ready set, which the area figure does not.
What moves a room that size in Adelaide: acoustic board at $32–$78 a square metre on a wall shared with a semi-detached neighbour, a stained ceiling that adds water damage repair at $275–$1,375 before new board, and hot January days, when the surface of a coat can crust over while it is still soft beneath. Ask the plasterer how a summer job is handled.
Plastering Cost in Adelaide: What the Quote Should Include
In Adelaide's wet stretch a cracked tile or an overflowing box gutter can show up as a stained ceiling, so a plastering quote for a home in Norwood or Unley is worth having line by line. Each line should be something you can read against the rows on this page.
- The cause of any ceiling stain noted, such as a roof or gutter leak, and the roof checked before a new sheet goes up.
- Water damage repair at $275–$1,375 shown apart from a full replacement ceiling at $735–$2,750, so a sagging sheet is not priced twice.
- Each room's wall and ceiling area in square metres, set against the sheeting rate of $23–$60 a square metre.
- Sheets, compound and cornice marked as supplied by the plasterer or by you, since the square-metre labour rate leaves them out.
- Cornice as its own line in lineal metres at $9–$46 a metre, so two totals can be compared on the same footing.
- Each crack counted at $74–$275 and each small hole at $140–$260, with a note on whether a crack that reopens was looked at before more filler.
- For a rented home, the owner or agent named as the contact who arranges the repair, so the quote has one point of contact.
- Acoustic board on a party wall in a semi-detached home at $32–$78 a square metre, with the wall area stated.
- Start and finish dates, payment stages, GST and the workmanship warranty in writing, with the licence number and insurance details.
Frequently Asked Questions — Plastering Cost in Adelaide
Our Methodology
These are independent estimates from public cost guides, marketplaces and industry rate data, and no tradesperson can influence them, so always get a few quotes. Last reviewed October 2026. Read our full methodology →