Plastering Cost Australia 2026
Plastering costs depend on whether it's new installation or repairs, ceiling vs wall work, number of coats, and whether supply of plasterboard is included.
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National Pricing Overview
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plastering (hourly rate) | $50/hr | $77 | $120 |
| Plasterboard / Gyprock, labour (per sqm) | $25/sqm | $41 | $65 |
| Patch repair (small hole) | $150per job | $230 | $280 |
| Crack repair (per crack, filled and set ready for paint) | $80per job | $170 | $300 |
| Single room re-skim (walls) | $600total | $1,200 | $2,500 |
| Ceiling replacement (single room, 12–16 m²: strip-out, new plasterboard, set ready for paint) | $800total | $1,900 | $3,000 |
| Cornice installation (per linear metre) | $10/lm | $15 | $50 |
| Water damage repair | $300per job | $700 | $1,500 |
| Skim coat (per sqm) | $15/sqm | $28 | $50 |
| New stud wall (non-load-bearing, framed, plasterboard both sides, set ready for paint; per m² of wall face) | $60/sqm | $95 | $150 |
| Acoustic / soundproof plasterboard (per sqm) | $35/sqm | $55 | $85 |
| Full day plastering | $350per day | $550 | $850 |
How plastering prices compare across 17 cities, the $50–$120 hourly band against every other trade and how they move month to month: Tradie Price Index, October 2026 →
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Plastering in Australia costs $50–$120/hr for labour, or $25–$65/sqm for plasterboard installation labour. A patch repair runs $150–$280, re-sheeting a single room's walls $600–$2,500, and gyprocking a full 3-bedroom house typically lands at $12,300–$16,000. Small repairs for cracks and holes cost $150–$280.
Pricing a full gyprock job? The gyprock cost guide breaks down per-square-metre rates, room and ceiling jobs, and what it costs to gyprock a whole 3-bedroom house.
Gyprock ceiling and wall costs: per m² and per room
Sheet work is priced two ways: by area, or by the room. On a per-area basis, plasterboard installation labour runs $25–$65 per sqm — the gyprock cost per sqm most quotes are built from — while a skim coat over existing surfaces adds $15–$50 per sqm.
By the room, the numbers split by surface. To replace a gyprock ceiling in a single room, expect $800–$3,000, with access, insulation and asbestos-era linings pushing jobs toward the top of the band. Re-sheeting a single room's walls runs $600–$2,500, so a full room redo — walls and ceiling together — spans both bands.
Scaled to a whole home, gyprocking a full 3-bedroom house typically lands at $12,300–$16,000 — the same per-sqm rates above, multiplied across every wall and ceiling in the house. Ceiling height, the number of wet areas, and whether the old linings have to be stripped and dumped first are what move a house from the bottom of that range to the top.
What Affects Plastering Costs in Australia
Job type
Small repairs ($150–$280 in Australia) are priced per job. New plasterboard is priced per sqm ($25–$65/sqm). Cornice and stopping (finishing) work is priced by the hour or per lineal metre.
Ceiling vs wall
Ceiling plasterboard in Australia costs more than walls — it's heavier, requires temporary support, and is harder to finish without marks.
Number of coats
Standard plasterboard finishing in Australia requires 3 coats of compound (stop) plus sanding between coats. Quality stopping (for paint-ready finish) takes time and skill — don't let a plasterer cut corners here.
Cornice & beading
Installing cornice ($10–$50/lm in Australia) and corner beading adds cost but gives a professional finish. Always include cornice in quotes to compare fairly.
Water damage repairs
Water-damaged plasterboard must be fully replaced, not patched. If there's mould present, remediation must happen first. A simple ceiling replacement in Australia typically costs $800–$3,000.
Gyprock supply
Some Australian plasterers supply plasterboard; others require you to organise it. Confirm what's included — the plasterboard rate in our table ($25–$65/sqm) is labour only, so Gyprock supply is on top.
How to Save Money on Plastering Cost in Australia
Plastering Cost in Australia by Room Size
Say a bedroom has 30 square metres of wall. At $25–$65 a square metre the sheeting labour comes to $750–$1,950, and the single-room walls row of $600–$2,500 gives the job price for the same walls. Adding the ceiling as its own row at $800–$3,000 shows what a whole room comes to when it is quoted in two parts.
Taller walls, a bathroom or laundry sheeted in wet-area board, and old linings stripped out and dumped first are what move a room within those rows. Water damage on its own line at $300–$1,500, cornice by the metre at $10–$50 and board for a shared wall at $35–$85 a square metre all sit on top of the room.
Plastering Cost in Australia: What the Quote Should Include
A plastering quote in Australia works best when it splits the job into lines that can be read against the rows on this page: the sheet area, the ceilings, the cornice, the repairs and the finish. One price for the whole room hides which of those lines are in and which are left to the homeowner.
- Each room listed with its wall area and ceiling area in square metres, priced on the sheeting row of $25–$65 a square metre.
- Who buys the sheets, compound and screws, stated on its own line, because the sheeting row prices the plasterer's labour.
- A single-room ceiling replacement shown apart from the walls, with the strip-out, new plasterboard and paint-ready set it covers, at $800–$3,000.
- For an older house, whether the old linings were checked for asbestos before any cutting, with stripping and dumping priced as a line of its own.
- Cornice counted in lineal metres at $10–$50 a metre, so a quote that leaves it out can be told apart from one that includes it.
- Cracks counted one by one at $80–$300 each and small holes as patches at $150–$280 each, not folded into an allowance.
- The finish the plasterer leaves, level 4 or level 5, with any skim coat over existing walls priced by area at $15–$50 a square metre.
- Painting shown as in or out of the price, with payment stages, GST and the workmanship warranty written in.
- A fixed price for the defined job, or the hourly rate of $50–$120 an hour or the day rate of $350–$850 a day, with the basis written down.
