Update 2022: The UK has experienced unprecedented inflation over the last 18 months and the cost of some building materials has increased by 40-60%. The prices on this page were updated in 2022 but we urge customers to get a fixed quote by filling in this online form with details of their project.

Are you looking for a price guide for floor screeding? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

While there are a ton of handy calculators online that can tell you how much floor screed you’ll need, they’re useless at calculating the final cost of the project, including labour and other fees.

On this page, we’ll show you how to calculate the cost for a new floor, not just the materials but also the labour fees too.

The method we’ll show you below is how we worked out the cost of floor screeding for a recent project and our estimates proved to be spot on.

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How To Price Up a Floor Screeding Project – Step by Step

This process is incredibly easy and surprisingly accurate.

Just follow the steps below and see our example calculation a little further down the page:

1 – Measure the width, length and depth of the desired floor.

2 – Now head over to this calculator and input your measurements and get a value in cubic metres.

3 – Go and get a price for the materials, make sure you include the cost of delivery but don’t include VAT, most prices online exclude VAT so we’ll add that on later. Mister Concrete is a good place to start for those of you living in the London, Surrey and Berkshire areas, but there are tons of other suppliers out there, so hunt around and get a few quotes. Just make sure you get a price from a local supplier otherwise, you’ll pay a premium for the delivery.

4 – Now you’ve got a figure for the cost of the materials, delivered and exclusive of VAT, you need to add the cost of the labour. A good screed gang of two people can lay up to 150 square metres per day. In the south of the UK which is where I’ve employed screeders in the past, a good screeder will earn up to £200 per day while a labourer will get around £100. So add £300 per day to the cost of the materials.

5 – Now add the “mark up”. If companies only charged you the cost of the labour and materials, they would go out of business pretty quickly. The cost of vans, tools, training, advertising, pension contributions, employer’s NI contributions etc all have to come from somewhere. Larger firms also need to budget for shareholders, expansion and a hefty profit expectation. For a small sole trader, business add £100 per day, if you’ve chosen a larger firm, add £500+ per day. Not sure? Then add a figure between those two.

6 – It’s time to add VAT to your calculations. The rate is currently 20%. If your chosen floor screeder isn’t VAT registered, see the notes below.

It’s that simple, so go and pull out your calculator.

Example Floor Screeding Price – 150 Sq Metres

Here’s an example calculation for 150 square metres of 75mm floor screeding:

Materials delivered to site – £1700

Labour for 2 people -£300

Markup/profits – £350

VAT – £470

Total: £2800

Image source

Tradesperson Not VAT Registered?

If your chosen tradesperson or firm is operating below the VAT threshold, they don’t need to register for or charge you VAT.

You’ll still pay the VAT on the cost of the materials but not on the labour, overheads or profits.

Read our guide to legally avoiding VAT.

What About Small Projects?

Smaller projects that can be completed in less than one day are often a little trickier to calculate. The travel time between projects and preparation time means less screed can be laid in one day if it’s across multiple projects in different locations.

You could cost the screed at £20 per square metre and then add £10-20 per square metre for the labour cost. That would give you a realistic price for smaller projects.

Other Considerations

Flowing screed, often referred to as “self-levelling” screed is much quicker to lay and a good team can put down up to 300 square metres per day. It costs more per cubic metre though.

The thickness of the desired floor has a huge effect on the price you pay for larger projects. While at first glance, the floor may appear to need 75mm, once the area has been checked with a laser, you may find you need 100mm at one side of the room just to get the floor level and to achieve 75mm at the opposite end. Uneven floors are common so do budget for this.

Depending on the equipment your chosen floor screeder has, floors on upper elevations could take longer and be priced more aggressively.

Get a Quote Today:

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This guide was written by Danny Woodley and was last updated in April 2022.

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