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⚠️ These are starting numbers, not market rates. Put your own in.
What the job actually is
- Find out what caused it before you quote. A crack that is still moving, or a stain that is still wet, is not a plastering job.
- Protect the room — floors, furniture, doorways, and anything you do not want dust on.
- Cut the damaged section back to sound board and to the nearest studs or joists.
- Add noggins or backing where the new sheet needs an edge to land on.
- Cut and fix the new sheet, screwed off and flush.
- Tape the joins and apply the first coat of compound.
- Let it dry, then second coat, wider and feathered out.
- Let that dry, then sand back to flush.
- Match the existing texture or finish, which is the part that decides whether the repair disappears.
- Vacuum and wipe down, then prime the patch ready for paint.
Materials
- Plasterboard in the right thickness, and the right type for the room — wet-area board where it matters.
- Jointing compound, base and topping — the plaster and render calculator covers bags for a wall or floor at your thickness where the job is bigger than a patch.
- Paper or mesh tape, and cornice cement if cornice is involved.
- Screws, adhesive and noggin timber.
- Sandpaper in a couple of grades, and a dust-extracting sander if you have one.
- Primer or sealer for the patch — the paint calculator works out what the repainting takes if it is in your scope.
- Drop sheets, plastic, tape and a vacuum.
Matching an existing texture is the part that goes wrong, and no material list fixes it. A knockdown, an orange peel or a hand-trowelled finish applied by somebody else thirty years ago is a thing you approximate rather than reproduce. Say so on the quote — that the repair will be flush and primed and that a texture match is a best effort — before you start, not at handover.
What the price assumes
- The cause has been found and dealt with, or is excluded and named in writing.
- The wall or ceiling is plasterboard on standard framing at standard centres.
- The damaged area is the size quoted, and sound board starts where it appears to.
- No asbestos — anything before the mid-1980s is a question, not an assumption.
- The room is clear enough to work in and to protect.
- Painting is either in the price or excluded, and there is no expectation of a whole-room repaint.
- Power and lighting are available, and you can leave the work to dry between visits.
Extras that come up
- The damage being bigger than it looked once the first sheet comes off — always price a rate per extra square metre.
- Structural or framing repair, which is a carpenter.
- Mould treatment, which is a symptom of something else and should be named as such.
- Asbestos, which stops the job until somebody licensed deals with it.
- Cornice replacement, and matching a profile that is no longer made.
- Texture matching beyond a best effort, on a heavily textured ceiling.
- Repainting the whole wall or ceiling, because a primed patch in the middle of an old painted surface will show until it is painted corner to corner.
- A second visit if the customer cannot have you back on consecutive days.
Things nobody charges for, and should
- The drying time between coats, which is why a one-hour patch is a three-visit job.
- Travel across those visits, which on a small repair can outweigh the labour.
- Protecting and unprotecting the room, twice or three times.
- The dust clean-up, which is the thing customers actually remember about a plasterer.
- Priming the patch, which is quick but is not free.
- Disposing of the old board, which is heavy and awkward.
- The minimum charge. A small repair a long way away costs more to attend than to do.
A worked example
A 1.5 × 1.2 m water-damaged ceiling section in a bedroom, leak already fixed by others, board cut back to joists and replaced, set flush over three visits, flat ceiling with no texture to match, primed and left ready for the customer's painter. Plasterer registered for GST.
| Line | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attend, assess and protect room | 1 job | $220.00 | $220.00 |
| Cut out damaged board back to joists | 1.8 m² | $95.00 | $171.00 |
| Supply and fix new board, incl. noggins | 1.8 m² | $130.00 | $234.00 |
| Tape and set — three coats over two visits | 1 job | $560.00 | $560.00 |
| Sand back, dust extraction and vacuum | 1 job | $240.00 | $240.00 |
| Prime patch ready for paint | 1 job | $110.00 | $110.00 |
| Remove waste, final clean and return visits | 1 job | $280.00 | $280.00 |
| Subtotal | $1,815.00 | ||
| GST (10%) | $181.50 | ||
| Total inc GST | $1,996.50 | ||
| Deposit (0%) | $0.00 | ||
| Balance on completion | $1,996.50 |
These are starting numbers, not market rates. Put your own in. Every figure above comes from the line items in the builder at the top of this page.
Start this quote in Yamate — the lines, not the prices →The app fills in the same line descriptions and leaves every amount blank for you. Your prices, not ours.
Yamate keeps your rates and your standard lines, so the next one of these is a few taps rather than a blank page — then turns the accepted quote into the invoice without retyping it.
FAQ
Why does a small plaster repair cost so much?
Because almost none of it is the patch. Compound has to dry between coats, so a one-hour repair is three visits with travel and set-up each time, plus sanding, dust clean-up and priming. Showing the stages on the quote is what makes the number make sense.
Will the repair be invisible?
Flush, yes. Invisible, only after the wall or ceiling is repainted corner to corner — a fresh primed patch surrounded by old paint shows from the doorway. Say that on the quote rather than at handover.
Can you match an existing texture?
As a best effort. A knockdown or hand-trowelled finish applied decades ago by someone else is approximated rather than reproduced, and the quote should say so in those words before anyone starts.
Should I quote plaster repair by the square metre?
For the board and the setting, yes, with a rate for extra area if the damage runs further than it looks. Attendance, protection, sanding, clean-up and priming belong on their own lines, because they barely change with the size of the patch.
Work out the materials first
More like this
General information for Australian tradies, not legal, health or financial advice. The rates on this page are starting points rather than market prices, and every figure is an estimate based on what you type in. Asbestos handling, mould and licensing requirements are set by each state and territory — check yours before relying on this page.