What does plastering a wall cost before painting?

What the plastering price is built from

Plastering is priced either by the hour or as a fixed quote for the whole job. Hourly work starts from 39 € per hour, with a minimum of one hour and then 30-minute steps after that. A call-out fee of 25 € applies within Tallinn, and it is deducted from the final bill if the work goes ahead.

For anything beyond a small patch, a fixed quote is more useful, because it lets you compare the total figure against other options rather than guessing at hours. We give a fixed quote after seeing photos or a description of the wall, and it holds for 30 days. That figure is what you pay, regardless of how long the job actually takes.

Small jobs, such as filling a few cracks or a section of damaged corner, are usually cheaper on the hourly rate. A full wall or a whole room is almost always cheaper and more predictable as a fixed quote.

What makes the price per square metre vary

The starting condition of the wall matters more than almost anything else. A wall with loose, flaking plaster or damp staining needs the old material stripped back to sound substrate before anything new goes on, which adds hours you would not have on a wall that only needs smoothing and a skim coat.

The type of building changes the work too. Prewar wooden houses in areas like Kalamaja or Nõmme often have lime or lime-cement plaster on timber lath, which behaves differently from the concrete panel walls of a 1960s to 1980s block, and different materials and techniques suit each. Panel flats sometimes have their own issue: cold bridges or condensation patterns that leave patches of plaster weak or crumbling near external walls.

How flat and true the wall needs to end up also drives the hours. A wall going under wallpaper or a light colour of paint needs a more even, carefully floated finish than one that will be tiled or covered by furniture. Access matters as well: a room that has to be cleared and protected, or a wall behind fitted units, takes longer than an empty room with the floor already covered.

What is usually included in the price

A plastering quote normally covers assessing the wall, removing any loose or damaged material, applying the base and finish coats, and leaving the surface smooth and ready for paint or wallpaper. It includes basic dust protection for the room and cleaning up afterwards.

If cracks or holes need bridging, that repair is part of the same job rather than a separate line, since it happens before the new plaster goes on anyway. Small corner or edge damage is treated the same way.

Once the wall is plastered and dry, painting and decorating is a natural next step, and we take that on too, from 12 € per job for straightforward work.

What is not included and gets billed separately

Materials are the main extra. If we buy the plaster, primer, and any repair compound, a 10 % handling fee is added on top of the material cost; alternatively, you buy the materials yourself and we work with what you provide.

Anything found once the old plaster comes off is also outside the original quote. Rot in wall timber, serious damp behind the surface, or a genuinely unstable substrate needs its own assessment and its own price, agreed with you before we carry on.

We do not touch load-bearing walls or do gas work; if a wall's condition raises structural questions, we say so and point you to the right specialist rather than guessing.

Drying time between coats is not billed as working hours but does affect the schedule. A lime-based plaster in particular needs proper time to cure before paint goes on, and rushing that step tends to show up later as cracking or poor adhesion.

• Materials, unless you supply them yourself
• Repairs to rot, damp, or structural issues found once old plaster is removed
• Moving furniture or removing fixtures blocking the wall
• Extra coats needed for a very uneven or damaged surface
• Drying time between coats, which sets the schedule rather than the bill

When it is worth doing yourself and when it is not

A small patch, such as a nail hole, a hairline crack, or a corner knock, is genuinely a job most people can manage with a tub of ready-mixed filler, a putty knife, and some fine sandpaper. It is not difficult, and there is little to lose by trying.

A full wall is a different matter. Getting a large area flat, with no visible joins and an even texture under paint, takes practice most people do not have, and a poor attempt often needs more work to fix than if it had been left alone. Lime plaster on old timber lath is especially unforgiving, since it needs the right mix and the right drying conditions to hold.

If the wall is in poor condition throughout, or you are unsure what is causing the damage, it is worth getting an assessment before buying materials. Our work carries a 24-month guarantee, which covers the plastering itself, not general wear or materials you bought separately. If plastering turns out to be more trouble than it is worth for a particular wall, plasterboard work is available too, from 28 € per job, though weighing the two properly belongs in a different guide.