Floor Screeding Cost

How Much Does It Cost To Screed a Floor?

Looking for floor screeding costs?

To install standard floor screed in an average-sized room (~20m²) will cost you £430.

You'll encounter different prices for floor screeding depending on the type of screed you choose.

Traditional screed — which is the most common type used in the UK — is cheap to use, and costs between £12 to £15 per m² for 75mm thickness (materials only).

However, if you choose a flowing liquid screed, your material costs per m² will be closer to £16 to £20.

Your location in the UK, ease of access, and amount of additional work (e.g., prep work to get the floor ready for screeding, or removing old flooring) can all bump up your overall costs, as will the size of the area, with larger areas carrying higher charges.

Now, let's take a look at some full costs for screeding to give you an idea of the figures you can expect in your quotes.

Floor Screeding Prices

Here are some floor screeding price estimates to give you an idea of the total cost. These have been calculated to suit an average-sized UK room (around 20m²):

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Labour Costs and Timescales

Most contractors will charge you between £10 and £12 per m² to lay screed, or £120 to £200 per day.

Screeding shouldn’t take too long, and the average-sized room will take between 6 and 7 hours.

The time can be increased if the labourer has to remove old tiles or get rid of some waste that has been left behind. This will increase the overall cost.

The type of screed used not only plays a huge role in the overall cost, but also determines how long the project will take.

For example: If you opt for a quick-drying screed, then the time spent on labour might be a lot shorter than usual, which can reduce the overall project cost.

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Material Costs Only

If you're considering doing the screeding yourself, it's a good idea to have some DIY experience before embarking on the screeding project.

But, if you're confident in your DIY skills, this can be a cost-effective solution.

In this table below, you'll find all the tools and materials you'll need and their average costs, minus the cost of labour:

Cost of Screed per Square Metre

The below prices are for the screed only, not including any labour.

Additional Screeding Equipment and Tools

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What's Included in a Floor Screeding Quote?

Let's take a look at what's typically included in a floor screeding quote so you know what to expect from your screeding service:

• Surface preparation, including repairing small cracks if necessary
• Screeding materials and equipment
• Labour costs
• Waste removal

For comparison, here's what's not typically included in your final cost:

• Major floor repairs
• Removing old flooring
• New floor installation (e.g., carpet, tiling)

Additional Floor Screeding Costs

The floor screed cost isn’t all you’ll need to worry about when considering the cost of home renovations.

Laying a screed comes before installing floors or carpets, so you'll need to add on your chosen flooring costs on top, too. Let's look at the three most common options:

Wood Flooring Cost

Different types of wood can be used with screed, but two of the most common ones used are laminate flooring and oak.

Average laminate flooring costs are around £1,200, while typical oak wood flooring costs are approximately £1,300.

Carpet Fitting Cost

Fitting a carpet is a great way to add comfort to your home.

The average cost of installing a carpet is between £3 and £40 per m², although the price may vary as a result of quality and time.

Floor Tiling Cost

Floor tiles are an excellent way to get your kitchen or bathroom looking smart. They have several advantages, including being low maintenance, having great durability and aesthetic appeal.

The cost to tile floors in an average-sized room should be around £700.

There are different tiling options, but the most popular is ceramic, which most people prefer due to its robustness. That said, there are other options, including vinyl and porcelain, which can be more attractive due to their relatively low price.

What Impacts Floor Screeding Costs?

While a screed calculator can be useful in revealing how much you will spend on the screed mix and materials, it might not account for some specific variables.

Let's take a look at the factors that could increase the price of floor screeding and why:

Method of Floor Screeding

The biggest impact on floor screeding costs is your chosen method of screeding:

• Fast-Drying Screed — As the name suggests, it's the quickest to dry, meaning you can lay your flooring far sooner than with other methods. However, it is more expensive as a result.
• Flowing/Liquid Screed — This type of screed is self-levelling, making large rooms easy to fill with this method. It also carries a higher price as it’s a high-quality material, and needs solid preparation to avoid leaks.
• Traditional Screed — This is the cheapest option, but it has the longest drying time and is more labour-intensive, making it hard to get a perfectly flat finish.

Location of Property

If you live in London or the surrounding areas, you can expect your floor screeding costs to be between 25% and 35% more than those in other areas in the UK.

But, you can also experience higher costs if you live in a remote location that's difficult to reach, or a distance from the labourer’s office, which could affect the price of the job.

The prevailing method is to pick a contractor that is close by.

However, this also has some drawbacks depending on the situation. For instance, if you stay in a location that is remote and doesn’t have many professional screeders, then the available ones are likely to charge more.

Prep Work

If you can do some prep work beforehand — e.g., removing old tiles, fixing floorboards, or clearing workspaces — you can benefit from slightly lower labour fees as your screeder won't have to spend as long on-site.

You can remove old tiles and dispose of any debris before work commences, as this will end up saving you money.

Size of the Floor Area

The larger the room, the higher the cost.

While an average-sized room will cost between £400 and £500, larger rooms tend to cost more. This is due to the extra amount of work that the labourers will need to undertake.

What's Involved in Screeding a Floor?

In this section, we’ll give a brief overview of how to screed a floor.

Before the Job

• Prepare the Area — The floor will be cleaned to be free of debris, and any cracks will be repaired, making it ready for screeding.

During the Job

• Make the Screed Mix — Your screeding professional will mix cement, sand, and water to the desired ratio.
• Pour and Smooth the Screed — The screed can start to be poured, starting at the furthest point in the room, being flattened as it goes.

After the Job

• Cure the Screed — Once poured and levelled, the screed needs to be covered to cure and to prevent any cracks. This will need to be left to dry, with the time determined by the thickness and the room's conditions.

Can I Screed a Floor Myself?

The quick and easy answer is yes, you can screed a floor yourself with the correct tools and method.

However, without proper experience, we advise you to hire a screeding specialist to take care of the job for you.

While the job might seem easy on the surface, ensuring you have a correct ratio and a completely level surface can be tricky.

Misapplying the screed could lead to higher costs in the future to rectify the problems. While the cost to level a concrete floor in the UK might be deemed expensive, in most cases, it works out as less than the cost of doing it DIY and then re-applied by a professional, as it will be right first-time.

Liquid screed can be very difficult to work with, further necessitating the need for a professional.

Checklist: Hiring a Floor Screeding Specialist in the UK

Understandably, hiring a professional to screed your floor might be worrying as fears over professionalism and experience may linger. However, if you follow the checklist below, there should be no problems.

• Are they offering you an itemised quote? Written quotes are the best format to avoid cost-related disputes, as all fees are laid out clearly.
• What qualifications do they have? There's no universal requirement for qualifications, but if the screeding professional has accreditations, it can serve as a mark of their competency and commitment to the trade.
• What experience does the trader have? Ensure the person you engage with has experience with construction, bricklaying, and other cement-based jobs.
• Have they completed similar screeding jobs recently? Most professionals have portfolios that include their previous jobs, and on MyJobQuote, you can view these easily via their profile. You can also request to see the previous work they've done, so you can check the quality.
• Can you see their customer reviews? On MyJobQuote, all traders' details are listed for easy access, helping you to match up with the right professional for the job.
• Do they offer a guarantee? It's a good idea to check with your trader if guarantees or warranty periods are included to help you in the event of any issues post-project.

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