Job takeoff
Plaster a room takeoff
Plaster, beads and protection for a room, with the background choosing between a skim and a float and set.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 5Measurements in
- 4Trades out
Choose the build-up
Each layer changes the materials below; the dimensions stay the same.
Calculators behind the other choices:
Compare one layer at these dimensions, with the rest of the build-up held as you have it:
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the room plastering quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Plaster Angle and Stop Bead CalculatorAngle and stop beads in whole lengths — a bead cannot be joined mid-run.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Plaster Angle and Stop Bead Calculator | 8 lengths | |
Masking and Protection Materials CalculatorSheeting for the floor and tape for the edges, before anything is mixed.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator | 3 items | |
Skim Coat Plaster CalculatorFinish plaster over the walls and the ceiling together, at the finished thickness the board needs.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The waste allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 404.24 lb | |
Drywall Joint Tape CalculatorScrim for the board joints, the wall-to-ceiling angle and the room's four internal corners, taped before the skim. A chimney breast or a return adds internal angles this does not count.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The waste allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Drywall Joint Tape Calculator | 387.81 ft | |
Plaster Angle and Stop Bead CalculatorAngle and stop beads in whole lengths — a bead cannot be joined mid-run.
Why this quantity? | 8 lengths | |
Masking and Protection Materials CalculatorSheeting for the floor and tape for the edges, before anything is mixed.
Why this quantity? | 4 items | |
Skim Coat Plaster CalculatorFinish plaster over the walls and the ceiling together, at the finished thickness the board needs.
Why this quantity? | 181.7 kg | |
Drywall Joint Tape CalculatorScrim for the board joints, the wall-to-ceiling angle and the room's four internal corners, taped before the skim. A chimney breast or a return adds internal angles this does not count.
Why this quantity? | 117.26 m |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Masking and Protection Materials0.8 h (0.4–1.6)
- Skim Coat Plaster11 h (6.4–22)
About 12 person-hours in all, between 6.8 and 24.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerunder a quarter of a day
- Plasterer1 plasterer1½ days
About 1½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
2 rows carry no hours of their own
- Plaster Angle and Stop Bead: counted with Skim Coat Plaster
- Drywall Joint Tape: counted with the work it belongs to
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Masking and Protection Materials0.8 h (0.4–1.6)
- Skim Coat Plaster11 h (6.3–22)
About 12 person-hours in all, between 6.7 and 24.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerunder a quarter of a day
- Plasterer1 plasterer1½ days
About 1½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
2 rows carry no hours of their own
- Plaster Angle and Stop Bead: counted with Skim Coat Plaster
- Drywall Joint Tape: counted with the work it belongs to
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
Plastering is a room-sized job with a bag-sized order, and the two are joined by one number nobody measures: the finished thickness. A skim over flat board is about 2 mm (1/16 in) and a wall being brought level is more, sometimes much more, so the same room can be six bags or nine. String a line along the worst wall before ordering rather than after.
The background is the choice that matters most here, which is why it is the variant rather than a setting. Plasterboard takes a skim — one finish plaster, laid in two passes. Masonry takes a float and set — a lightweight undercoat around 11 mm (7/16 in) and a dense finish over it, which together weigh four to five times what a skim does. They are different products bought in different quantities, and mixing them up is the commonest way a plastering order comes out wrong.
The beads are the line most often left out. Every external corner takes an angle bead and every edge where the plaster simply stops takes a stop bead, and because a bead cannot be joined mid-run each one consumes a whole stock length. A room with more openings than corners — which is most rooms — needs more stop bead than angle bead.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Protect the floor and mask anything that is staying. Plaster travels further than it looks.
- Check the background: boards fixed and dry, masonry brushed off, suction controlled with the right primer for what is underneath.
- Scrim every board joint, and every internal angle with board on at least one side, before any plaster goes on.
- Fix the beads plumb and to a line — the plaster is worked to them, so anything out here is out everywhere.
- Lay the coat, let it pick up, then flatten and close it in its own time rather than yours.
- Leave it to dry right through before anything is applied over it.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The decoration. New plaster wants a thinned mist coat before anything else, which is its own page and its own arithmetic — the water in it is free and the paint is not.
- Boarding out. If the walls are not yet boarded, that is a drywall takeoff and this one starts after it.
- Preparation the background needs: bonding agents, stabilising primers and the removal of anything the plaster will not stick to. None of those are a function of the room's size.
- Ceilings on a masonry job. A masonry room is floated and set on the walls and skimmed on the ceiling, which is why both plaster rows appear on that variant — but a lath or beam ceiling is neither and is not covered.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the room plastering quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
More takeoffs
Other job takeoffs
Room fit-out
7 tradesBoard, fill, paint and floor a rectangular room, walls and ceiling, from one set of dimensions.
Run this takeoffStud partition
3 tradesStuds, jointing compound and outlets for a single run of internal partition.
Run this takeoffTile a floor
4 tradesBacker board, the thinset it is bedded in, tile and adhesive for a rectangular floor from one measurement.
Run this takeoff
Frequently asked questions
- What does the room plastering takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Room length 5 m · Room width 4 m · Wall height 2.4 m · External corners 2 · Stop bead runs 6, it orders: Plaster Angle and Stop Bead, 8 lengths; Masking and Protection Materials, 4 items; Skim Coat Plaster, 182 kg; Drywall Joint Tape, 117 m. Opened at Room length 16.5 ft · Room width 13 ft · Wall height 8 ft · External corners 2 · Stop bead runs 6: Plaster Angle and Stop Bead, 8 lengths; Masking and Protection Materials, 3 items; Skim Coat Plaster, 404 lb; Drywall Joint Tape, 388 ft. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the room plastering takeoff run?
- 4 calculators, one to a line: Plaster Angle and Stop Bead Calculator, Masking and Protection Materials Calculator, Skim Coat Plaster Calculator, Drywall Joint Tape Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the room plastering takeoff leave out?
- 4 things, each named on this page: The decoration; Boarding out; Preparation the background needs; Ceilings on a masonry job.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The room plastering quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.