Craft Quantities
Plan & Takeoffs

By trade

Plastering calculators

Plaster is bought by the bag and used by the coat, and the same area takes a different quantity on every background. A suction-hungry block wall, a skimmed board and a lathed elevation are three different orders for one square metre.

  • 12Calculators
  • 2Parts of the site

How plastering is measured

Square metres per coat at a thickness, converted to bags by the coverage the product quotes for that thickness — which is a quantity per coat, not per wall. Render is mixed by proportion, so the cement, lime and sand are three orders from one volume.

What gets left off a plastering order

  • The background. Coverage figures are quoted on a flat, low-suction surface, and very little of a real building is one.
  • Beads and stops: angle, stop and movement beads are linear items whose quantity comes from the elevation's edges rather than its area.
  • Scaffolding and access for external render, which is usually a larger line than the render.
  • Drying time between coats, which is programme rather than material and is the constraint that actually decides the finish date.

Job takeoffs16

Where plasterers meet the rest of the job: each runs one of these calculators, with every other trade in the same job beside it.

Worked examples2

A real job estimated step by step, with this trade's steps counted.

Comparisons3

Two ways of doing the same work, weighed against each other.

Planners2

Work this trade out from a space rather than from a job.