How to Get Commercial Plastering and Drylining Contracts
The short answer
Commercial plastering is won as packages: partitions, ceilings and linings for main contractors, plot work for housebuilders, and planned works for landlords. Get every operative carded, build systems exactly as tested, measure from drawings, and protect your cash before you scale.
- Commercial work is drylining-led. Metal stud partitions, MF ceilings and wall linings are where most packages sit; wet plaster is often a smaller part.
- Every operative needs the right card. Industry Accreditation cards expired by 31 December 2024, so skilled CSCS cards now need an NVQ. Blue cards need NVQ Level 2.
- Build fire-rated partitions as the tested system, and price by measured quantities. Photograph each stage before it is closed up.
- Cash decides how fast you can grow. Monthly applications, retention (typically around 5%) and contra-charges can tie up more than your profit on the job.
A good plastering firm can fill its diary with domestic skims and re-plasters. The trouble is that domestic work rarely grows past the owner. Every job is small, every client is new, and the owner is quoting at night.
Commercial work changes that. One fit-out can be 1,000 m² of partitions and ceilings. One housebuilder can give you plots for a year. But commercial buyers check different things, and the money arrives differently.
This guide is for owners of UK plastering and drylining businesses who want commercial plastering contracts without wrecking their cash flow. If you want help choosing your route, book a free strategy call.
Where commercial plastering work comes from
Main contractors remember two things about a plastering subcontractor. Did the gang turn up with the numbers promised? Did the walls and ceilings pass the snag first time? Everything below serves those two questions.
| Route | Who buys | Typical package | What matters most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fit-out and refurbishment packages | Main contractors, fit-out contractors | Metal stud partitions, MF ceilings, linings, bulkheads, skim | Measured price, labour supply, programme |
| Housebuilder plot work | Regional and national housebuilders | Dot-and-dab or plaster per plot, tape and joint, ceilings | Plot price, speed, snagging |
| Specialist drylining contractors | Larger interiors firms that need extra gangs | Labour or supply-and-fix on big projects | Cards, reliability, rates |
| Landlord planned and void works | Housing associations, managing agents | Voids, damp repairs, refurb programmes | Response time, steady quality |
For most firms the best first step is fit-out and refurbishment packages from local main contractors. The jobs are big enough to matter and small enough to resource. Need more gangs first? See how to grow a plastering business.
Get your gang site-ready
Before a main contractor lets your operatives through the gate, they check cards and paperwork.
- CSCS cards for every operative. A Blue Skilled Worker card needs an NVQ Level 2 in plastering or drylining; a Gold Advanced Craft card needs Level 3. Industry Accreditation cards expired by 31 December 2024, so anyone who held one now needs the NVQ. The FIS (Finishes and Interiors Sector) trade body runs NVQ and card upgrade routes for dryliners.
- RAMS for the real hazards. Dust from cutting and sanding, work at height on podiums and towers, manual handling of boards, and working around other trades.
- Insurance and policies. Public and employer's liability at the level the buyer asks for, a written health and safety policy and training records.
- Accreditations only when asked. Many smaller main contractors need no SSIP scheme from a plastering subcontractor; others insist. Ask first: see which accreditations you need for commercial work.
Sending an operative whose card has expired. One refusal at the gate on day one tells the site manager everything about how you run your business.
Build fire-rated work exactly as the system was tested
Commercial drylining often includes partitions and ceilings with fire or acoustic ratings. A rating only exists for the system as tested by the manufacturer. That covers the board type and number of layers, stud size and centres, fixing centres, insulation and the head and base details.
Swap a board, widen the stud centres or skip a layer, and the partition may no longer give the rating on the drawing. It can fail even if it looks identical when finished.
- Price and order exactly the system named in the specification
- Brief the gang on the system details before they start, not halfway through
- Photograph each partition at every stage before it is closed up: studs, insulation, each board layer
- Raise any change (a different board, a service penetration) with the main contractor in writing before you build it
Those photos are your evidence if anyone questions the work later, and main contractors increasingly ask for them.
Price packages from measured quantities
Domestic plastering is often priced by the room (see how to price plastering jobs). Commercial packages are priced from drawings, in measured quantities, and compared line by line with other bids.
- Measure square metres of each partition type and each ceiling type, linear metres of deflection heads, bulkheads and beads, and count access panels and openings.
- Cost each line from your own hours per m² and materials per m². Your plastering profit margin guide shows how to turn hours into an m² rate, and how to price dry lining jobs goes line by line.
- Add prelims and access as lines: supervision, towers and podiums, waste, protection, deliveries and distribution of boards around the building.
- Divide the total direct cost by (1 − your margin floor).
Worked example: office floor drylining package (example figures)
| Line | Quantity | Direct cost £ |
|---|---|---|
| Partitions, 2 layers each side, insulated | 450 m² | 18,900 |
| MF ceilings | 380 m² | 9,880 |
| Bulkheads and deflection heads | 160 m | 2,880 |
| Access panels and openings | 24 no. | 1,440 |
| Prelims, access and distribution | — | 3,100 |
| Direct cost | 36,200 | |
| Price at a 25% margin floor (÷ 0.75) | 48,267 |
Leave out prelims and distribution and you quote about £44,130. On a job this size, that gap of about £4,130 is often the whole profit.
Want your drylining rates built from your own hours, not copied from someone else's?
Book a free call.
Housebuilder plot work: volume with conditions
Housebuilders can give a plastering firm steady work for a year or more, which makes hiring easier. The price for that steadiness is in the subcontract:
- Plot prices are tight. Cost your real hours per house type, including snagging visits, before you accept a plot price.
- Contra-charges. Read how the housebuilder can back-charge you for damage, cleaning or delays, and photograph your finished plots.
- Snagging and return visits. Agree how many are included in the plot price.
- Concentration risk. If one housebuilder becomes most of your turnover, a delay on their site becomes your cash crisis.
Get paid on commercial plastering work
Plastering packages are labour-heavy, and labour is paid weekly. Commercial clients pay monthly, often 30 days after the valuation, with retention held back.
- Apply on time, every time, with measured quantities the QS can check against the drawings.
- Track retention on every job (typically around 5%, often 3% on larger projects) and diary the release dates: retention money not released?
- Know your rights on pay less notices: received a pay less notice?
- Price variations before you do them: extra partitions, layout changes and making good after other trades are variations, agreed in writing.
- Act early if payment stops: main contractor not paying.
UK Plastering & Drylining Profitability Playbook
Margin floor, m² rates from your own hours and job costing for skims, re-plasters and drylining packages.
Get the free guideWhat this looks like in practice. Liam, a plasterer in our mentorship, signed a £79K house renovation 6 weeks in and built a £1M pipeline. Individual results, not typical or guaranteed.
Want a plan for moving your plastering firm into commercial packages?
Book a free strategy call.
Which route fits your firm right now
| If you are… | Start with | Avoid for now |
|---|---|---|
| 2–4 people, mostly domestic | Refurbishment packages from 2–3 local main contractors | Large fit-outs with heavy retention |
| 5–10 people with a reliable foreman | Fit-out packages, one housebuilder | Taking two big packages at once |
| 10+ people | Multiple main contractors, supply-and-fix drylining | One client making up most of turnover |
At BizMentor, Sviat Jay works through this one-to-one with plastering and drylining owners. He runs Craftex, a working construction company that buys plastering and drylining packages. So he knows what main contractors look for when they pick a subcontractor for the second job.
Owners who don't need one-to-one start in a small group with regular one-to-one calls. The aim is results in about 4 months, not 1–3-year programs. To plan your first packages, book a free strategy call. To see where your business stands first, take the free 4-minute Construction Business Scorecard.
Card and regulation points are general information as of October 2026. Check details with CSCS, the system manufacturer and your insurer.
Before you price your first commercial package
- Every operative has a valid CSCS card for the trade
- The fire and acoustic systems on the drawings are priced exactly as specified
- Quantities are measured by type, with prelims and access as lines
- Retention, payment dates and contra-charge terms are read before you sign
- Your gang size matches the programme you are agreeing to
