How much does a metal stud partition cost per m²?
Updated 6 October 2026 · prices for 2026
Typical cost of a metal stud partition wall
£1,180–£2,280
for a 10 to 20 m² wall (one side), boarded and skimmed both sides, including VAT (£980–£1,900 + VAT)
About £95 to £98 a m² before VAT. 70 mm metal studs, one layer of 12.5 mm plasterboard each side, acoustic wool and a skim, ready to paint.
Try it: price a metal stud partition in Bricken
Typical UK rates and markup. Your own rates and prices live in your account.
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A metal stud partition costs about £114 to £118 a m² including VAT (£95 to £98 before VAT) in 2026. That's a 70 mm metal stud frame at 600 mm centres, one layer of 12.5 mm plasterboard each side, acoustic wool in the middle and a skim on both faces, ready to paint. A 15 m² wall, about 6.25 m long at 2.4 m high, comes to about £1,724 including VAT (£1,436 before VAT). The price is per m² of wall measured on one side, so a 15 m² wall has 30 m² of board and skim on it.
What's in the price
We priced a 15 m² wall. This is where the money goes, before VAT.
- The frame: Gypframe studs and track for 15 m², about £234, and about 5 hours for a dryliner (fixer) to set it out and fix it. Metal stud is light steel framing, with a track fixed along the floor and ceiling and studs clipped in between.
- Plasterboard: 12 sheets of standard 12.5 mm board, a box of drywall screws and 10.5 hours for the same fixer to hang them, about £553 in all.
- Acoustic wool: two rolls of 100 mm mineral wool, £91, and under 2 hours for the fixer to fit it between the studs as the boards go on.
- Skim: four bags of multi-finish (a bag does about 9 m²) and about 8 hours of a plasterer's time to skim both sides, about £322.
Labour is about 60% of the price and materials 40%. There are about 25 hours of work in a 15 m² wall.
Price by wall size
| Wall (one side) | Before VAT | With VAT | A m², before VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 m² | £984 | £1,181 | £98 |
| 15 m² | £1,436 | £1,724 | £96 |
| 20 m² | £1,901 | £2,281 | £95 |
The price per m² hardly moves with size. Unlike groundworks, there's no big hire charge to spread over the job. The small differences come from whole packs, like a roll of wool, a box of screws or a bag of plaster.
Pricing it as a builder
Bricken puts about 1.7 hours into each m² of wall. That's 0.35 hours for the frame, 0.35 for each face of board, 0.1 for the wool and 0.27 for each face of skim (about 30 m² a day). Keep the trades apart in your price. A dryliner and a plasterer don't cost the same an hour, and a single rate per m² hides that. Priced on its own, a job like this carries a small premium for travel, setting up, a minimum charge and part-used materials. Done as an extra while you're already on site, the same work usually costs a bit less.
Measure the wall on one side, then check four things on the site visit. Door openings need extra studs, a head and a lining, and they aren't in a plain rate per m². A wall under a floor or roof that moves may need a deflection head, a deeper track that lets the ceiling move without cracking the wall. Ask what's going in or on the wall, because sockets, pipes, radiators and kitchen units mean back boxes and fixing plates before the boards go on. And ask what the wall is for. A wall round a bedroom or bathroom may want acoustic board, and a wall on an escape route in a loft conversion may need fire-rated board. Building control will tell you which.
How we priced it
We built the wall in Bricken, the quoting app for UK builders, item by item. We used merchant prices for the board and plaster and a typical builder's markup of 30% on materials and 35% on labour. The hourly rates, before markup, are £25 for a dryliner (fixer), who puts up the frame, fits the wool and hangs the boards, and £24 for a plasterer. The metal frame, the hours to put it up and the wool are Bricken estimates rather than a merchant's list price, so check them against your own supplier. Your builder will price it at their own rates, so get a few quotes.
Priced in Bricken at standard UK rates (a 10 m² wall for the low figure, 20 m² for the high). Each figure is then multiplied by Bricken's regional factor, from 0.90 in the North East to 1.30 in inner London. The factors come from public 2025-26 build-cost guides and our own quotes. Where a region covers two areas, the low uses the lower factor and the high the higher. The factors are set for whole building jobs, so treat small differences as a guide.
Cost by region
| Region | 10 m² wall | 20 m² wall |
|---|---|---|
| London | £1,420£1,181 | £2,970£2,471 |
| South East | £1,320£1,102 | £2,550£2,129 |
| East of England | £1,240£1,033 | £2,400£1,996 |
| Midlands | £1,150£955 | £2,280£1,901 |
| North West | £1,120£935 | £2,170£1,806 |
| North East and Yorkshire | £1,060£886 | £2,170£1,806 |
| South West | £1,240£1,033 | £2,400£1,996 |
| Wales | £1,090£905 | £2,100£1,749 |
| Scotland | £1,180£984 | £2,280£1,901 |
What pushes the price up or down
Up
- Two layers of acoustic board each side: for better sound insulation between rooms. On 15 m² it priced at £2,178 before VAT, about £742 more than one layer of standard board.
- Fire-rated board: £1,565 on 15 m², about £128 more.
- Moisture-resistant board: for bathrooms and utility rooms, £1,573 on 15 m², about £137 more.
- Door openings and fixing plates: extra studs, a head, a lining and plates for radiators or units all go on top of the rate per m².
- Small walls: a 10 m² wall comes to £98 a m² against £96 for 15 m², because packs of wool and bags of plaster don't split.
- London: about 20% to 30% more, from Bricken's regional factors.
Down
- No skim: boarded only, ready for a plasterer or a tape and joint finish later, £1,114 on 15 m². The taping isn't in that figure.
- No acoustic wool: £1,295 on 15 m², about £142 less. Worth keeping between bedrooms.
- Bigger walls: the price settles at about £95 a m² from 15 m² up.
- Plain walls: no openings, no sockets or pipes in the wall, and a level floor and ceiling mean fewer cuts and less fiddling.
Questions
Is metal stud cheaper than timber stud?
Expect them to cost about the same. Bricken priced a 15 m² timber stud wall at £1,717 before VAT against £1,436 for metal, but most of that gap is the frame time: about 12 hours for a carpenter to cut and fix timber against about 5 for a dryliner to put up metal, and the metal figure is a Bricken estimate. The timber wall also had thicker insulation. Public price guides put the two close together, with metal sometimes a little dearer, so choose on the job (long straight walls, speed, fire or sound needs) rather than on price.
How long does it take to put up a metal stud wall?
Our 15 m² wall has about 25 hours of work in it. That's about three days for one person, or about two days with a dryliner (fixer) and a plasterer working one after the other.
How thick is a metal stud partition?
A 70 mm stud with a 12.5 mm board each side is 95 mm, and about 100 mm once both sides are skimmed. Two layers of board each side add another 25 mm.
Can you hang things on a metal stud wall?
Light things, yes, with cavity fixings. Radiators, TVs, kitchen units and basins need a plate or a length of timber fixed between the studs before the boards go on, so plan them early.
Do I need building regulations for a new partition wall?
A non-load-bearing wall inside a house often doesn't need approval on its own. Sound between rooms, fire escape routes and loft conversions can bring it in, so check with building control before you start.
Is VAT included?
The big figures include VAT at 20%. If your builder isn't VAT-registered, the price before VAT is closer to what you'll pay.
Related guides
How we price: each figure is a Bricken quote built from the sizes, at standard UK merchant prices and day rates, with a typical builder’s markup. Your builder’s price will differ: get quotes.