How Much Does Crown Moulding Installation Cost? UK Coving and Cornice Prices for 2026

Two finished rooms can look near-identical from the doorway and differ by fifteen hundred pounds. Almost all of that gap comes from what the moulding is made of and how many mitred corners the fitter has to cut. Very little is a skill premium.

Below are the rates quoted across the UK in 2026, split into materials and labour so you can tell a fair price from a padded one. Figures are ex-VAT unless stated: a VAT-registered firm adds 20%, a sole trader under the threshold does not.

Fitters price per linear metre, measured around the room's perimeter at ceiling level. Get that number and everything else follows. A 4m by 4m living room is 16 metres before any chimney breast or bay.

• •Plain gypsum cove, 100-127mm, supplied and fitted: £12-£20 per linear metre
• •Rigid polyurethane or duropolymer cornice, deeper profiles: £28-£45 per linear metre
• •Primed MDF or softwood crown moulding, fitted and caulked: £25-£42 per linear metre
• •Reproduction fibrous plaster cornice in a period property: £55-£120 per linear metre
• •One 4m x 4m living room: £220-£420 in plain cove, £900-£1,900 in ornate plaster
• •Whole three-bed semi, 75-90 linear metres: £1,100-£2,300 in plain cove
• •Minimum charge for one small room: £180-£250, however few the metres

Merchant prices are easy to check yourself, and doing so is the fastest way to see whether a quote is mostly labour or mostly markup. Typical Screwfix, Wickes, Travis Perkins and B&Q shelf prices in early 2026.

• •Gypsum cove, 127mm x 3m length: £13-£17, roughly £4.50-£5.60 per metre
• •Coving adhesive, 5kg tub: £10-£14, covering about 12-15 metres
• •Rigid polyurethane cornice, 2m length: £22-£55 (£11-£28 per metre)
• •Primed MDF crown moulding, 2.4m length: £14-£30 (£6-£12 per metre)
• •Fibrous plaster cornice run to a period profile: £30-£70 per metre, made to order, 2-4 week lead time
• •Consumables per room — caulk, filler, screws, blade wear: £25-£45
• •Waste: add 10-12% to your measured length, more on deep profiles where a botched mitre writes off a whole length

A coving fitter or plasterer charges £180-£280 a day across most of England, Wales and Scotland, and £260-£400 inside the M25. Output is the number that matters: 35-50 metres of plain gypsum cove a day in empty square rooms, dropping to 12-20 metres for deep ornate cornice where every corner is hand-mitred and scribed.

That gives a split of roughly 65% labour to 35% materials on plain cove, 50/50 on polyurethane, and a material-heavy 45/55 on bespoke fibrous plaster. If a plain cove quote is more than half materials, someone has specified something you did not ask for.

Decorating is almost never included. Caulking both edges, filling mitres and two coats adds £6-£12 per metre, or fold it into a wider redecoration at standard interior painting rates. Ask explicitly: "supplied and fitted" means bare and unpainted.

The perimeter is the base. This list is what turns a £12 metre into a £30 one.

• •Ceiling height: above 2.7m the fitter needs a tower rather than hop-ups. Add 10-20%.
• •Corners: an internal mitre takes five to ten minutes, an external one double. A chimney breast adds four cuts and £25-£40 on its own.
• •Bay windows: three or five short mitred runs. A 2.4m bay can cost what eight metres of straight wall costs.
• •Textured ceilings: coving will not bond to loose Artex. Scraping and sealing a border adds £5-£9 per metre, and full Artex ceiling removal is a separate job.
• •Lath and plaster in pre-1930s houses: fixings must find joists, so it is screws plus adhesive and slower. Add 15-25%, plus any old plaster needing stabilising first.
• •Removing existing coving: £5-£9 per metre plus making good the scar — the line most often left off a first quote.
• •Region: the North East, Yorkshire and Wales sit at the bottom of every range; London runs 30-45% above.
• •Job size: one room carries the same travel and set-up as five, so per-metre rates fall sharply past 40 metres.

Real job shapes with the arithmetic left in, so you can substitute your own perimeter.

• •Example 1 — one lounge, Manchester. 4.2m x 3.6m with a 1.4m chimney breast: 16.3m measured, 18m ordered. Materials: six 3m gypsum lengths £90, two tubs of adhesive £24, caulk and filler £14 = £128. Labour one day at £220. Total £348 ex-VAT, about £19 per metre. Painting afterwards, a further £180-£260.
• •Example 2 — whole three-bed semi, Leicester. Five rooms plus hall and landing: 84 metres of plain 100mm cove. Materials £430 with adhesive and consumables. Labour two and a half days at £210 = £525. Total £955 ex-VAT, £11.40 per metre — the volume discount is genuine, not a sales line.
• •Example 3 — Victorian terrace, south London. Two receptions and the hall, 47 metres of 150mm fibrous plaster cornice run to match the original. Materials £42 per metre = £1,974. Labour four days, two-person team at £560 a day = £2,240. Tower hire £95. Total £4,309 ex-VAT, £5,171 with VAT: £110 per metre.

A coving quote should survive one minute of division. Line competing prices up against the same measured length rather than the same room description, exactly as you would to compare contractor estimates on any other job.

• •Ask for the measured perimeter in metres. A fitter who cannot give you the number has not measured the room.
• •Divide total by metres. Plain gypsum cove above £25 per metre in a straightforward square room needs justifying.
• •Confirm whether removing old coving and making good is included.
• •Confirm VAT status. A £900 quote from a VAT-registered firm is £1,080; from a sole trader below the £90,000 threshold it is £900.
• •Reverse-engineer the day rate. More than about £350 a day for one fitter outside London needs explaining.
• •Treat a price given within the hour, with no visit and no question about ceiling construction, as a guess.

On plain cove in square rooms, DIY genuinely works: materials for a living room are £120-£140, a mitre box and fine-tooth saw about £25, and you save the whole day rate. Read up on fitting coving properly first, because the corners are the entire job and the mistakes that cost fitters money will cost you a weekend.

The saving evaporates on deep polyurethane profiles, bays and anything period. Ornate cornice is heavy, unforgiving of a half-degree error and expensive to buy twice. Past 120mm of profile depth, or four external corners, the day rate is cheaper.

Material costs come from published UK merchant prices between January and March 2026, across four national chains and two independent plaster suppliers. Labour rates come from quotes shared by readers in eleven regions, cross-checked against fitters' day rates. The ranges are the middle 80% of what we saw: you will find cheaper and dearer, and neither automatically means a bad job or a rip-off.

All prices exclude VAT unless stated. Plaster, MDF and polyurethane track energy and haulage costs, so re-check shelf prices before setting a budget.