Ask three screeders for a price and you can easily get three very different figures, which makes it hard to know whether you are being looked after or taken for a ride. The per square metre rate is only half the story: depth, access, insulation, underfloor heating and drying time all move the number. Here is how screed is actually priced in the UK, based on how jobs run day to day across Bolton, the North West and further afield.
As a working guide for 2026, traditional sand and cement screed laid at 65mm to 75mm usually lands somewhere around £22 to £38 per m2 supplied and laid. Liquid screed (calcium sulphate or cementitious flowing screed) tends to sit around £20 to £35 per m2 at a typical 40mm to 50mm depth over underfloor heating, and it often works out better value on larger open areas because it goes down fast and self levels.
Those rates assume a sensible sized job on a clean, prepared substrate. Small areas are the exception: a single 12m2 utility or bathroom will almost never be charged at the headline rate, because the setup, materials delivery and travel are much the same as for a bigger floor. Expect a minimum charge of roughly £450 to £900 for a small visit, which can look like £50 per m2 or more once you divide it out.
Depth is the biggest single lever. Screed is priced on volume as much as area, so going from 50mm to 100mm because the floor levels are out can add a third to the material cost. If your build up has gone wrong earlier in the job, the screeder is the one who pays for it, and that ends up in the quote.
Access matters more than most people expect. In the terraced streets around Bolton, Bury and Farnworth, getting a pump lorry near the back of the house is often impossible, so material has to be barrowed through the property or mixed on site. That can add a day of labour to a floor that would take four hours on a new build plot with a clear drive. Conversely, a large open extension or a commercial unit off the M61 corridor is quick, and the rate per m2 drops accordingly.
Screed dries at roughly 1mm per day for the first 40mm, then slower after that. A 75mm sand and cement screed can therefore need two months or more before it is ready for a moisture sensitive floor finish such as vinyl, engineered wood or resin. Liquid screed at 50mm is usually quicker, and force drying through the underfloor heating (following a proper commissioning cycle) can bring it down further.
If your programme is tight, a fast drying screed costs more per m2 but can save weeks of an empty house or a delayed handover. Anyone who tells you a standard screed will be tiled over in a fortnight is either using a specialist product or is about to cause you a failure. Ask for a moisture test before the floor finish goes down, not after.
A rate per m2 on its own tells you very little. Ask each quote to state the screed type, the depth, whether insulation, DPM, edge foam and reinforcement are included, who prepares and cleans the substrate, and whether the price covers pumping or barrowing. Once those are lined up, genuine differences between quotes usually come down to two or three specific items rather than one firm being cheap.
Also check what happens at the edges and doorways, how movement joints are dealt with in larger areas, and who is responsible for protecting the screed while other trades are still working. A screed that gets walked on too early or loaded with scaffold towers will crack, and that argument is much easier to have before the job starts than after.
Per m2 it is often similar or slightly cheaper, mainly because it can be laid thinner over underfloor heating and goes down much faster. The saving is largest on big open areas with good pump access, and smallest on small, awkward rooms.
For a 25m2 extension with insulation, DPM and underfloor heating, a realistic all in figure is usually somewhere between £1,600 and £2,800 depending on depth, access and screed type. A screed only price on a prepared floor would be considerably less.
Self levelling compound is for correcting small deviations of a few millimetres over a sound base, not for building up levels or covering underfloor heating pipes. If you need more than about 10mm or you have pipes to encase, you need a proper screed.