Screed prices
per m².

People often say “concrete screed” to mean any grey layer on the floor. On a quotation, though, these are three different elements, with three prices.

The slab is the floor itself: poured on the ground or carried by the walls, it bears the loads. Its cost is covered in our guide to the price of a concrete slab.

The screed goes on top. It carries nothing: it provides a flat surface, at the required level, ready to receive tiles or parquet. Cement-based non-structural screeds and slabs fall under NF DTU 26.2.

The levelling compound is a layer of a few millimetres that smooths a substrate that is already almost flat. It costs far less, but it does not replace a screed when several centimetres have to be made up; its price is detailed in our guide to levelling compound.

We took every screed line priced per square metre in our quotations drawn up between 2024 and 2026 in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, houses, apartments and extensions combined. They come from eight quotations: that is few, and we say so. The ranges are rounded, supply and labour included, and the number of quotations is shown for each type.

The whole range falls between €55 and €135 per m² excl. VAT, or €61 to €149 incl. VAT at the 10% rate. Two lines of the table rest on only one or two quotations: they give an order of magnitude, not a firm price.

One case is priced separately: the small lightweight screed poured under an extra-flat shower tray, to house the trap and the waste pipes. Over a few square metres, it is counted as a lump sum, €200 excl. VAT in the quotation where it appears.

Example: a ground floor of 40 m². A simple levelling screed at around €55 excl. VAT/m² represents about €2,200 excl. VAT. If the same floor receives insulation under the screed, allow rather €3,000 to €4,800 excl. VAT depending on the thickness, before the floor covering.

The thickness to be made up. The cheapest screeds in our quotations are about 8 cm. When a kitchen has to be brought level with a living room that is 12 or 20 cm higher, the volume poured and the product change, and the price follows.

What goes underneath or inside. A polystyrene board of 6 to 10 cm under the screed, a polythene sheet, a drainage layer or the pipes of an underfloor heating system are added per square metre. On a cold ground floor, it is often the best opportunity to insulate the lowest floor.

The permissible weight. On a timber floor in a chalet or farmhouse, a conventional screed may be too heavy for the joists. We then turn to a lightweight screed, more expensive per square metre, after checking the structure.

The area. A screed is prepared, poured and protected in the same way over 10 or over 50 m²: small areas cost more per square metre, and a very small one is priced as a lump sum.

The traditional screed, a mortar of cement and sand, is pulled and smoothed with a straightedge. Its execution rules are those of NF DTU 26.2, whose revision was completed at the end of 2025: the new text limits the thickness of a screed of constant thickness to 10 cm, and to 15 cm at the high point of a sloping screed.

The liquid screed, also called flowing screed, cement- or calcium-sulphate-based (anhydrite), arrives by lorry and is pumped into place. It levels itself and falls outside the scope of the DTU: it is laid according to the technical approval (Avis technique) of the product selected, which we check before the work starts.

Only one of our lines concerns a liquid screed: 8 cm poured upstairs to make up a level, at around €55 excl. VAT per m². We therefore do not publish a range specific to liquid screed. Beyond the price, the choice is made on the substrate, the area, the thickness and the planned floor covering.

On a wet underfloor heating system, the screed encases the pipes and spreads the heat. This system falls under its own DTU, NF DTU 65.14, which governs in particular the thickness of cover above the pipes and the first heating-up. The choice of heat generator is decided beforehand: our guide to replacing an oil boiler details the options.

The insulating screed combines a polystyrene board and a cement screed of a few centimetres. It is the solution in our quotations for a ground floor on solid ground or over an unheated space, when the floor level can be raised. The other ways of insulating are compared in our guide to lowest-floor insulation.

The lightweight screed fills large thicknesses without overloading the floor: levelling between two rooms, timber floor, services to be embedded. In our quotations, the plumber runs the pipework before the pour.

A screed is not covered the next day. Drying time depends on the thickness, the product and the temperature; in a mountain house made weathertight in midwinter, it gets longer. We follow the manufacturer's data sheet and we measure the moisture before laying parquet or a resilient floor.

The opposite excess exists too: the revised NF DTU 26.2 sets a maximum of eight weeks before covering a traditional screed, so that it does not stay exposed too long. The site schedule is set around these two constraints, which is simpler when the same teams pour the screed and lay the floor.

What follows, tiles or parquet, is priced in our guides to the price of laying tiles and the price of laying parquet. All the stages of a redone floor, from removal to skirting boards, are brought together in our guide to floor coverings.

In a home completed more than two years ago, a screed poured during a renovation is invoiced at 10%. Insulation laid under the screed of a lowest floor counts as energy renovation, at the 5.5% rate under conditions. In an extension that increases the floor area by more than 10%, the 20% rate applies. The detail is in our guide to VAT on renovation work.

A screed on its own entitles you to no grant. Lowest-floor insulation, however, can be supported by energy savings certificates (CEE) if it meets their criteria: if the floor has to be redone, this is the time to discuss it.