Price of a suspended ceiling
per m².

The table draws on the plasterboard ceilings in 36 of our quotes, drawn up between 2024 and 2026 for houses and apartments in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The prices are excluding tax, supply and fitting included, with standard 13 mm board.

How to read these ranges. We kept a single price per quote and per type of ceiling, so that a ten-room project does not count ten times. The lowest and highest cases are set aside: the ranges describe what the great majority of our clients pay. All types combined, our ceilings fall between €75 and €115 excl. VAT per m²; the difference is almost entirely explained by what the line includes.

What we do not price. Tiled ceilings laid on an exposed grid, common in offices, appear in none of our housing quotes over the period: we therefore give no price for them. Double-skin ceilings, perforated acoustic boards or fire-rated boards are priced case by case.

Joint treatment. This is the first cause of difference between two quotes. A line “framework and boards” without the tape or the jointing compound drops towards €70 excl. VAT per m²; the ceiling delivered ready to paint is around €100. Both are honest, provided you know which one you are comparing. If the joints are not in the line, look for them elsewhere in the quote.

The insulation above. Under an unconverted attic, the ceiling carries the insulation of the house. Our specifications provide there for a vapour control layer under the furring channels and a blanket of mineral wool rolled out above, for example 400 mm of glass wool (R = 11.4), well beyond the R ≥ 7 threshold required for grants on an unconverted attic. The extra cost per m² remains moderate because the insulation is laid in the same operation. The rules and thicknesses are detailed in our guides to insulating unconverted attics and to insulating the roof from the inside.

The support and the span. A suspended ceiling is hung from the floor or the roof frame by hangers: in our specifications, furring channels every 50 cm and a hanger at least every 1.20 m. When nothing can be fixed above, the framework becomes self-supporting and rests on the walls; one of our recent specifications limits it in this way to a span of 3.80 m, with 90 mm studs fixed side by side. Beyond that, the framework has to be rethought.

The room itself. A bathroom calls for moisture-resistant board, around €10 excl. VAT more per m². A sloping ceiling, a great height, boxes or drops multiply the cuts. An occupied home or a floor without a lift adds to the time spent.

The suspended ceiling is often fitted to hide ducts and to recess the lighting. On our quotes, a recessed LED spotlight, fitted and connected with its share of the switch, most often comes to between €55 and €120 excl. VAT: the price per spotlight falls when several spotlights share the same circuit. These lines are priced by our electricians, alongside the ceiling.

Order matters. The cables run through the void before the boards are screwed on, and the position of each spotlight is fixed on the plan. Under an insulated attic, each spotlight pierces the insulation and the vapour control layer: a suitable model and cover are needed, planned from the quote stage, otherwise the new ceiling becomes a source of heat loss.

Take a bedroom of 4 m by 3 m, i.e. 12 m² of ceiling. According to our ranges, the finished suspended ceiling comes to €1,140 to €1,320 excl. VAT between two floors, and to €1,260 to €1,380 excl. VAT under an attic, insulation included.

Add four spotlights (in the order of €220 to €480 excl. VAT) and painting the ceiling, which we price at €27 to €45 excl. VAT per m² in our painting price guide, i.e. €320 to €540 excl. VAT. If the old ceiling must first be removed, allow a further €15 to €35 excl. VAT per m², an order of magnitude drawn from few quotes.

These amounts serve to frame a budget, not to replace a measured survey: the real area, the condition of the support and the number of light points make the final price.

In a home completed more than two years ago, a suspended ceiling is improvement work: VAT at 10%. The finished ceiling at €95-110 excl. VAT per m² then comes to about €105 to €121 incl. VAT.

When the ceiling is part of attic or roof insulation and meets the technical criteria for energy renovation, the 5.5% rate may apply: €105-115 excl. VAT becomes about €111 to €121 incl. VAT. New construction, or an extension of more than 10% of the existing floor area, stays at 20%. All the cases are detailed in our article on VAT on renovation work.

In the old houses and farmhouses of the two Savoie départements, the original ceilings are often tongue-and-groove panelling, plaster on lath or exposed joists, rarely flat. The suspended ceiling on a framework makes up for these defects without touching the floor above, and allows the top floor to be re-insulated without removing the roof covering.

In apartments from the 1960s to the 1980s, in Annecy, Chambéry or Aix-les-Bains, the suspended ceiling is often used to run ventilation, new lighting or ducts during a reconfiguration. It costs a few centimetres of height: to be checked in rooms that are already low.

The ceiling forms part of the overall reworking of walls and ceilings, described step by step in our guide to redoing walls and ceilings. For partitions and wall linings, the prices are in our guide to the price of plasterboard per m².

At NovAlp, the ceilings are built by our salaried plasterers, the spotlights connected by our electricians and the finish done by our painters, on a single schedule. The ceiling is closed only once the services have been run and checked: this is what avoids reopening new boards for a forgotten cable, and what allows us to hold the quoted price.