Panelling is one of the few changes to a house that you notice every single day, and one of the hardest to price from a website. Two quotes for the same room can be hundreds of pounds apart and both can be honest. The difference is nearly always in the materials, the setting out and how much preparation is included.
This guide sets out the things that move the price, gives realistic ranges for the sort of work we are asked for most often in Hampshire, and shows you how to read a quote so you are comparing like with like.
What you are actually paying for
A panelled wall is not a product off a shelf. It is a layout drawn for one specific wall, materials bought for that layout, a day or two of careful fitting, and a finish that has to survive being looked at closely in daylight. The bill splits roughly into materials, labour and preparation.
Materials are usually the smallest part. Moisture-resistant MDF sheet and moulding for a typical feature wall might be £120 to £300. Hardwood, oak veneer or fluted panel systems can be three or four times that. Labour is the bigger figure, because the value is in the setting out: getting the panel widths even, the rails level across an out-of-square room, and the joins invisible once painted.
- Materials: sheet, moulding, adhesive, fixings, filler and caulk
- Setting out: measuring, drawing the layout, adjusting for skirting and sockets
- Fitting: cutting, scribing to uneven walls, fixing and filling
- Making good: caulking, sanding and leaving the wall ready for paint
Realistic price ranges
As a rough guide for supply and fit in the south of England, a single square feature wall in painted MDF panelling usually lands somewhere between £600 and £1,400. A full room panelled to dado height is commonly £1,500 to £3,000. Full-height panelling through a hallway and up a stairwell, where every riser and return has to be scribed, often runs from £2,500 upwards.
3D and fluted panelling sits higher because the material costs more and the setting out is less forgiving: the pattern has to run on across the wall and around obstacles without a visible break. Media walls with recesses for a television and a fire are a joinery job rather than a panelling job, and are priced that way.
Decoration is usually quoted separately. Spraying gives the flattest finish and costs more than brush and roller. Some homeowners paint the panelling themselves to save a few hundred pounds, which is perfectly reasonable if you are patient with the caulk lines.
What pushes the price up
Almost everything that adds cost is about complexity rather than area. A big plain wall is cheap per square metre. A small wall with a chimney breast, two alcoves, a radiator, three sockets and a door architrave is not.
- Stairwells, curved walls and sloped ceilings, which need every piece scribed individually
- Existing skirting or coving that has to be worked around, removed or replaced
- Walls that are badly out of true and need packing before anything goes on
- Hardwood, oak veneer, fluted or slatted systems instead of paint-grade MDF
- Integrated lighting, sockets moved, or a television and fire built into the wall
- Access: a first-floor landing with a tight turn takes longer than a ground-floor lounge
What brings the price down
The cheapest sensible panelling is a simple square or rectangular grid, at dado or full height, on a straight wall, in paint-grade MDF, with the decoration done by you afterwards. Keeping the design plain does not make the result look cheap. Most of the panelling people admire in period houses is very simple; it looks expensive because the proportions are right, not because the mouldings are fussy.
Doing several rooms in one visit also helps. Setting up, measuring and clearing away are fixed costs, so a hallway and a dining room booked together cost less than the same two rooms months apart.
How to compare quotes fairly
Ask every quote to state the same six things and the differences become obvious very quickly. If one price is far lower, it is usually because something below has been left out rather than because the work is cheaper.
- Material and thickness — 18mm MR MDF behaves very differently to 9mm
- Whether skirting and architrave are being reused, replaced or panelled up to
- Whether the wall is left filled, caulked and sanded ready for paint
- Whether decoration is included, and brush or spray
- How sockets and switches are handled
- Rubbish removal and how many days the room is out of use
Does panelling add value?
No honest tradesman will promise you a figure. What we can say is that panelling photographs extremely well, and it changes how a room reads in the first three seconds — which matters when a house is being viewed. A well-proportioned panelled hallway makes a narrow entrance feel deliberate rather than tight.
It also lasts. A painted MDF panelled wall that has been properly fixed and filled will still be sound in fifteen years, and can be repainted with the rest of the room. Compared with the cost of replacing a kitchen or a bathroom, it is a small amount of money for a permanent change.
Common questions
- How much does one feature wall cost?
- For a straightforward square wall in painted MDF, most feature walls fall between £600 and £1,400 supplied and fitted, depending on size, the number of obstacles and whether decoration is included.
- Is panelling cheaper than wallpaper?
- Not usually. Good wallpaper hung well is often cheaper up front. Panelling lasts longer, survives knocks better and can be repainted any colour, so the cost per year tends to be lower.
- How long does a panelled room take?
- A single feature wall is often one day. A dado-height room is usually one to two days. Hallways and stairwells take longer because of the scribing.
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