Let talk follow your way!
Best price High quality Quick & efficient
Let talk follow your way!
Best price High quality Quick & efficient
One sheet of GIB® fixed to timber framing can be quoted at $29 or at $95, and both numbers are honest. The difference is what sits inside them. I run Pro Fixing®, and after fifteen years of pricing lining work across Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, I’ve found that nearly every argument about a fixing price comes down to two quotes that were never measuring the same thing. Here are the numbers we work to in 2026, what each one includes, and where a job starts to cost extra.
All figures below exclude GST.
This is the first question to settle, because it changes the price by roughly three times.
Labour only means you or your builder buys and delivers the board, and we cut, fit and screw it off. Expect $10 to $16 per square metre, or $29 to $46 per sheet. Most builders on a new build buy their own board through PlaceMakers or Carter Holt and price us on labour alone.
Supply and fix means we handle the board schedule, the ordering, the delivery, the fasteners and adhesive, the waste and the labour. For standard 10mm that lands at $25 to $33 per square metre, or $72 to $95 per sheet.
Where the work is small or awkward, a repair, a single ceiling, a wardrobe reline, we usually charge hourly instead. A qualified fixer runs $60 to $80 an hour.
A standard sheet is 2400 x 1200mm, which is 2.88 square metres. That conversion is the one to keep in your head when you are comparing a per sheet price against a per square metre price.
Supply and fix rates by board type:
Specialty board is heavier, slower to handle and often needs a specific fixing pattern to keep the rated system valid, so the labour rises alongside the material. A bathroom or laundry lined in Aqualine, or a garage ceiling in Fyreline, will always sit above the standard rate. Villaboard is a separate calculation again, since it is fibre cement rather than plasterboard and is fixed differently.
One thing worth knowing before you compare quotes: the board itself is only around $8.50 to $9.50 per square metre. Waste, fasteners, delivery, labour and overhead make up the rest. A quote that undercuts everyone else is almost always cutting the waste allowance or the labour hours, and you meet that decision later as wavy walls.
For a standard single storey three bedroom home, we usually measure somewhere near 300 square metres of lining once walls, ceilings, wardrobes and the garage are counted. Homeowners routinely underestimate this, because ceilings and cupboard interiors add far faster than floor area suggests.
At that size:
A two bedroom unit or a small extension will sit well under those figures. A two storey home with a stairwell void, raked ceilings and a media room can run past them. We measure off the plans rather than estimating from bedroom count, and our quotes come back inside five days.
Four things move the price most, and none of them are negotiable once the house is built.
Ceiling height. Anything above 2.4m adds roughly 15 to 25 percent. Stilts, extra handling and two people on every sheet all cost time. Raked and cathedral ceilings push higher again.
Renovation versus new build. Working in an occupied or partly stripped house typically runs 15 to 30 percent above a clean new build. Old framing is rarely straight, so we spend time packing and strapping before a sheet goes up.
Layout complexity. Bulkheads, niches, curved walls, square set corners and a lot of small rooms all reduce how much board goes up per hour.
Region and access. Our Wellington jobs often carry access and wind constraints that an Auckland flat site does not, while Hamilton builds tend to be more straightforward. Delivery to a hillside site with no truck access is a real line in a quote.
Fixing gets the board on the wall flat and true. Stopping is the taping, filling and sanding that makes it paintable, and it is a separate trade with a separate rate. Fixing and Level 4 stopping together works out at $55 to $78 per square metre, or $158 to $225 per sheet.
Quoting the two together usually saves money and always saves arguments, because one team owns the finish end to end. We explain why in our guide to why GIB fixing and stopping go hand in hand. Our GIB® stopping team works to the finish level specified, and we carry a two year workmanship guarantee on plasterboard finish based on the Master Builder defect schedule.
Check that the quote names board types and thicknesses room by room, says whether supply is included, gives a measured lining area rather than a lump sum, allows for waste, and states who removes the offcuts. Miss those and the price is a guess. Guesses turn into variations.
Ask about the finish level too. A fixing price means little until you know what standard the surface has to reach afterwards.
We line around 250 jobs a year across three regions, from single rooms through to apartment blocks and schools, with a project manager on every one. Send us your plans and we will come back with a measured price inside five days.
Talk to our GIB® fixing Auckland team, our GIB® fixers in Hamilton, or our GIB® fixing Wellington crew, and we will tell you what your job actually costs.
We have a large team of 86 highly qualified GIB® Fixers, Stoppers & Painters in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton with more than 10 years experience. We are prepared for all jobs from residential to large scale commercial sites…Read More
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