Venetian plaster — also called polished plaster or stucco veneziano — is priced per project in the UAE, supplied and installed by RBS Group, the UAE’s No.1 decorative surfaces company. We do not publish a per-square-metre rate for it, or for its siblings marmorino, travertino and tadelakt, because the wall and the finish decide the figure more than the area does; every quote follows a site visit. What this page gives you instead is everything that moves the price, so you can tell a fair quote from a thin one.
To see the finishes themselves — the sheens, the colours and where each one suits — start with our page on Venetian plaster and polished plaster in Dubai.
How much does Venetian plaster cost in Dubai and the UAE?
Venetian plaster (stucco veneziano) is priced per project in the UAE, supplied and installed, after we have seen the wall. The final figure depends chiefly on sheen: a high-gloss burnished finish takes more coats and more hand work than a matte one, and is priced accordingly. The state of the wall comes next — lime shows whatever sits beneath it — and then the area, since a single small wall carries the same set-up as a large one.
How much do marmorino and travertino cost?
Marmorino and travertino are priced per project across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, supplied and installed. A marmorino finish reads as soft, cloudy stone with a matte-satin surface; travertino as open, textured stone. Both need less burnishing than a polished stucco veneziano, which is the main reason the matte finishes are the quicker, lighter-cost end of the lime family.
How much does a tadelakt bathroom cost in Dubai?
A tadelakt bathroom in Dubai is priced per project, because the hours in it follow the shape of the room. Tadelakt is the most labour-intensive plaster we make: wet-zone waterproofing beneath the lime, then hand-burnishing with a stone until the surface closes and repels water. Flat walls are the quickest work; curves, niches, benches and a full hammam take far longer. The detail is in our tadelakt cost guide.
What moves the price
Five things decide where a quote lands:
- Sheen level — high-gloss burnished finishes cost more than matte; every extra degree of polish is trowel work.
- Number of coats — deeper, more layered finishes take more passes.
- Wall preparation — lime plaster shows whatever sits beneath it, so the skim must be right before the finish begins.
- Materials — imported Italian lime, not acrylic imitation.
- Protection — wax and protective topcoats, specified to the room.
Tadelakt adds two more: wet-zone waterproofing and stone-burnishing by hand. Bespoke work — pigmented finishes, curved walls, custom patterns — is priced on consultation, and every exact quote follows a site visit.
Is Venetian plaster worth it compared with paint or wallpaper?
Judged on budget alone, Venetian plaster is not worth it — quality paint costs a fraction of lime plaster and remains the right choice for rental properties, ceilings and rooms you expect to redecorate in a few years. Lime plaster sits in a different category: a permanent mineral surface that is breathable, naturally resistant to mould in coastal humidity, and ages rather than dates. Paint and wallpaper are finishes you replace; plaster is a wall you keep.
Is Venetian plaster expensive?
Compared with paint, yes — a properly burnished lime wall costs several times what emulsion does, and if the wall will be repainted in five years, paint is the right choice. Compared with cladding the same wall in real marble, or with a genuinely bespoke wallcovering, it is usually the less expensive route to a similar effect. The cost is almost entirely skilled hand labour: thin coats and long burnishing at hand speed, which is why the matte sibling, marmorino, costs less — it needs less polishing. What the premium buys is a permanent mineral wall that ages rather than dates: a finish you keep, not one you replace.
Venetian plaster price per square foot
We do not publish a per-square-foot rate for Venetian plaster or marmorino; we measure and quote in square metres, after a site visit. Sheen and coats move the figure more than anything else: a high-gloss burnish takes more passes than a satin one, and each pass is trowel time. If a competitor’s quote is in square feet, multiply it by 10.764 to get the per-metre figure, and check that it covers preparation, every coat and the protective wax before you compare it with anyone else’s.
Venetian plaster cost per m² (price per square meter)
Venetian plaster is priced per m², supply and install, once we have seen the wall — we do not publish a starting rate. You can still measure for the quote yourself: multiply the wall height by its width, subtract nothing for doors unless they are large, and send us the figure with a photo. A 3 m × 5 m living-room wall is 15 m². Walls cost more per m² when they are small (set-up time is the same for 6 m² as for 60), when they need levelling first, or when the sheen goes to full mirror. They cost less per m² when several walls are done in one visit.
What does a Venetian plaster bathroom cost?
A Venetian plaster bathroom is priced per project, and it is always two jobs: the dry walls — vanity, WC and tub walls in marmorino or stucco veneziano — and the wet zone, which is never Venetian plaster. Inside the shower the lime answer is tadelakt, priced per project, or a microcement bathroom wet zone, which starts from AED 350/m². Sealing for humidity is part of our work; a working extractor is your side of the deal. The zoning logic is in can Venetian plaster go in a bathroom, and we build both wet-zone systems — see tadelakt in Dubai. Weighing the two materials for the walls as well? Read Venetian plaster vs microcement.
Venetian plaster labor cost per square foot
We do not sell Venetian plaster labour on its own, and no honest applicator should, because the price is almost entirely labour already. The lime and marble dust are a small share; the rest is a trained applicator’s hours across base coats, finish coats and burnishing. Quoting “labor cost per square foot” without the material invites the failure we see most often: a client buys plaster elsewhere, a day-rate crew applies it, and nobody owns the result. If you are comparing quotes, compare supply-and-install per square metre, and ask whether the crew is in-house or subcontracted. That question moves the outcome more than the rate does.
Venetian plaster cost calculator: a worked example
There is no calculator that beats a site visit, but the measuring is simple enough to do yourself. Take a majlis with two feature walls, each 3 m high and 6 m wide: 36 m² in total. Add a ceiling of 30 m² in the same lime and the job is 66 m². That number, with a photo of each surface, is what we price from. The honest caveats that a calculator cannot see: uneven walls that need skimming first, a bespoke pigment, a metallic or textured effect, or a mirror sheen all move the figure up; several rooms in one visit move it down. Send the dimensions on WhatsApp and we will do the sum properly.
Lime plaster cost: the price per m² and per square foot
Lime plaster in the UAE is priced per project, because in practice “lime plaster” here means the same family already described on this page: marmorino and travertino, polished Venetian plaster, and tadelakt. There is no separate, cheaper “plain lime plaster” on our list; a flat lime skim without a decorative finish is not something we sell, and gypsum does that job for a fraction of the price. The choice of finish, not the word “lime”, decides where your quote lands — matte at the lighter end, mirror-polished and tadelakt at the other.
How expensive is lime plaster?
Compared with paint, yes: lime plaster costs several times what emulsion does, and if the wall will be repainted in five years, paint is the right buy. Compared with real stone, no: marble cladding on the same wall costs several times more and brings joints, weight and a fixing system. How expensive lime plaster is, then, depends on what you compare it to and how long you intend to keep the wall.
Is stucco expensive?
“Stucco” is a word that needs unpacking before the question makes sense — in the UAE it usually means stucco veneziano, the polished Venetian plaster, which is the dearer of the two dry lime finishes because the mirror burnish is hours of trowel work. Cement-render “stucco” on an exterior is a different trade, and not one we quote for — the two meanings are untangled in what is stucco. So: stucco veneziano is expensive next to paint, reasonable next to marble, and a step above marmorino for the shine.
Marmorino plaster price per m² and per square foot
Marmorino plaster is priced per project in the UAE, supply and install, after a site visit, and the texture you choose sits inside that price rather than on top of it. A fine, smooth marmorino and an open, more hand-touched grade take a similar number of passes; what moves the marmorino price is a light burnish toward satin, a deep bespoke colour, or a wall that needs levelling first. Travertino, the open-pored stone-look sibling, is priced the same way.
Marmorino texture price per square foot
We measure and quote marmorino in square metres, not per square foot, and we do not publish a starting rate for either unit — the texture itself (a fine, close trowel pass versus an open, hand-touched grade) barely moves the price; what moves it is the wall’s condition and the number of passes the chosen texture needs. If a competitor quotes a marmorino texture per square foot, multiply by 10.764 to compare it against a per-metre figure before deciding it’s cheaper.
Lime and Venetian plaster walls cost per square foot
Marmorino, travertino and stucco veneziano on this page are wall finishes — the wall’s height and width give the area (multiply the two), and that area is what we price, per square metre, after a site visit; we do not publish a per-square-foot rate for lime or Venetian plaster walls. Tadelakt is the one lime finish that can also go on a floor, selectively (see which lime finish for a floor), and is priced the same way. A small feature wall costs more per square metre than a whole room done in one visit, because the set-up time is nearly the same either way.
Polished plaster cost
Polished plaster is the trade name for stucco veneziano — burnished Venetian lime — so its cost is everything on this page: priced per project, with the sheen doing most of the work. “Decorative plaster” is broader: it takes in marmorino and travertino, the polished finishes and tadelakt. If a quote you are holding calls itself polished or decorative plaster, ask which of those it actually is and whether it is real lime or an acrylic effect paint; the names are explained in polished plaster in the UAE.
How much does limewash cost?
Limewash is priced per project after a site visit, because a brushed wash is quick per square metre but the wall preparation, the number of coats and whether we are doing one accent wall or a whole house change the figure more than area does. What we can say honestly: limewash is the least expensive way into real lime — a wash, not a trowelled plaster — so it sits below marmorino, and it is expensive only against ordinary emulsion, which it outlives in character but not in scrubbability. The full picture is in limewash paint in the UAE.
What does lime plaster (Venetian plaster) installation involve, and does it affect price?
Venetian plaster installation — and lime plaster installation generally — is skimming, not painting: a primer coat, then two or three thin passes of lime applied and worked by hand while it stays open, with burnishing (for stucco veneziano) or waterproofing (for tadelakt) added on top depending on the finish. Every pass has to be timed against the lime’s own set, which is why the labour — not the material — is most of what a quote prices. A rushed installation shows as patchiness or hairline crazing within a year; that is a workmanship fault, not a lime one, which is also why we quote per project rather than by a flat rate that ignores how carefully the job actually gets done.
Which plaster suits which room?
Marmorino and travertino suit living rooms, bedrooms and majlis walls; polished stucco veneziano suits entrances and formal rooms where light should move across the wall; and tadelakt is the one plaster made for showers, bathrooms and hammams. In a villa bathroom, tadelakt replaces tiles entirely — genuinely waterproof lime with no grout lines to darken in the humidity. All four are mineral and breathable, so they stay stable through air-conditioned interiors and 45°C summers. See the full system on our Venetian plaster in Dubai page.
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