Stretch Ceiling Cost Calculator

Written byOleh Soloninupdated 25 September 2026

Room length, m

Room width, m

Fabric price per m²

Profile price per metre

Downlights

Price per light cut-out

Corners in the room

Price per corner beyond four

Result

Total$0.00
Area, m²20
Perimeter, m18
Fabric$0.00
Profile$0.00
Lights and corners$0.00

The fabric is half the bill

Calculates the area and perimeter of a stretch ceiling and the full cost with the profile, the light cut-outs and the extra corners.

Quotes for stretch ceilings are given per square metre, and that price covers the fabric only. The profile runs around the perimeter and is charged by the metre, every downlight is a cut-out with a reinforcing ring, and every corner beyond the usual four is extra work.

In a five-by-four room the fabric is about 60 percent of the bill; in a small bathroom, half. The rest is exactly the items that never appear in the advertised price.

How to use

Enter the room length and width in metres.
Copy the fitter's prices: fabric per m², profile per running metre, each light cut-out, each corner beyond four.
Enter the number of lights and corners. An L-shaped room has six corners; a column in the room adds four.
Compare the total with the advertised price per metre: the gap is the profile, the lights and the corners.

Same area, different perimeter

The fabric follows the area and the profile follows the perimeter. A long room has more perimeter for the same area, so a 10 × 2 corridor costs 1,500 more than a 5 × 4 room even though both take 20 m² of fabric.

Every row comes from the calculator on this page at the worked example's prices: 600 a m² of fabric, 250 a metre of profile, six lights at 500, four corners. The prices are in whatever currency your quote uses.
Room, m	Area, m²	Perimeter, m	Fabric	Profile	Total
5 × 4	20	18	12,000	4,500	19,500
8 × 2.5	20	21	12,000	5,250	20,250
10 × 2	20	24	12,000	6,000	21,000

The smaller the room, the dearer the metre

A small room carries more profile per square metre: 1.33 metres for every m² in a 3 × 3 bathroom, 0.69 in a 7 × 5 living room. In the bathroom the fabric is only half the total and each square metre ends up costing nearly twice the advertised 600; in the large room the fabric is two thirds of the bill.

Same prices: 600 a m² of fabric, 250 a metre of profile, 500 a cut-out. The total is the calculator's; the per-m² figure is that total divided by the area, and the fabric share is the fabric cost divided by the total.
Room, m	Lights	Area, m²	Total	Total per m²	Fabric share
3 × 3	4	9	10,400	1,156	52%
4 × 3	4	12	12,700	1,058	57%
5 × 4	6	20	19,500	975	62%
6 × 5	8	30	27,500	917	65%
7 × 5	10	35	32,000	914	66%

What this calculator shows

The ceiling area and the perimeter of the profile
The cost of the fabric and of the profile separately
The cost of the lights and the extra corners, and the total

What to keep in mind

The room is rectangular. For an L-shaped room the rectangle areas can be added, but take the profile along the outer contour and count the corners of the real shape: six for an L.
The price per square metre is taken to include fitting. If the quote lists fitting separately, add it to the fabric price.

FAQs

Why is the profile charged separately?

Because it depends on the perimeter, not the area. A long narrow room has far more profile per square metre than a square one of the same size: 24 metres for 10 × 2 against 18 for 5 × 4.

Why do downlights cost extra?

Each one needs a reinforcing ring glued to the fabric, a hole cut after the ceiling is tensioned, and the fitting mounted on a platform behind it. It is a separate job.

What does a stretch ceiling cost for a 20 m² room?

At 600 a m² of fabric, 250 a metre of profile and six lights at 500: 19,500 for a 5 × 4 room and 21,000 for a 10 × 2 corridor. An advert saying 'from 600 a metre' would suggest 12,000 for both.

What counts as an extra corner?

Anything beyond the four a rectangular room has — a niche, a column, a projecting duct. Each adds a welded corner in the fabric and a cut in the profile.

How much do niches and projections add?

One corner price for each corner beyond four. At 200 a corner, the 5 × 4 room costs 19,900 with six corners, 20,300 with eight and 20,700 with ten, against 19,500.

How do I account for a pipe through the ceiling?

Going round a pipe is its own line on a fitter's price list: the fabric is cut, reinforced and sealed around it. Enter it as one more corner if the two prices are close, or add it to the total separately.

Worked example

A room of five by four

Input: 5 × 4 m, 600 a m² of fabric, 250 a metre of profile, 6 downlights

Output: 19,500 in total

Note: The fabric is 12,000 of that, the profile 4,500 and the lights 3,000. The advertised 'from 600 a metre' would have suggested 12,000 for the same ceiling.

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