How it works
How each estimate is calculated
Every result comes from the designs, measurements and options you enter. Here is how we work out the prices and the planner estimates, how we round them, and what is left for you to check.
How gang sheet prices are compared
For each printer, we pack your designs across that printer's film width with the spacing you chose. When a design has transparent space around it, we also try packing by shape, and keep whichever layout gives the lower total at that printer. It is an efficient layout, not a proven shortest one.
Then we price the layout with the printer's own price list. A printer that charges by length is paid for whole units (a metre, 10 cm, a foot or an inch), and any minimum order applies. With volume prices, the whole order takes the rate of the step it reaches. If a slightly longer order reaches a cheaper step and costs less in total, we price the longer order and say so. For a printer that sells set sheet sizes, we price the cheapest set of its sheets we find for your layout.
UK total = film price + delivery, with VAT at 20% added when the printer lists prices before VAT
UK totals include VAT. If a printer's page doesn't say whether its prices include VAT, we treat them as including it and say so. US totals are before sales tax. Delivery is included when the printer shows it; when it doesn't, the row is marked “+ delivery” and the total leaves delivery out.
The list is sorted by total price, then by printer name. No printer pays for a place, and partner status never changes the order. Every price shows the day we checked it and links to the printer's page. We check each page every week. A price we haven't confirmed for 45 days is hidden, and after 90 days the printer leaves the list until we check it again.
How measurements are handled
We convert every measurement to whole millimetres before any geometry, and convert back only to show you the result. Metric and imperial entries go through exactly the same calculation.
How the tile and pack estimate is rounded
We count every tile position that touches your room shape. A cut position counts as a whole tile, because we don't assume its offcut can be used somewhere else. Then we add the percentage you chose and round up to whole packs.
packs = ceil(tiles after allowance ÷ tiles in each pack)
tiles in whole packs = packs × tiles in each pack
How wallpaper drops become a roll estimate
Each wall becomes a number of full-width drops. We add the trim allowance to the tallest wall and round the drop length up for a straight pattern repeat, then count how many drops fit on one roll. Doors and windows that don't reach floor to ceiling don't reduce the count, because you still need paper above or below them.
rolls = ceil(required drops ÷ full drops from one roll)
We don't calculate half-drop matches. Wallpaper makers measure each half-drop drop as the wall height plus trim plus one full pattern repeat, because neighbouring drops start half a repeat apart.
The estimate doesn't add a spare roll. Check the roll size, repeat and match type on the label.
How the sheet layout uses the space
We sort your parts and place each one into the free rectangular spaces on the sheet, allowing for the saw cut, the rotation setting and any grain locks. The method always gives the same result for the same input. It gives an efficient layout, but it doesn't prove that no other arrangement could use fewer sheets. The result shows the parts, the leftover pieces and the material lost to cuts separately.
What is left for you to check
- Measurements, uneven edges, alcoves and transitions in the real room.
- Product sizes, pack or roll details, batches and pattern direction.
- Any extra you want for breakage, future repairs or unusable pieces.
- Edge trimming, clamps, cutting order and other workshop limits.
- Any installation, structural, safety or regulatory decision.
Terms and measurement conventions
Measurements follow the International Bureau of Weights and Measures guidance for SI units. Wallpaper terms follow the industry definitions of random, straight and drop pattern matches. These references explain the terms; they don't check a particular room or material.