What changes the size of the job
Whole-House Rendering Costs in Sheffield: What Sets the Size
This site shows no prices. What it can explain is why two houses with similar wall areas can be very different jobs. On a whole-house re-render, the size of the job is set less by square metres than by access, how much old render comes off, what turns up underneath, the system chosen and how many details interrupt the walls.
On this page
Access and the scaffold
Scaffold is usually the first large item. A detached house needs it on four sides, a semi on three, and a mid-terrace front and back only. A tall gable, a chimney stack that is being rendered, a conservatory or lean-to under a wall, or a narrow side passage all change what has to be built. Scaffold standing on the pavement needs a council permit to occupy the highway. The longer the job takes, the longer the scaffold stays, so anything that adds weeks, such as lime curing between coats or a winter pause, adds to it too.
Removal and what it uncovers
Keeping sound render as a background is a smaller job than stripping it; stripping pebbledash off a whole house is one of the biggest, because of the hacking, the debris and the skips. The part that cannot be known in advance is what lies underneath. Stripping can reveal bricked-up openings, cracked lintels, soft or damaged brick faces and deep hollows that need dubbing out before the base coat. A sensible quotation says how much of that it allows for and how extra work found after stripping will be agreed.
| Factor | Smaller job | Bigger job |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Two elevations, low walls, clear ground | Four elevations, tall gables, conservatory or pavement scaffold |
| Old render | Sound and kept as a background | Hollow or pebbledash stripped from every face |
| Underneath | Even, sound masonry | Infilled openings, damaged brick, deep hollows |
| System | One system on similar backgrounds | Several base coats, lime, or added insulation |
| Details | Few openings and fittings | Bays, porches, many sills, meters and downpipes |
The system, the details and the weather
The system changes the number of operations. A thin-coat silicone needs a base coat, a wait of at least 14 days, a primer and a finish; a monocouche is one thick coat that must be scraped at the right time; lime takes three coats with about a week between them and weeks of curing. External wall insulation adds boards, fixings, extended sills, longer fixings for pipes and meters, and work at the eaves. Approved Document L can make insulation part of the job once more than a quarter of the envelope is re-rendered, so ask building control before comparing quotations.
Details add work that wall area hides. Every bay, porch, sill, downpipe, meter box and light needs beads, stopping or refixing. Weather sets the programme: render products have minimum temperatures and need protection from rain and frost, so autumn and winter jobs run slower. Compare quotations by what each one includes on every elevation, not by the total alone.
See housing and planning information for Sheffield and nearby places, including the source and geography behind each figure.