Facade & Exterior

We can't point you to a current independent price for facade repairs, screens or cladding on a landed house, so here's what makes one job bigger than another. A corner terrace or semi-detached house has more exposed wall than a middle terrace, and a detached house more again. The upper floors need a scaffold or other safe access. Loose or hollow plaster has to come off and be re-rendered before any paint goes on. A repaint is surface work, while cladding adds a frame, fixings and its own design. Boundary walls, screens, lighting and driveway work are separate jobs, so ask for each to be priced on its own line. We give a fixed-price quote within 3 to 5 working days of a free site assessment, never from photos, because hollow plaster, how many sides of the house are exposed and the access each side needs only show on site.

It depends on the house and the work. If the house is conserved, you need URA's Conservation Permission before work starts, even just to repaint the facade, because URA lists painting of building facades among its Category 3 works, which need permission before they start. URA says the application is free and takes about two weeks, owners or contractors can make it, and no work should be carried out before the permission is issued. Bigger changes to a conserved house can fall under another category. BCA's Periodic Facade Inspection doesn't apply to a house used only as a home, because its guidelines exclude detached, semi-detached, terraced or linked houses used solely as residences. If part of the house is used for something else, such as an office, two more conditions decide it. The inspection covers only buildings over 20 years old, every seven years, and buildings whose highest point is 13 metres or lower from the ground are excluded too. If the use has changed or BCA has sent you a notice, check with BCA, and keep maintaining the exterior either way. New cladding may need a Qualified Person's structural design. Our facade buying guide on checking the walls and comparing quotes goes further.

We can't give a number of weeks until the walls have been checked, because repairs found once the scaffold is up can add to the work. Some steps do have known times. For a conserved house, URA takes about two weeks to process a Category 3 application, and work can't start before the permission is issued. Painting stops in wet weather and waits for a damp wall to dry. Dulux's Weathershield sheet, for one paint, says not to apply it during wet weather or where the moisture reading is above 17%. From 1 January 2027, MOM limits a newly erected timber scaffold to three months, down from nine. A job expected to run longer should consider a metal or aluminium scaffold instead, because MOM considers extensions case by case and doesn't approve them automatically. The scaffold should stay up until the upper walls have been checked.

We can't point you to a current independent figure for repainting a landed home, so look at what each quote covers. A repaint quote should list the scaffold or other access for the upper floors, the preparation, any plaster repair and the paint system. Read the preparation closely. Dulux's Weathershield sheet, for one paint, asks for loose or powdery paint to be scraped off and algae treated before painting. Plaster that's loose or hollow has to be hacked off and re-rendered first, and the paint system means the primer and the number of finish coats the maker's data sheet sets. We give a fixed-price quote within 3 to 5 working days of a free site assessment, never from photos, because loose plaster and the access each side of the house needs only show on site.

The best one is the paint made for your wall and applied the way its maker says. Ask which paint and primer are proposed and for the maker's data sheet, which sets the surface, the weather and the number of coats. Dulux's Weathershield sheet, for example, specifies one primer coat and two finish coats. A crack-bridging coating is sold to cover fine cracks, within limits that differ by product, but it doesn't diagnose or repair a crack that keeps moving. A dearer paint doesn't by itself mean a longer wait before the next repaint, because the wall, how exposed it is and the preparation matter too. Try the colour on your own wall first. Our guide to testing exterior paint colours with a sample before the painters start shows how.

Choose on the look, privacy and upkeep you want, then make sure the frame and fixings are designed to carry it. A screen hangs its weight on fixings into the wall, so ask who designs and checks those before you choose a material, and how the screen will be reached for cleaning. Neither timber nor aluminium is maintenance-free. Our comparison of timber and aluminium facade screens weighs the two on privacy, shade, upkeep and the view from inside.

Look at where the stain is. Streaks under a window ledge, coping or parapet can come from rain running off it. A damp patch inside after heavy rain can mean water is getting in through a crack or a joint. Green or black growth on a wall that gets little sun can mean it stays damp in shade. Each needs a different fix, and a new coat over a wall that's still getting wet doesn't deal with the water. Our article on finding the cause of a damp wall before repainting goes through what to check and repair first.

That depends on which parts of the house the work reaches. The painting and repairs happen outside, but scaffolding and sheeting cover windows, hacking off plaster is noisy and dusty, and the porch or driveway may be out of use while work is going on above it. Before work starts, ask which windows will be covered and for how long, how those rooms will get fresh air, which days the porch or parking is blocked, and when the noisiest hacking happens. Then decide whether anyone needs to be elsewhere on those days.

Yes, and it can make sense when the jobs share a scaffold or meet at the same edge. Fix a leaking roof, gutter or parapet before the walls are painted, so water doesn't stain the new paint, and fit a new gate or redo the gate pillars before the final coat so that work doesn't scrape it. Our roof waterproofing service and auto gate service cover those jobs. Compare a combined quote with separate quotes before assuming it saves money.