What changes the scope of a rendering quotation
Rendering costs in York: what changes the size of the job
This page gives no prices. Instead it sets out what makes one York rendering job bigger than another, because a quotation is only comparable with another once both describe the same work on the same walls.
On this page
Street access and scaffold
Where a house fronts the footway, scaffold usually stands on the highway. York's council requires a licence, applied for by the scaffolding company with five working days' notice; if pedestrians cannot pass through the scaffold, a temporary footway is needed, and if that goes on the carriageway, traffic management too. A drop-body skip needs its own permit. Each adds time and arrangements before work starts.
The time the scaffold stays matters as well. Lime is kept under hessian for at least two weeks, according to Cornish Lime, and K Rend's silicone thin coat needs at least 14 days on a fresh base coat.
Stripping, trials and what lies beneath
On an older wall, cement or dash should come off by hand after a trial, as SPAB advises, which is slower than breaking it off a modern block wall. What is underneath may need repair: soft or broken brick, decayed joints, old openings, rusted fixings. A saturated wall should dry before re-rendering, and SPAB warns that salts may mean renewing new lime after a couple of years.
A clear quotation prices what can be seen and gives an allowance for what may be found, with a way of agreeing it before the wall is covered again.
Lime versus a modern system
Lime work is built up in several coats, each left to set, cured under hessian and finished with limewash, so it takes longer on the wall than a one-coat monocouche, which K Rend's K Mono sheet shows sprayed in a single pass and scraped within a day. A silicone system sits between the two, with a base coat, a waiting period, a primer and a finish.
Which is right depends on the wall, not the budget: SPAB's guidance is clear that older solid walls need lime rather than cement.
| Factor | Less work | More work |
|---|---|---|
| Street access | Rear wall reached from a garden | Frontage on a footway, licence and temporary footway |
| Existing finish | Sound render, repaired and recoated | Cement or dash removed by hand after trials |
| Wall material | Modern block or brick | Soft brick, limestone or timber frame needing lime |
| Openings | Few plain windows | Stone surrounds, sills and historic frames to work around |
| Consent | No designation | Listed building or conservation area |
Openings, features and consent
Stone surrounds, sills, string courses and historic sashes all need careful hand work around them, and each opening needs its own detail. On a listed building or in a conservation area, consent can be needed before work starts, and Approved Document L can bring an insulation question into any job that re-renders more than half of a wall. Allow for those steps in the programme.
Common questions
Can two lime quotations differ a lot for the same wall?
Yes. One may repair patches while another strips the whole wall, and the lime, coats, curing and finish can all differ. Compare the work each describes before comparing totals.
See housing and planning information for York and nearby places, including the source and geography behind each figure.