Cambridge Roofers fits exterior cladding in Great Shelford and the surrounding area, and this page sets out honest, typical price ranges and explains clearly what pushes costs up or down so you can budget properly before you pick up the phone.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Exterior cladding costs are quoted across a wide range by different companies, and it is not always obvious why. The variation is real - it reflects genuine differences in material grade, wall preparation, access difficulty and the detail of the specification. This page unpacks those factors so you can read a quote intelligently and understand whether a low price represents good value or a cut-down job.
The following are indicative installed prices per square metre of wall area for properties in and around Great Shelford. They include materials, battens, breather membrane and basic trim work, but not scaffolding, which is priced separately.
These are current typical UK market ranges. A specific price for your property needs a site visit because several factors - described below - can move the figure significantly in either direction.
Scaffolding is almost always required for a full-elevation cladding job and it is priced as a separate fixed cost. Typical scaffolding for a standard two-storey house elevation in this area runs from around £600 to £1,200, but that figure rises sharply if access is difficult - for example, where the scaffold needs to span a narrow passage, protect a vehicle or work around a conservatory.
Because scaffolding is largely a fixed cost, the unit rate per square metre of cladding falls as the total wall area increases. A small extension re-clad will have a higher cost per square metre than a full-house project, simply because the scaffolding cost is spread across fewer boards. This is why it nearly always makes sense to address all elevations, or to combine cladding with a roof, soffit or fascia job, while access is already in place.
If there is existing cladding to remove, that work adds to the cost. Stripping old boards, disposing of them, and inspecting and replacing any rotted battens or failed breather membrane is labour and material that is not needed on a bare wall. The condition of what is found behind the old cladding is an unknown until the boards come off, and an honest quote will flag this as a potential variable rather than bury it.
On bare masonry walls, the surface needs to be sound, clean and dry before battens are fixed. Crumbling pointing or areas of loose render need to be made good - this is cost-effective to do while the scaffold is up but adds to the total. Ignoring it is not an option if the cladding is to perform correctly.
Installing rigid insulation boards to the wall before the batten framework goes on adds material and a little additional labour cost, but doing it at the time of cladding is the most cost-effective point in the building's life to address external wall insulation. The scaffold is already there, the wall is already exposed, and the additional cost per square metre of adding 50mm of rigid insulation is modest compared to the cost of returning later. If your walls are solid or poorly insulated, it is worth getting a price for insulation included in the cladding quote.
The cost of trim - window reveals, corner sections, soffit junctions and barge details - is often underestimated when homeowners try to estimate a job themselves. On a typical house, the trim can account for 15 to 25 per cent of the material cost. Properties with bay windows, many openings, or complex eaves lines have more linear metres of trim to detail, and the labour involved in making those junctions neat and weather-tight takes time.
A quote that addresses trim work specifically is a better quote than one that focuses only on the area of boarding. Ask the installer how trim and junction details are being priced, and check that window and door reveals are included rather than assumed to be a separate item.
These are separate items from the cladding but are almost always addressed at the same time, because the scaffold makes them accessible. Replacing UPVC soffits and fascias on a standard semi-detached house typically adds £600 to £1,500 to the project cost depending on the length of run and whether the guttering needs replacing at the same time. Timber fascias painted to match the cladding will cost more than UPVC but can look considerably better on the right property.
Bargeboards on a gable end are particularly vulnerable to water damage and should be inspected closely when the scaffold is up. A rotten bargeboard that is not replaced allows water to track down behind the top of the cladding and onto the gable wall - undoing the work of the re-clad.
Within each material type, quality varies. Featheredge softwood is available in several grades, and the cheap end of the market - thin, knotty, inadequately treated boards - will not last as long or look as good as mid-grade material. The difference in board cost between the cheapest and a decent mid-grade softwood is modest, but the difference in performance over ten years is significant.
Profile also affects cost. A simple featheredge is the cheapest to buy and to fix. Shiplap profiles, tongue-and-groove, and decorative profiles all cost more per metre to buy, and some take longer to fix, adding to labour cost. If you want a specific profile or finish, confirm what is being quoted and ask to see a sample before the order is placed.
The colour of a factory-finished composite or fibre cement board rarely changes the price - all colours within a range are usually priced the same. The height of a two-storey wall versus a single-storey wall does change the scaffold requirement but not significantly the boarding rate per square metre. And the direction a wall faces makes no difference to the cost of cladding it, though it does affect how quickly a timber finish will weather and how often it will need maintenance.
A reliable quote requires a site visit. A price given over the phone or by email from photographs is an estimate at best, and on a job where wall condition and detail complexity drive the final cost, an unvisited estimate is rarely accurate. Any quote worth having should specify the material by name and grade, the boarding profile, the batten specification, whether a breather membrane is included, and how trim and reveals are handled.
We work in Great Shelford and across the surrounding area including Cambridge, Saffron Walden, Royston and Newmarket. If you are in a neighbouring village, call us and we will confirm whether a visit works logistically.
Call us to book a survey on your Great Shelford property. We will measure the walls, look at the access, discuss the material options and give you a written price that covers the full scope of the work so there are no surprises once the scaffolding goes up.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
