Mildenhall Roofers fits exterior cladding to homes in Thetford, and this page gives you a clear and honest guide to what the work typically costs and what pushes the price up or down.
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If you have asked two or three contractors to quote for exterior cladding and received widely different figures, the chances are they are not quoting for the same thing. Cladding is not a single product with a fixed price - it is a system, and the cost depends heavily on the material chosen, the condition of the existing wall, the height and accessibility of the building, and the complexity of the detailing at junctions and openings.
We work in Thetford and the surrounding area from our base in nearby Mildenhall. This page runs through the main cost factors honestly so you can make a fair comparison when you receive quotes.
These figures represent realistic installed costs per square metre for exterior cladding on a typical domestic property in this part of East Anglia. They include materials, batten framework, breathable membrane and standard fixings, but not scaffolding or any remedial work to the wall behind.
For a typical semi-detached house with one or two elevations to be clad - perhaps 50 to 80 square metres - total project costs before extras commonly fall in the range of £4,000 to £12,000, depending on material and specification.
Several factors can add significantly to a cladding budget, and it is worth understanding these before you commit to a specification or a quote.
Scaffolding. Any wall above roughly three metres will need scaffold for safe working. On a two-storey house, a full elevation scaffold typically costs £700-£1,500 depending on length, height and how long it is needed. This is usually a separate line in the quote and worth asking about explicitly. If a contractor says no scaffold is needed on a two-storey wall, ask how the upper courses will be reached safely.
Wall preparation. If the existing wall surface is in poor condition - blown render, spalling brickwork, previous cladding that has trapped moisture behind it - this needs to be addressed before the new cladding goes on. Stripping old cladding, hacking off defective render and making good the wall can add £500-£2,000 to a project depending on the extent. A contractor who does not allow for this in their quote may be planning to clad over problems rather than fix them.
Height and roof pitch. On a gable elevation that follows a steep roof pitch, the cladding has to be cut to the angle of the verge at the top. This is more laborious than a straight horizontal finish and adds time and material waste.
Number and size of openings. Every window and door in the clad wall adds detailing work - head flashings, sill flashings, jamb returns and trims at the reveal. A wall with four large windows costs noticeably more per square metre to clad than a plain wall, even if the board area is similar.
Corner and junction complexity. A simple rectangular elevation with no setbacks, offsets or abutments is the easiest and cheapest to clad. L-shaped elevations, bay windows, columns, meter boxes and soil pipes all add detailing time and material.
Insulation. Adding rigid insulation board within the batten zone - or using a thicker batten to incorporate a separate insulation layer - improves the wall's thermal performance substantially. This is particularly worth considering if the property is an older solid-walled building. The added cost is typically £15-£35 per square metre depending on the insulation type and thickness, but it can reduce heating costs meaningfully over time.
A few practical decisions can make a cladding project more cost-effective without compromising quality.
Choosing a standard board profile and colour rather than a bespoke or specialist finish cuts material costs. Most composite and fibre cement manufacturers offer a range of standard profiles that are held in stock and available quickly - these cost less than made-to-order options and avoid long lead times.
Doing one elevation properly rather than trying to stretch the budget to cover four elevations at once often makes more sense. Start with the most exposed or problematic wall and phase the rest as budget allows.
If scaffolding is being hired for another job on the house at the same time - a roof repair, chimney work or gutter replacement - combining the cladding work to share the scaffold hire can save several hundred pounds.
A properly detailed cladding quote should break down the cost of materials separately from labour. It should specify the exact product - not just "composite cladding" but the board dimensions, core type and colour. It should state whether the breathable membrane, starter strips and flashings are included, or whether these are extra. And it should clearly state what is excluded - scaffolding and wall preparation are the two most common items left out of headline prices.
If you are in Thetford and comparing quotes for exterior cladding, a quote that is substantially cheaper than others should prompt a question: what has been left out? The three most likely candidates are scaffold, membrane and junction detailing.
The single best way to control cost on a cladding project is to have a clear specification before you ask anyone to quote. Know which wall or walls you want clad, have a rough measurement of the area, and have a material preference in mind even if it is provisional. This allows contractors to quote for the same thing and gives you a meaningful comparison.
Call Mildenhall Roofers and we will visit your property in Thetford, assess the walls, talk through the options and give you a clear breakdown of what the job will cost for your specific situation.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
