Haverhill Roofers fits and repairs exterior cladding on homes and outbuildings in Sudbury, and this page gives you a straight picture of typical costs and the factors that push them up or down.
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Cladding is a weatherproof skin fixed to the outside of a wall or dormer. It protects the structure behind it, reduces maintenance on exposed surfaces, and changes how the building looks. We fit timber, fibre cement and composite cladding, and repair existing installations, based from Haverhill and covering Sudbury and surrounding towns including Halstead and Braintree.
Cost is one of the first questions homeowners ask, and it is a fair one. The honest answer is that exterior cladding prices vary considerably, but there are clear reasons why, and understanding them helps you check whether a quote is reasonable or not.
Exterior cladding prices depend on the material chosen and the complexity of the job. The figures below cover materials and labour but exclude scaffold where it is needed.
These are broad figures for planning purposes. The actual price for your property will depend on the factors below, some of which can move the cost significantly in either direction.
Access and scaffold. A single-storey extension or outbuilding can usually be clad safely from a ladder or a mobile podium, which adds little to the cost. A two-storey wall or a dormer that cannot be reached safely from ground level needs proper scaffold. Scaffold hire for a typical two-storey wall typically adds £400 to £900 to the job, depending on the length of the run and how long it needs to stay up.
Number of junctions. Every window, door, external corner, pipe penetration and roof abutment requires careful detailing to keep water out. A plain gable wall with no windows is quick to clad. A dormer face with three windows, a complex soffit junction and a lead flashing detail at the top takes considerably longer per square metre. Labour time goes up with every junction.
Condition of the existing substrate. If the wall underneath needs preparation before the cladding goes on - repairing loose render, fixing damp patches, treating timber frame members that have started to soften - that work adds cost. It cannot always be fully scoped until the old cladding comes off, which is why any honest quote for a re-clad includes a provisional figure for substrate repairs rather than a single fixed total.
Removal of existing cladding. Stripping off old boards, removing rotten battens and disposing of the waste takes time and a skip or a van load. On a full re-clad, allow roughly £10 to £20 per square metre for strip-out and disposal, on top of the installation cost.
Material specification. Hardwood cladding (western red cedar, oak or similar) costs more than softwood. Within composite cladding, there is a wide range of quality between budget boards and well-tested premium products, and the price difference between them is real. Unusual profiles or factory-finished colours can also carry a premium over standard painted finishes.
Height and roof pitch. On dormers with a steep pitch above them, working safely on the junction between the cladding and the roof takes longer and may require additional edge protection.
Simpler wall geometry. A straightforward rectangular elevation with no windows, or only one or two, is the fastest to clad and costs least per square metre.
Good substrate condition. If the wall underneath is sound - no damp, no loose material, no previous cladding to remove - the job moves quickly. New extensions and outbuildings in this position are typically the most straightforward.
Ground-level access. Single-storey walls that can be done safely without scaffold save the hire cost entirely.
Painting by the homeowner. On timber cladding, the top coat of paint can be applied by a careful homeowner after the boards are up and jointed. This reduces the labour element of the job, though the back-priming and undercoat should still be done by the installer before and during fixing, not left out.
Repairing isolated board failures, re-sealing junctions and renewing loose fixings is good value where the overall installation is structurally sound. If the battens behind the boards are rotten, or if wrong fixings have been used throughout the installation, repair costs can mount up quickly and a full re-clad becomes the more cost-effective route.
A simple test: if more than roughly a third of the boards on a face show signs of failure, or if any section of the batten structure has rotted through, the economics usually favour starting again. Get a contractor to show you the battens behind a sample section before deciding.
Cladding quotes vary because contractors specify the job differently. When you are comparing prices from different contractors in Sudbury or nearby towns, make sure each quote covers the same scope: material type and profile, batten specification, whether back-priming is included, how junctions will be detailed, and what happens if the substrate needs remedial work once the old cladding comes off.
A lower quote that assumes the substrate is fine and does not include back-priming is not the same job as a properly specified installation. Asking those specific questions before you accept a price is the most useful thing you can do.
Call us for a site visit in Sudbury or the surrounding area and we will give you a clear breakdown of what the job involves and what it will cost, before you decide anything.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
