Cost of repointing - lime mortar

[AwkwardPaws27]

Is anyone willing to share what they've paid in recent years for repointing a house?
Edwardian 3 bed semi, so needs lime mortar. East London/Essex borders.

I've had one quote for £7,300 including VAT & scaffolding, for front, flank and rear walls (not including chimney stack).

Google suggested around £3.5k but I think that was for standard mortar, but it was still a bit of s shock when I got the quote - is the labour/cost of lime really that much more expensive?

I've patched some areas myself and did an ok job but can't face doing the lot myself (nor do I have the time).

Hopeful bump...

I've just had two quotes for re-mortaring the front and back of a terrace (and paint removal which might make it more expensive). One was 7.5k the other was something like 23k! Like you, it was more than I was expecting so I haven't booked it in. Maybe next year.

HotChoc10 ouch! In that case my quote isn't sounding so bad. We can't really leave it as we have penetrating damp in three rooms now since the recent heavy rain
I really wanted to replace the kitchen but I guess I'll have to suck it up and get the pointing done...

Cost of scaffolding is high and the lime mortar is unfortunately likewise :( Doing the whole house doesn't seem too bad at your quote. As you say, Ouch!!

Good point - £1250 of the quote is scaffolding, so it's basically £6000 for the pointing.

Doesn't sound surprising: We were looking at 10k for our large end wall.

We are very gradually getting through it having bought scaffolding, materials and a day's hands-on course for DP for much less.

Wrong time of year to get it done now, surely, as it will start to be too cold?

I would add that the raw materials were pretty cheap, it's just time-consuming work. I can see why paying an expert to do it quicker would cost a lot.

Mousepad20 totally the wrong time, we were expecting to do it in a year or two but super heavy rain recently has taken it toll and we have water coming in in three rooms - so it can't wait unfortunately.
I did part of the front myself, but it was time-consuming. We both work full-time and trying to do it all around work, when it is both light and dry enough, is almost impossible.
It's just a lot of money to us 😣

Are you sure its the pointing thats causing the damp? Have you checked the roof and guttering in case theres any leaks there? Ive lived in victorian and edwardian properties and hardly ever needed to re-point.

I don’t think the quote was too bad, did it include a skip as well? Ours was a similar price. It is quite labour intensive as it’s so fiddly to do and although the materials are pretty cheap, the quote includes VAT and the scaffolding as you say.

Are you sure this is how the water is coming in?

Yes I've checked the guttering. It's definitely the mortar - it has completely fallen out in places and that is where the damp is.

Just popping back to update this; I have had a couple more quotes, these companies disagreed with the previous suggestion of replacing all the pointing (as removing pointing that is solid can damage the brick). They've quoted for replacing the areas where the pointing is loose or damaged - which is most of the areas that are more exposed - and these quotes are around £3k inc vat and scaffolding.

Much more affordable and sounds sensible - we've been raking out to the right depth where filling, but also leaving any solid parts.