Re-pointing stone cottage - is this really how much it costs?!

[ChefWifeLife]

Please be kind as I genuinely am shocked at a couple of quotes we have received to re-point our stone cottage.

Granted I had no real clue of what it would cost and appreciate that this is a specific skill and time required.

The first quote didn’t include scaffolding. It’s a semi-detached property; old extension doesn’t need doing as it’s not stone. I’ve also attached pictures.

Two quotes so far:

£11K
£23K

I would really appreciate any insight from
those who have had this work done or do it as a trade.

I've got no experience of this but I work bringing in various trades for projects and I guessed about £15k before opening your post.

All trades have increased prices a lot.

www.facebook.com/groups/1023449561785486/?ref=share

I'd get more quotes as that's looking like the scaffolding is £12k. Is there any way you could do any of it up to door height level (appreciate that this is just me throwing ideas out and may not be remotely possible)?

This FB group is excellent - Your old house UK - repair and conservation

Thanks for the replies. I will check out the fb group. By all means if that’s what it costs then fair enough but it looks old my husband and I will need to do what we can ourselves!

We had two sides of a 3 storey Victorian townhouse done about 8 years ago and thought it was bargainous at about £4500 Inc scaffolding. Had a stretch of garden wall done last year, approx 6 metres by 2 metres, no scaffolding needed and it was £3k 😱

I don’t have any specific knowledge but that doesn’t suprise me. (But it does shock me!)

Thanks @Coxspurplepippin thats a huge difference isn’t it! We are having the main roof replaced in Feb so scaffolding will be it and it seemed like a good chance to do it but honestly we thought about £4K at the most.

Crazy prices at the moment, is the repointing urgent, or could it wait a year or so?

@Roselilly36 We’ve got water ingress around 3 windows. Luckily in areas we haven’t redecorated since we moved in. We could do a patch job for now.

In the first lockdown we had the horrible render removed as besides looking rubbish it’s also not recommended for stone buildings. In hindsight we should have considered re-pointing then but we just didn’t realise it would be an issue later down the line.

Last time I had quotes for pointing (about 8 years ago) the quotes ranged from £2k to £8k for the same work - all including scaffolding etc.

It varies depending on the type of company, if they have their own scaffolding to use etc.

Bear in mind you need to use the right mortar to repoint with stone.

We need render removed and repointing on our stone cottage. This thread has filled me with dread 😖

So I know it needs to be lime mortar to ensure the stone can breathe. The one typed quite jsut lists as price per square meter and isn’t broken down to include specifics about labour etc.

@4intheCorner Better to be prepared so you’re not heard throughout your place of work manically cackling at a 23k quote 😂

Friends taught their teenagers to do it (via another friend in the trade) and then paid the teens to do it over the summer holidays. Could you do anything like that? I remember them saying that it didn’t take long to learn but was effort intensive.

I am not at all skillful with DIY, and repointing with lime plaster is honestly so easy - you can definitely do a patch repair yourself!

Lime plaster sounds scary, but it isn't. Just get the proper protective gear, and order some online. There are various suppliers, and you can often get it delivered in tubs ready mixed (it's more expensive, but very user-friendly, so if you are doing a small patch, it might be worth it?).

I patched the worst bit of our pre-1750 brick house recently, and it surprised me how easy it was.

@SarahAndQuack you’re talking to my inexperienced inner DIY wannabe! Thanks for the suggestion.

@user143677433 a friend had the idea to have a massive bbq in the summer and task our friends to help (before drinking of course!)

We're in SE and had repointing last year, four quotes all between 15-18k mark. Three storey semi. It took about three weeks to do all in all.

Lime mortar too

What type if pointing is it? Did any of the people you got quotes from mention whether it was bagged rubbed?

You used Lime mortar, surely?

Do it yourself. I did our stone cottage. With lime. Took a long, long, long time but it wasnt conplicated.

We had most of our house repointed a couple of years, lime mortar and I believe it was around the £25k mark including scaffolding. I still can't talk about it without wincing.

@BabyFour2023 no they didn’t tell us what kind.