Scaffolding prices

[Willyourselfforward]

Does anyone know what a reasonable price would be for scaffolding on a detached 4 bed house to allow access to all windows and doors, barge boards, soffits etc for repainting? East Anglia. Thanks

I should add that I’m being quoted nearly £2k+vat which seems outrageous to me

That sounds about right to be fair. See if yiu can get another quote to compare but I don't think £2k is unreasonable

I think that is very reasonable.

We were quoted 3k for a similar situation. We have not accepted the quote so interested to see responses.

We paid about £1500 before the pandemic for something similar, so sadly I agree this sounds reasonable.

We had a new roof in December and paid around £2k for the scaffolding, 5 bed detached house. It took 4 or 5 men nearly two days to put it up. My neighbours in a 3 bed detached house also paid 2k last summer. We’re the West Midlands.

Thank you so much for the replies. We thought we were being ripped off but evidently not!

We paid £950 for a 2 storey scaffold on one wall for a week.

We found it cheaper to hire our builder a cherry picker - but obviously you need to be able to get all around the exterior of the house with it!

We paid £500 for scaffolding for the front of the house only (terraced 4 bed) in London, so what you’re being quoted sounds reasonable. We walked around the area and got a couple of companies with scaffolding up on other houses to quote - it’s cheaper for them to relocate it locally than to have to take it back to base to store it.

They sound about right. £500 per side. I was quoted similar.

Scaffolding is so expensive and although you obviously do get something for it, you don’t feel like you do, it just allows stuff to happen. Such an annoying cost.

Exactly. It is costing more than the actual decorating.

We paid £1200 for 2 days, 3 bed detached, W Yorks, 2 years ago. £1500 sounds about right.

Get a self employed one person company to do it, it's small enough.
The bigger companies charge extra for all the overheads so it's only really necessary for either big jobs or ones where the level of service is important.
But for small sole traders they have to fit you in and have the kit available so yours will go up when another comes down in your area, and yours will come down when another is needed in your area.

Hi, I own a scaffolding company, in the East Midlands. £2k sounds a good shout tbh.

It takes 5 years(ish) to trai to be an Advanced Scaffolder, the same as a doctor! The H&S aspect, the weight bearing calculations etc all have to be taught and learnt. It is incredibly strict. Our scaffs earn around £200 - 250 a day, so if you imagine theres 3 of them on £200 a day putting it up, thats £600. Then also to take it down, thats £1200 in wages alone from your £2k. Then theres a portion of the HUGE insurance scaffold companies have to have, buying the scaffolding in the first place, the lorry upkeep, maintenace, diesel, paying the yard man also to load the lorry, the yard rent etc etc. When you add it up, very little is profit on a job like this.

So you're not being ripped off. But if you have decent access all around the house a cherry picker is always going to be cheaper.

Thanks @JellyComb, that’s reassuring it is a fair quote.