In short
Checkatrade's roofline guide gives one to two days for a professional to replace the fascias and soffits on a typical house, and the guttering goes on at the same time. Most of the homes we do across Norfolk and Suffolk are finished in that window, with scaffolding up a day or so either side. A bungalow can be a single day; a large detached house with gables and dormers takes longer.
This is a job for our Fascia, Soffit & Guttering service.
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What happens on the day
- Access goes up. Towers for a bungalow; scaffolding for two storeys, booked a few days ahead and included in the job.
- Old gutters and boards come off. The first row of tiles is lifted so the old fascia can be removed, and we check the rafter feet. If the ends are soft they are cut back and spliced before anything new goes on.
- New soffit, then fascia. The soffit goes in first with a ventilation strip, then the fascia board is fixed at every rafter, then a felt support tray so the roof underlay drains into the gutter instead of behind it.
- Guttering. Brackets no more than a metre apart, which is FloPlast's spacing for the uPVC systems we fit, a fall to the outlet, unions with room to expand, and downpipes clipped to the wall.
- Tiles back, clear up, scaffold down.
What changes the time
| Property | What adds time |
|---|---|
| Bungalow, straight runs | Very little; usually a one-day job from towers |
| Two-storey semi or detached | Scaffold lead time; more metres of roofline |
| Gables and bargeboards | Bargeboards are cut and fitted separately; each gable adds time |
| Dormers, bays, conservatories | Short awkward sections that cannot be run in long lengths |
| Rotten rafter feet or wall plate | Timber repairs before boards go on; the one thing we cannot see until the old fascia is off |
| Cast iron or aluminium guttering | Heavier, and joints are bolted and sealed rather than clipped |
Capping versus replacing
Capping is fixing a uPVC skin over the existing timber. It is quicker and cheaper, and Checkatrade list it as an option where the timber underneath is still sound. We rarely recommend it on the older houses around Dereham, Wymondham and Diss, because the timber under a peeling fascia is usually already wet and capping seals the damp in. If the boards are solid and simply tired, we will say so.
What it costs, for context
Checkatrade's guide (updated December 2025) puts fascia and soffit replacement at around £150 per linear metre, with a small semi-detached house averaging £2,750 including labour and waste, and gutter replacement at around £45 per metre. They also note that scaffolding can be as much as a third of the total, which matches what we see. Our quote is itemised so you can see the scaffold, the boards, the guttering and the labour separately.
Living with the work
You can stay in the house. It is noisy for a day, there will be a skip or a van for the old timber, and the scaffold may sit for a day or two either side. We leave the gutter run connected at the end of each day so a downpour does not go down the wall overnight.