In short
Checkatrade's June 2026 guide puts rendering at £30 to £80 per square metre of wall, with sand and cement at the bottom of that range and silicone at around £72.50 per m². Their worked example for a five-bed detached house of about 142m² comes to £9,690 to £12,075 before scaffolding and extras. The render system, wall area, access and the state of the existing wall are what set the price.
This is a job for our Rendering service.
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The benchmark figures
We quote every house individually, but it helps to know what the national guides say. Checkatrade's house rendering guide, updated June 2026 and checked by their estimators, gives these per-square-metre rates for the render itself:
| Render system | Checkatrade rate per m² | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| Sand and cement | £30 to £50 | Cheapest to buy, needs painting, more prone to cracking |
| Acrylic | Around £55 | Flexible and crack-resistant, less breathable |
| Silicone, thin coat over a meshed base coat | Around £72.50 | Through-coloured, water-repellent, breathable, no painting |
| Monocouche | Around £80 | One thick through-coloured coat |
The same guide gives whole-house ranges excluding scaffolding and waste: £1,200 to £3,200 for a two-bed terrace of about 40m², £2,700 to £7,200 for a three-bed semi of about 90m², and £9,690 to £12,075 for a five-bed detached of about 142m².
What is not in the per-metre rate
- Scaffolding. Any two-storey house needs it. Checkatrade allow around £875 a week for a two-storey semi.
- Taking off old render. If the existing render is hollow it has to come off, and that is labour plus a skip.
- Wall repairs. Spalled bricks, repointing and cracked lintels are sorted before any base coat goes on.
- Insulation. Planning Portal's guidance is that where 25% or more of an external wall is re-rendered, Building Regulations normally apply and the wall's insulation has to be brought up to current standards. On a solid-walled house that usually means external wall insulation under the render, which we install as Baumit approved applicators.
How we price a job
- We measure the actual wall area, less doors and windows, so you are not paying for openings.
- We check the substrate. A brick or block wall in good order takes a base coat straight away; painted or pebbledashed walls need more preparation.
- We recommend one system, not a menu. For most houses across Norfolk and Suffolk that is a K Rend silicone system with a meshed base coat, because it copes with the exposed weather here and we can back it with a 30-year warranty.
- The quote is fixed and itemised: preparation, base coat and mesh, beads, the finish, scaffolding and waste. Nothing appears on the invoice that was not on the quote.
Where the money goes
On a house near Thetford or Bury St Edmunds the finish coat is a small part of the total. Base coat, mesh, beads and the labour to get a wall flat and true are most of it, and scaffolding is next. That is why a cheap per-metre price from someone who skips the base coat is not the bargain it looks.