How Much Does Scaffolding Cost?

Job Costs

job	Description	labour
1	To put up just a “tower”, to re fix some bottom hip tiles	£250
2	To create a scaffolding bridge over your conservatory for any of these jobs add…	£450
3	To scaffold out the front of your semi for roofing.	£425
4	To scaffold out the front of your semi for painting.	£500
5	To scaffold all round your semi for roofing.	£850
6	To scaffold all round your semi for painting.	£1100
7	To scaffold up to and around your ridge chimney for pointing or removal.	£750
8	To scaffold all round your 1930’s detached house for painting.	£1500

Information Sheet on Scaffolding

You see, builders like to show you that they are men. They grunt at you instead of speaking, they stand in your way at the merchants just to see if you’ll walk around them and all that sort of nonsense…

But scaffolders, (who need to prove absolutely nothing), are cheery – polite, even. Builders work with the same scaffolding firm all the time. You have to – sacking them isn’t an option! I worked with a firm for 25 years owned by a lovely man called Rob. Now you honestly couldn’t find a more likeable bloke, we got on great, never once did I hear him say a bad word about anyone, but he was 3 times bigger than me and I’m appalled to even consider what he could and would do to any man who seriously got in his way!

Get the picture?

So when they turn up to scaffold out for your job, follow these simple rules:

Make them a nice cup of tea straight away. You can collect the cups from the skip after they leave and superglue them together at a later date.

Don’t ask them to move their wagon. It will be parked across your driveway. Just be late for work. You can always work twice as hard tomorrow.

Forget you had a lawn and flower beds. You can rent out what’s left of your garden to a film company, who are doing a feature about the Somme.

Hide your patio furniture or they will stand on it to reach their first “lift”. Rattan cane, glass tables, Peruvian mahogany chairs, it’s all the same to them, up they go…

Don’t let them in to use the toilet……….just don’t, that’s all!

If it’s winter, don’t ask the stick thin, 50 year old one if he’s feeling cold (He will be in a “T” shirt, with no gloves on). Believe me, he feels nothing, he has no awareness of the emotions which govern human existence, and he will be the hardest man any of them have ever known!

Right then, I’d better get on with telling you about scaffolding, hadn’t I?

Not much to tell really, it’s a load of poles, held together with clips, with lots of boards laid on top to form “lifts” – essentially a scaffolder’s term for a floor or storey. There are special sections called “ladders” which are used horizontally to span your conservatory, and you can even get a complete scaffolding roof build right over the top of your house, if you want to build a loft room.

Scaffolders know what they are doing by the way.

They might break tiles all over your roof and drop clips into your neighbour’s fish pond but their work won’t fall down once it’s up!

Scaffolding’s not always put up to the same design. There are more “lifts” for painting, than for roofing for instance and sometimes, just a “tower” is required to gain access to one specific area – like a chimney stack. Nowadays Health and Safety requirements dictate that all sorts of netting and guards have to be provided and of course this all impacts on your wallet! On larger jobs the scaffolder will have to get a scaffolding alarm system on their work, because some naughty boys are prone to take it down at night and have away with it in a flat bed truck.

With regards to prices…

I’ve thought about this and I really don’t recommend that you, the punter, arrange the scaffolding. It’s best your builder deals with them. For a start you’ll never get one to come round and quote and, if you have managed to organise them, you will find it hard to determine who is responsible for all those broken tiles and your neighbours annihilated flower pots and fence. Not your builder, it was nothing to do with him!

We’ll settle for giving you the guide prices above, just so you have a rough idea how much your builder will be factoring in to his quote, for the price of the scaffolding.

FAQs 'traffic light' guide

What's easy about this job…
Open or Close

If all goes, well, it's just a couple of screws and job done!

What's tricky about this job…
Open or Close

Drilling into glazed tiles isn't always easy. Make sure any silicone BELOW the drill point is covered with masking tape. Red brick dust WILL discolour your silicone.

Potential problems with regards to this job…
Open or Close

If the tiles are incorrectly bedded, the tile being drilled could crack. This obviously will need replacing. Do you have a spare? It may not be easy to get a replacement that matches.