The short answer
Removing old exterior cladding in the UK typically costs around £20–£50 per square metre, so stripping a whole house often runs between £1,500 and £5,000 depending on size, material and access. The figure covers labour to take the cladding and battens off, plus skip hire and disposal. Lightweight uPVC or timber is quicker and cheaper to remove; heavier fibre-cement or a well-fixed system takes longer. Scaffolding is usually needed for upper-storey work and is a separate cost. If the old material is suspected to contain asbestos — common in some older cement-based cladding and soffits — it must be removed safely and tested, which adds significant cost. Treat all figures as guide ranges, and budget removal alongside any re-cladding.
Stripping off old cladding is usually a smaller job than installing new, but disposal, access and the chance of asbestos can change the figure. Here is what to budget.
Cladding removal at a glance
- Typical rate£20–£50 / m²
- Whole-house strip-out£1,500–£5,000
- IncludesLabour, skip, disposal
- ScaffoldingUsually extra
- Asbestos suspectedSpecialist removal, much higher
What removal typically costs
Cladding removal is priced mainly on labour and disposal. A rough rate of £20–£50 per square metre covers a team taking the boards and battens off the wall and clearing them into a skip. Lightweight materials — uPVC and thin timber — come off quickly. Heavier or well-fixed systems — fibre-cement, mortar-bedded or screwed-and-bonded boards — take longer and produce heavier waste, raising the rate. The number of storeys and access matters too: ground-floor and single-storey work is cheaper than upper-floor work that needs scaffolding or a tower.
| Material removed | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| uPVC cladding | £20–£35 / m² | light, quick to strip |
| Timber cladding | £25–£40 / m² | depends on fixing method |
| Fibre-cement | £30–£50 / m² | heavier waste, slower |
| Whole-house strip-out | £1,500–£5,000 | before scaffolding and asbestos checks |
Indicative UK removal costs for guidance. Sources: Checkatrade and MyJobQuote cost guides.
The big variable: asbestos
The single factor that can transform a cladding-removal cost is asbestos. Some older external cladding, soffits, fascias and cement-based boards installed before the late 1990s can contain asbestos fibres. If asbestos is present or suspected, the material must not be broken up or removed casually — it needs to be identified by a survey or sample test, and removed and disposed of under controlled conditions, often by a licensed contractor depending on the type. This is governed by UK control-of-asbestos rules and adds significant cost compared with stripping ordinary cladding. If your house is older and the cladding is a cement-type board, get it checked before anyone disturbs it.
What else to budget
Beyond the strip-out rate, a few costs commonly come with cladding removal. Scaffolding is usually needed for any upper-storey work and is a separate fixed cost. Making good the wall behind — repairing fixing holes, removing old battens and membrane, and treating any damp or damage revealed once the cladding is off — is sometimes the real reason cladding was put up in the first place, and can need attention. Skip hire and disposal are usually included in the rate but rise with heavy materials. And if you are re-cladding, the removal and the new install are typically quoted together, sometimes with a small saving because the scaffolding and setup are shared.
Removal as part of re-cladding
Most cladding removal happens as the first stage of a re-cladding job rather than on its own. When that is the case, the removal cost is folded into the overall project, and because scaffolding, access and setup are shared with the new install, the marginal cost of stripping the old material is lower than removing it as a standalone job. A typical re-clad therefore carries a strip-out line of perhaps a few hundred to a couple of thousand pounds on top of the new cladding cost, plus any wall repair revealed once the old boards are off.
When you get the work priced up, ask the contractor to separate the removal, disposal, wall repair and new cladding so you can see each cost, and to confirm whether they have allowed for asbestos testing if the existing material is an old cement board. A quote that ignores the possibility of asbestos on an older property can rise sharply once testing is done, so it is better to flag it before work starts than to discover it mid-job.
What stripping the cladding can reveal
One reason cladding removal is hard to price precisely is that you cannot always see the wall behind until the boards are off. Once the cladding, battens and membrane are stripped, the installer can inspect what was hidden — and this sometimes uncovers damp, decayed battens, perished membrane, fixing damage or crumbling render that needs putting right before anything new goes up. On older properties, removal can also reveal why the cladding was fitted in the first place, occasionally an attempt to cover a defect rather than treat it. A good contractor allows for a reasonable amount of making-good but will flag anything significant as a separate cost once it is exposed.
Because of this, it is sensible to treat a removal-and-recladding quote as having a contingency for unforeseen wall repair, rather than assuming the headline figure is final. Ask the contractor how they handle discoveries — whether they pause and price the extra work for your approval, or carry a provisional sum — so there are no surprises. Budgeting a margin for the unknown behind old cladding is far better than being caught out mid-job when the wall turns out to need more attention than the surface suggested. Where the property is older, it is also sensible to allow for the possibility that more than one layer or material is present, as walls are sometimes re-clad over the years, and each layer adds to the time and the disposal cost of stripping back to a sound surface.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to remove cladding from a house?
Stripping old cladding typically costs around £20–£50 per square metre, so a whole house often runs £1,500–£5,000 including labour and disposal, before scaffolding. Asbestos-containing material costs significantly more because it needs specialist removal.
Does old cladding contain asbestos?
Some external cladding, soffits and cement-fibre boards installed before the late 1990s can contain asbestos. If your property is older and the material looks like a cement board, have it surveyed or sample-tested before it is disturbed, as asbestos must be removed under UK regulations.
Is it cheaper to remove cladding during re-cladding?
Usually, yes. When removal is the first stage of a re-cladding job, the scaffolding, access and setup are shared with the new install, so the marginal cost of stripping the old material is lower than removing it as a standalone job.
Sources & further reading
- Checkatrade — cladding cost guide
- MyJobQuote — cladding removal cost
- HSE — asbestos in the home and at work
Figures on this page are typical UK ranges drawn from published sources and depend on your specific property. They are guidance, not a quotation.