Repointing quotes in London vary wildly, and most homeowners have no idea why one firm says £900 and another says £4,000 for what looks like the same wall. The honest answer is that the mortar, the access and the state of the existing joints matter far more than the size of the wall. Here is what shapes the number, based on the sort of Victorian and Edwardian stock we work on across North London.
Most London brickwork firms price repointing by the square metre of wall face. As a rough guide, expect roughly £45 to £80 per square metre for straightforward cement based repointing at ground level, and roughly £70 to £130 per square metre for traditional lime mortar work on older or heritage property. Small jobs usually carry a minimum charge, often around £450 to £700, because a day's labour, cutting out and materials still have to be covered.
In practice, a single rear elevation on a mid terrace in Islington or Enfield often lands somewhere between £1,500 and £3,500 including access. A full house, all four elevations on a semi detached, more commonly sits between £5,000 and £12,000. Those are ranges, not quotes, and the only reliable figure comes from someone standing at the wall.
Access is the biggest single variable and the one homeowners underestimate. Scaffolding a two storey London terrace typically runs £800 to £2,000 for a few weeks, more if you need a pavement licence from the council, which most London boroughs charge for and which needs lead time. A rear elevation reachable only through a neighbour's garden, or a flank wall over a side return, adds days before a single joint is touched.
Cutting out is the other. If a previous owner had the house pointed in hard sand and cement over soft Victorian brick, removing it without damaging arrises is slow, careful hand work. That can double the labour compared with raking out failed lime. Decorative work, tuck pointing, gauged arches over windows and weathered plinths all take longer than plain flush joints too.
Most London housing built before roughly 1920 was laid in lime mortar on soft handmade or London stock bricks. Lime is softer than the brick by design, so moisture evaporates through the joint rather than through the brick face. Repoint that wall in modern cement and the moisture is forced through the brick instead, which is why you see spalled, crumbling faces on houses pointed badly twenty years ago.
Lime costs more because it is slower. It needs protection from sun, frost and driving rain while it cures, which limits the working window to roughly March through October in London, and it is applied in a way that cannot be rushed. Paying the premium on a period property is usually cheaper than replacing damaged bricks later. On a 1970s house in hard machine made brick, cement based mortar is perfectly appropriate and there is no reason to pay lime prices.
Get three quotes and make sure each one states the same scope, otherwise you are comparing nothing. The cheapest number on the page often excludes scaffolding, or covers only the worst 30 percent of the wall.
A quote worth trusting names the mortar mix, the joint profile, the access method and who pays for the pavement licence.
Rarely. Failure usually concentrates on the elevations facing prevailing weather, typically south and west facing walls, plus parapets and chimneys, so targeted work on those is often the sensible spend.
Sometimes, if water is genuinely tracking through open joints, but damp in London terraces more often comes from a failed gutter, a bridged cavity or high external ground levels. Have the cause identified before spending on pointing.
Well executed lime pointing on a period property should give 50 years or more, and sound cement based pointing on modern brick around 25 to 40 years. Poor mortar matching or work done in frost can fail within five.
Tell us about the job and we will quote within 48 hours.
North London brickwork. Two trowels, one company, on every job from start to finish.