Exterior Spray Painting in Doncaster

What the age of the housing means for the walls

Of the 143,540 properties the Valuation Office Agency records across the City of Doncaster Council area, only 13.3% were built before 1919, against an average of 21%, so most walls here are twentieth-century or later cavity construction: render or brick over blockwork, which suits a sprayed masonry finish once loose or chalky paint is dealt with. Across the other 36 South Yorkshire towns we cover, pre-1919 housing averages 18.0%, 4.7 points higher than here, so cavity walls are more typical here than elsewhere in the county.

A further 50.0% were built between 1919 and 1972 (20.6% between the wars and 29.4% from 1945 to 1972, above the 42% average for that period), and postwar estates of the 1950s and 1960s often mixed brick with rendered or dashed panels; a few system-built houses of that time have concrete panels that need a survey before any coating. Across the other 36 South Yorkshire towns we cover, 1919 to 1972 housing averages 42.8%, 7.2 points lower than here, so dashed and painted render is likely to be more of the work here than in neighbouring parts of the county.

Homes built from 1973 to 1999 make up 20.7% of properties here (close to the 19% average), and houses of that era are mostly brick-faced, so the exterior work on them is usually rendered panels, timber cladding and roofline boards, where original timber or early uPVC soffits and fascias are often weathered, yellowed or chalky by now.

House type, access and what gets sprayed

Detached and semi-detached houses together make up 69.6% of homes here (45.5% semi-detached, 24.1% detached), and a semi usually has three elevations to spray: front, side and rear. The rest of the stock includes 21.1% terraced and 8.6% flats. Across the other 36 South Yorkshire towns we cover, the detached share averages 27.0%, 2.9 points higher than here, so most jobs here involve fewer elevations than in the rest of the county.

Owners, landlords and timing

Tenure here is close to the average mix: 62.8% owner-occupied, 19.4% privately rented and 17.0% socially rented. Owners and landlords get the same fixed quote, and because exterior work needs no access indoors, a let house can be done with tenants in place. Across the other 36 South Yorkshire towns we cover, owner-occupation averages 65.6%, 2.8 points higher than here, so landlords make more of the exterior decisions here than in the rest of the county.

How Doncaster compares with nearby towns

The share of pre-1919 housing is broadly similar in the nearest towns (21.2% in Bentley, 0.1% in Armthorpe and 16.3% in Conisbrough). The biggest contrast in house type is with Bentley, where only 12.5% of homes are detached, so more jobs in Doncaster involve four elevations and the access equipment that goes with them. Renting is at a similar level across the area, 36.4% of households here against 32.0% in Conisbrough, and on any rented home the colour of the outside walls is normally the landlord's decision.

For housing built from 1919 to 1972, the main pebbledash and roughcast era, the three range from 51.5% in Conisbrough to 56.6% in Armthorpe, and Doncaster sits below that range. Building since 2000 is at a similar level nearby, with Armthorpe highest of the three at 20.5%.

What the figures suggest about a quote

The most common home across the City of Doncaster Council area is a semi-detached house: roughly 60,730 of the 133,480 households live in semi-detached houses. Our starting figure of around £1,200 is for a front elevation, so on a typical semi the side and rear, plus any garage or render repairs, are what the survey adds. Next come detached houses, roughly 32,170 households, which are priced individually from the survey. The largest group of properties was built between 1945 and 1972 (the 58th highest share for that period of the 203 towns we cover), so chalky old masonry paint and patched render are the likeliest extras.