Published 21 September 2026 · 5 minute read
The short answer
Spraying existing cladding costs a fraction of replacing it, because you are paying for preparation and a coating system rather than new sheets, strip out, skips, scaffolding and weeks of downtime. If the panels are sound and only the surface has faded or chalked, a respray gives you the same finished look for far less.
Why replacing cladding costs so much
Re-cladding a commercial building is a construction project. The old sheets have to come off, which means scaffolding or access equipment for weeks, skips for the waste, and a building that is open to the weather or wrapped in temporary sheeting while it happens. Then new panels are bought, delivered, fixed and detailed. Every one of those steps costs money, and most of them cost you time as well, because parts of the building are out of use while the work goes on.
That is the right thing to do when the panels have genuinely failed. It is the wrong thing to do when the only problem is the colour.
Where the saving comes from with a respray
A respray keeps everything that still works. The sheets stay on the building, the fixings stay in, and there is no strip out and no waste. What you pay for is the survey, the cleaning and preparation, the masking, the coating system and the labour to apply it. Most commercial jobs take three to seven days on site and the building stays open and trading throughout, so the cost of disruption, which is often the biggest hidden cost of re-cladding, largely disappears.
- No new sheets, fixings or flashings to buy
- No strip out, skips or waste disposal
- Days on site rather than weeks
- The building stays open, so no lost trading
- A manufacturer backed warranty on the coating, typically ten years on cladding systems
What decides the price of a cladding respray
Every building is priced on a survey, because the same square metreage can be a simple job on one site and a difficult one on another. The things that move the price most are the size of the building, the condition of the cladding, how much corrosion or damage has to be treated before coating, how easy the access is, and how much masking the site needs. A unit with cars parked against it, stock stacked inside and neighbours on both sides takes more protection than a detached warehouse on a yard.
- Total area of cladding to be sprayed, and how many elevations
- Condition: clean and faded, or chalking, corroded and damaged
- Cut edge corrosion or panel repairs that need doing first
- Access: ground level, at height, over a roof or a busy yard
- How much masking and protection the site needs
- The coating system, which depends on the substrate and the warranty you want
When a respray is the wrong answer
A coating cannot fix a sheet that is holed, delaminated or rusted through, and we will not spray one and pretend it has. If the survey shows panels that are past saving, the honest answer is to replace those sections and spray the rest to match, which still costs far less than re-cladding the whole building. If the whole elevation has failed, it needs replacing, and we install cladding as well as spray it, so you get the same straight answer either way.
How to get a real number
The only accurate price is one from a site survey, and ours are free with no obligation. Send us a few details and a photo, and we will come out, look at the building properly and give you a written price and timescale.
