Terms and conditions for a rendering and external wall contractor

A rendering contractor prices a wall from the outside and discovers its condition once the old coat is removed. The terms need to deal with that, with colour and texture variation, with scaffold standing time in bad weather, and with customers who attribute pre-existing damp to the render. I draft those terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Rendering and external wall insulation contractors in England and Wales: monocouche, sand and cement, thin coat silicone and acrylic systems, pebbledash repair and through-colour finishes. Most of you work for homeowners and also for main contractors, developers, housing associations and letting agents. Consumers and business customers are treated very differently in law, so one set of terms has to be written with both in mind.

What matters in a rendering contractor's terms

The wall you are pricing and the wall you find

You quote from a walk round the property and perhaps a ladder. What appears when the old render comes off, soft or perished mortar, blown brickwork, a cracked lintel, a bridged cavity, a bathroom waste running through the elevation, is not something anyone priced. Your terms should state what the price assumes about the substrate, make the customer responsible for the condition of the building itself, and require written agreement to the extra cost before remedial work goes ahead. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires your service to be carried out with reasonable care and skill, but it does not make you responsible for defects you did not create.

Colour, texture and the sample panel

Through-coloured renders shade, batches differ, and a scaffold lift line or a rain shower during curing can leave a mark that never fully disappears. A customer who chose a colour from a chart will compare the finished elevation to that chart. Your terms should make approval by an agreed sample panel the reference point, record that hand applied finishes vary in texture across a wall and between elevations, and state plainly that patch repairs to existing render will not match. Efflorescence and early shading that weather out should be described as normal, not as a defect you must put right.

Cracking, damp and the guarantee you give

Hairline shrinkage cracking, cracks that track a structural movement you did not cause, and damp appearing internally are the three complaints that come back months later. Say what your guarantee covers, which should be your workmanship, and what it excludes: building movement, settlement, impact damage, later alterations by others, blocked or removed movement joints and beads, and failure to maintain the finish. Make clear that render is a weather coating and not a remedy for rising or penetrating damp, that damp proof course clearance and ground levels are the customer's responsibility, and that any system manufacturer warranty is on the manufacturer's own conditions.

Insulation, permissions and notifiable work

External wall insulation changes the building line. Sills, verges, soffit overhangs, flues, vents, meter boxes, satellite brackets and rainwater goods all have to be dealt with, and the customer needs to know at quotation stage who is paying for that. Certain work must be certified or notified under the Building Regulations, and your terms should record who is responsible for obtaining approvals, planning consent in a conservation area, freeholder or managing agent permission, and party wall arrangements. Where the customer warrants that consents are in place, you are not left carrying the cost of a wall that has to come back off.

Scaffold, weather and access

Render will not go on in frost, driving rain or full sun, and a monocouche elevation that catches a shower before it has set is a recoat. Your terms should treat completion dates as estimates, say who hires and insures the scaffold, which the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to, and deal with standing time and re-hire where work is stopped by weather or by the customer. Cover access to power and water, protection of paths, drives and planting, the removal of fixings and the customer's responsibility to arrange access over a neighbour's land. If you take old render and spoil away you must be registered as a waste carrier with the Environment Agency under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989.

Deposits, stage payments and main contractors

For homeowners, take a deposit that reflects scaffold hire and ordered materials, set stage payments by elevation or lift, and make final payment due on completion rather than on the last item of snagging. Where the job is agreed at the customer's home or by email, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give fourteen days to cancel, and starting inside that period without an express written request can leave you unpaid.

For main contractors and developers, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives interest and fixed compensation, and the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 gives adjudication rights, payment notice rules and a ban on pay-when-paid. Retention of title is worthless once render is on the wall, so the terms have to lean on payment timing.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted for your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want them checked and brought up to date. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of bespoke terms drafted for your business, reflecting the legal requirements that apply to your business and sector
• A note in plain English explaining the terms I have drafted for you
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions that protect your position and are drafted to withstand scrutiny from the other side
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly
• Your questions and comments answered by email or phone
• One round of amendments to finalise the terms ready for use

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers (I am happy to quote for this as an additional service if required)
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country
• Tax advice

Questions I am often asked

The customer says the render has cracked a year later. Where do I stand?

That depends on what your guarantee clause says and what caused the crack. Terms that separate workmanship from building movement, and that record the substrate condition you found, give you a documented position. Against a consumer you cannot contract out of the duty to work with reasonable care and skill, so photographs of preparation, beads and joints are worth keeping.

Do I need different terms for main contractor work?

One set of terms can carry a section that applies only to business customers, covering interest, liability caps and adjudication. In practice a main contractor will often push its own subcontract order at you instead. That is a different exercise: I review the document you are being asked to sign and mark up what to resist.

Can I charge a homeowner for scaffold standing time when the weather stops work?

You can, if the terms say so before the contract is made and the charge reflects your real cost. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a charge that looks disproportionate, or that is buried where the customer had no real chance to see it, risks not binding them at all. Put it in the quotation as well.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a painter and decorator
• Terms and conditions for a builder doing commercial work

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.