As part of our services for general property repairs and upkeep, we do a lot of replacement and repairs of lintels. These can be done over any opening such as a window or door, but also for garage doors, bi fold doors and patios/french doors. We get asked to quote for a lot of these, and while they’re all broadly similar there’s a few factors that can change the price you’ll pay. This post is to outline a few of the reasons and guide you through making a decision whether at your home or larger commercial setting.
Size of Opening
A bigger opening takes considerably more time and materials. Depending on the building involved, lintels have had to be specially sourced and made to order for some projects. Due to the spans involved the weight of the materials being used can increase and its necessary to get specialist lifting equipment in, such as a material lift shown below. On occasion, and depending on the situation, it may be necessary for steels to be used to span openings and this require engineered calculations, procurement of the correct steel sizes and further work around the opening and supporting areas to take the weights involved and support any weight above. We replaced a failed lintel over a double garage recently that required a lintel to be made and delivered to site from a specialist supplier. This cost in the region of £6,000 in total and required access, lifting equipment plus waste removal.
Materials Required
This can very depending on the situation we come across. For example, a best case scenario of a failed brickwork lintel over, say, a kitchen window. Minimal supports (we use the brick brace) are needed, the bricks remove easily and can all be reused, plus the cavity is clean and dry. The only additional materials required are a new steel lintel, a section of cavity tray, weep vents and sand and cement to rebuild the removed section. All this can be done from a low platform easily accessed by the crew. A more straightforward job such as this can be between £2,500 -£3,500, depending on size and access.
The same type of project but requiring a stone cill to be sourced and got to site, bricks need replacing with a good match from a brick supplier, the cavity requires additional work inside and there’s additional work to rebuild above the repair section. These factor will push the price higher by 20 – 30% for the additional time, material and waste removal.
Access and Location
In the example above, we were looking at relatively easy access. Two main factors determine complexity of a project: height and location. As we work higher we need to use scaffolding to give us a safe work platform – on occasion we can use mobile towers, but scaffolding is the preferred method. Location can impact the work as well. It’s clearly easier to work on the front window at ground level at the front of the house with a drive for access and material delivery. Compared to working around the back of a large property where all materials need to be taken around to the work site. Before now, we’ve had to do this through the house where no other access was available. This then introduces new challenges of keeping your internal property protected.
In the event that the lintel to be replaced is inside a property we need to consider the protection of people and items from noise and dust. It’s likely that interior work can be at additional cost to projects outside due the the extra time and care needed to protect your possessions from the work.
Using the example above, the addition of scaffolding can increase the job cost by £600 – £1,000 or more for more complex projects and if several lintels or other work is involved. Interior work can add an additional 20-30% overall, depending on the requirements.
Level of Structural Integrity Loss
A lintel is essentially the support at the base of a wall that spans an opening. it can be the case that the failure is so pronounced that large sections of the building are effected by the failure. It can also be that this is affecting the building both inside and out and the inner and outer wall are impacted. As the inner wall carries the majority of the building load and supports floors and roof structures, this can be serious and even dangerous. To work on these areas can require extensive planning and involvement of structural engineers depending on the severity. This may be more likely in older buildings that have not had upkeep for some time and are now looking at conversion and change of use. If this is the case, it’s more likely to be a longer project to get the property structurally stable. As a company we can offer a variety of solutions from the methods listed here to Helifix options for building integrity. These are more likely to be a unique project and the pricing outside the typical averages we are discussing here.
Conclusion
Lintel replacement is something we do a lot of and the prices start from around £4,000 and then increase depending on the situation. If you’ve any questions or a project you’d like to discuss with us you can send us your details here and we can schedule a chat.
All prices shown are inclusive of VAT at 20%.
