How much does it cost to render a brick house in Sydney?
How much does it cost to render a house in Sydney? A single-storey home with about 150 square metres of wall comes to $9,200–$20,700 in our table, and a two-storey house with about 300 square metres $13,800–$31,050, scaffolding included. Priced by the square metre, cement render is $34–$69, acrylic $46–$80, and texture coat, which carries its own colour, $57–$115. Rendering over face brick is one of the questions locals ask most, and these rates cover it. Where sound render is already on the walls, a re-coat costs $34–$69, typically less than a fresh cement coat. All prices include GST.
Comparing cities, or after the Australia-wide picture? See the national guide: Rendering cost in Australia.
Five deep-dives on Sydney rendering cost
Detailed Pricing — Rendering Cost in Sydney 2026
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cement render (per sqm) | $34/sqm | $52 | $69 |
| Acrylic render (per sqm) | $46/sqm | $63 | $80 |
| Texture coat render system (per sqm) | $57/sqm | $80 | $115 |
| Polished / venetian plaster (per sqm) | $92/sqm | $140 | $205 |
| Feature wall (indoor, per sqm) | $57/sqm | $86 | $125 |
| Whole house exterior (approx 200 sqm) | $12,050total | $18,400 | $27,600 |
| Single storey house (approx 150 sqm) | $9,200total | $13,800 | $20,700 |
| Two storey house (approx 300 sqm) | $13,800total | $20,700 | $31,050 |
| Old render removal (per sqm) | $17/sqm | $29 | $46 |
| Crack repair / patching (per sqm) | $57/sqm | $75 | $115 |
| Scaffolding (two storey) | $1,725total | $2,875 | $4,600 |
| Painting over new render (per sqm) | $14/sqm | $23 | $34 |
| Re-coat over existing render (per sqm) | $34/sqm | $46 | $69 |
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Prices include GST. Based on Sydney metro area, October 2026. Outer suburbs may vary.
Sydney’s Rendering Market in 2026
Rendering is one of Sydney’s most popular exterior upgrades, and for good reason — it transforms the look of a home overnight and is one of the highest-ROI improvements for resale. The Sydney market spans everything from refreshing tired brick facades on Federation homes in the Inner West to covering old fibro cladding in Western Sydney with a modern acrylic finish. Rendering costs in Sydney vary between tradespeople.
The single biggest decision in Sydney rendering is the render type. Cement render ($34–$69/sqm) is the traditional option and still common on budget jobs, but it’s rigid and prone to hairline cracking — a real issue in Sydney where reactive clay soils in the western suburbs cause ground movement. Acrylic render ($46–$80/sqm) has become Sydney’s most popular choice: it’s flexible enough to resist cracking from minor structural movement, comes pre-coloured (eliminating the cost of a separate paint job), and handles Sydney’s humidity and coastal conditions better than cement. Texture coat ($57–$115/sqm) is the premium option with the most design flexibility.
Covering old fibro (asbestos cement) cladding with acrylic render is one of the biggest segments in Sydney’s rendering market. This approach avoids the significant cost of licensed asbestos removal by leaving the fibro in place and rendering directly over it — provided the fibro is in stable condition and an appropriate bonding system is used. It’s extremely common in Western Sydney and the Hills District where thousands of 1960s–80s fibro homes are being modernised.
Heritage considerations apply across much of inner Sydney. Conservation Areas in the Inner West, North Shore, and Eastern Suburbs often restrict external changes to building facades — rendering a bare brick home in Balmain or Paddington may require council approval, and in some cases isn’t permitted at all if the brick is considered part of the heritage character.
We’ve compiled pricing from Sydney renderers, plus data from the HIA, Master Builders NSW, and trade cost databases for 2026.
How Rendering Costs Vary Across Sydney
Inner West & Eastern Suburbs
Typical: $50–$95/sqm · Single-storey house: $9,200–$16,000
Marrickville, Newtown, Balmain, Leichhardt, Randwick, Bondi. Predominantly double-brick Federation and Victorian homes. Heritage Conservation Areas across much of the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs may restrict rendering of original brick facades — check with your council before committing. Tight rear access in terrace-lined streets often means scaffold must be erected from the street, requiring council footpath permits. Narrow lots and shared walls mean renderers often need to protect neighbouring properties during preparation and spraying. Premium labour rates and access constraints push costs 10–20% above the Sydney average.
North Shore & Northern Beaches
Typical: $45–$90/sqm · Single-storey house: $9,200–$15,000
Mosman, Chatswood, Willoughby, Dee Why, Manly. Mix of brick, sandstone, and rendered homes. Coastal properties on the Northern Beaches need render products rated for salt exposure — cheaper cement renders can deteriorate rapidly within 1–2km of the coast. Acrylic renders with salt-resistant additives are recommended for beachside suburbs. Some North Shore homes feature sandstone elements that must be protected (never rendered over) during the job. Steep blocks in bush-adjacent areas can complicate scaffold setup and add to the cost.
Western Sydney & Hills District
Typical: $36–$75/sqm · Single-storey house: $9,200–$12,000
Parramatta, Blacktown, Penrith, Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills. The most active rendering market in Sydney by volume. Thousands of 1960s–80s fibro and brick veneer homes are being transformed with acrylic render, and it’s by far the most common job type in the west. Rendering over fibro is particularly popular here — it avoids asbestos removal costs and gives the house a completely modern look. Reactive clay soils in Western Sydney cause ground movement that can crack rigid cement render — flexible acrylic is strongly recommended. Flat blocks and good access keep scaffold costs manageable. The most affordable area in Greater Sydney for rendering.
Sutherland Shire & South Sydney
Typical: $40–$82/sqm · Single-storey house: $9,200–$13,500
Cronulla, Miranda, Hurstville, Kogarah, Engadine. Mixed housing stock from fibro cottages to brick veneer and modern rendered homes. Coastal Shire properties (Cronulla, Caringbah) need salt-rated products similar to the Northern Beaches. Older fibro homes in Engadine and Heathcote are commonly rendered over as a cost-effective alternative to asbestos removal. Sandy soils in the Shire provide a more stable base than Western Sydney’s clays, meaning less risk of movement cracking. Generally 5–10% more affordable than inner Sydney.
What You’ll Actually Pay — Common Sydney Rendering Jobs
One question comes up more than any other: the cost to render a brick house in Sydney. For a typical 200 sqm of external wall area, budget $12,050–$27,600 all-in, with most quotes landing near $18,400 — cement render at $34–$69/sqm sits at the value end, while acrylic on brick ($46–$80/sqm) costs more upfront but handles movement and hairline cracking better. Brick veneer and double brick render at similar rates; it's the wall condition and access, not the brick itself, that moves the price.
Here’s what typical rendering jobs cost across Sydney in 2026, from the whole-house and per-square-metre rows in our Sydney table.
Single-storey brick house — acrylic render
$9,200–$20,700 for about 150 sqm
The most common rendering job in Sydney. Preparation (pressure wash, crack repair, masking windows and doors), application of bonding coat and 2–3 coats of acrylic render, and clean-up. Our Sydney table prices a single-storey house (about 150 sqm of wall) at $9,200–$20,700, with acrylic render at $46–$80 per sqm and crack repair or patching at $57–$115 per sqm where it’s needed. Acrylic render comes pre-coloured, so no painting is needed. The job takes 3–5 days for a single-storey house. Expect the renderer to protect windows, doors, and gardens with plastic sheeting during application.
Two-storey house — acrylic render with scaffold
$13,800–$31,050 for about 300 sqm
Same process as single-storey but with full scaffold setup — $1,725–$4,600 in our Sydney table. A two-storey house with about 300 sqm of wall is $13,800–$31,050. The scaffold needs to remain in place for the full job (5–10 days for two-storey). In inner-city streets where scaffold extends over the footpath, a council permit is required and pedestrian protection may be needed. Inner West terraces with party walls only need three sides rendered, which cuts the wall area.
Fibro house — render over existing cladding
$46–$80 per sqm of acrylic over the sheets
One of Sydney’s most popular exterior transformations, especially in Western Sydney and the Hills District. Instead of removing the old fibro (which, where it contains asbestos, requires licensed asbestos removal), the fibro sheets are left in place and an acrylic render system is applied over them using a specialised bonding agent and fibreglass mesh reinforcement. Our table prices acrylic render at $46–$80 per sqm; the mesh and preparation are quoted per job. The fibro must be in stable, non-deteriorating condition — crumbling or water-damaged fibro needs removal before rendering.
Strip old render and re-render
$17–$46 per sqm to strip, then $46–$80 per sqm to re-render
When existing render is cracking, hollow, or delaminating, it needs stripping back to the substrate before new render can be applied — $17–$46 per sqm in our Sydney table. This is common on older Sydney homes with original cement render that was poorly applied or has suffered from ground movement. After stripping, the brick or block is inspected for damage, cracks are repaired ($57–$115 per sqm), and new acrylic render is applied. The total job takes 5–8 days for single-storey. Always get the renderer to check whether the old render is salvageable with a patch repair or a re-coat over the existing render ($34–$69 per sqm) before committing to a full strip.
Feature wall or facade only
$1,380–$4,800 for 30–60 sqm
Rendering just the front facade or a feature section rather than the whole house. Popular in Sydney for street-facing upgrades that maximise visual impact while minimising cost — particularly effective on brick homes where the side and rear walls are hidden by fences or neighbours. At $46–$80 per sqm, a front facade of 30–60 sqm comes to the figure above before preparation. No scaffold needed if single-storey. The key is ensuring the colour transition from rendered to unrendered walls looks deliberate — your renderer should plan the finish lines at natural breaks like corners and rooflines.
How much to render a house in Sydney (2026): acrylic vs cement, per m² and whole-house prices
Rendering a house in Sydney costs $9,200–$20,700 for a single-storey home of around 150 square metres of wall, with $13,800 typical, and $13,800–$31,050 for a two-storey home of around 300 square metres. Per square metre, cement render is $34–$69 and acrylic render $46–$80, applied; the whole-house figures include the base coat, the finish and the labour but not scaffold on two storeys or painting afterwards.
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single storey house (approx 150 m²) | $9,200 | $13,800 | $20,700 |
| Two storey house (approx 300 m²) | $13,800 | $20,700 | $31,050 |
| Cement render (per m²) | $34/m² | $52 | $69 |
| Acrylic render (per m²) | $46/m² | $63 | $80 |
| Texture coat render (per m²) | $57/m² | $80 | $115 |
| Old render removal (per m²) | $17/m² | $29 | $46 |
| Scaffolding (two storey) | $1,725 | $2,875 | $4,600 |
Acrylic vs cement render in Sydney: cement render is the cheaper base, a sand-and-cement coat trowelled onto brick or block that then needs painting. Acrylic render costs more per square metre but is flexible, so it resists the hairline cracking that cement render shows on new brickwork or in Sydney's temperature swings, and it comes coloured so the paint step can be skipped. A texture coat ($57–$115/m²) is the finish layer over either.
Re-rendering: where old render is drummy or cracked it comes off first, $17–$46 per square metre, before the new coats; patching a few cracks is a separate, smaller job.
What moves a rendering quote in Sydney:
- Wall area: the house figures assume roughly 150 and 300 square metres; measure the elevations to see where yours sits.
- Storeys: two-storey homes need scaffold ($1,725–$4,600) on top of the per-metre rate.
- Substrate: new brick is the base; painted brick, blueboard or old render needs prep or removal first.
- Finish: a plain float finish is the base; textures, bagged finishes and polished plaster cost more per square metre.
- Details: window reveals, parapets, columns and quoins are slow work priced per metre.
Ask Sydney renderers for the square metres, the system (cement or acrylic), the number of coats and the finish on every quote.
What Affects Rendering Costs in Sydney
Picking the render finish
Cement render is the lowest-priced coat at $34–$69, but it is only a base: painting it adds $14–$34. Taken together at typical rates, cement plus paint comes to about $75 a square metre, above acrylic's typical $63. A texture coat system ($57–$115) goes on coloured and needs no painter.
Apartment blocks and strata
Flats make up 30.7% of Greater Sydney dwellings, more than double the national 14.2% (ABS 2021 Census). Rendering the outside of a block is common-property work, decided by the owners corporation and paid for through levies, so one owner can't order it alone. For a freestanding house, which is 55.8% of Sydney dwellings, the decision is yours and the per-square-metre rates apply directly.
Licence, contract and insurance
In NSW, building or trade work worth more than $5,000 in labour and materials, GST included, needs a licensed contractor and a written contract. Even the bottom of the single-storey band ($9,200) is past that. A two-storey job at the typical $20,700 also passes $20,000, the point where the business must hold home building compensation cover before taking any money, deposit included.
Scaffolding the upper walls
Scaffolding for a two-storey home is $1,725–$4,600 on its own. Where the upper walls can't be rendered from the ground, workplace safety law, enforced here by SafeWork NSW, says the risk of a fall must be managed, and a scaffold is one common answer. A tight side passage can make the scaffold slower to put up, so ask for it as a separate line on the quote.
Re-rendering old walls
When the existing render is sound, a new coat over it costs $34–$69. Drummy or crumbling render must be stripped at $17–$46, and damaged patches repaired at $57–$115. Hairline cracks in the surface are filled as part of the prep, but a crack that is wide, stepped or still growing may mean the wall is moving, which needs an engineer's opinion before anything covers it.
Timing around Sydney rain
At Observatory Hill, March (131.6 mm) and June (133.1 mm) are the wettest months and September (68.1 mm) the driest (BOM averages), while summer tops sit around 26 °C. That makes late winter and spring the steadiest window for outside render, which needs dry days to cure. Render laid in hot wind or just before heavy rain can crack or wash, so a careful renderer will shift the date rather than push on.
Indoor feature walls
Not all rendering happens outside. A rendered feature wall indoors is $57–$125 a square metre, and polished or Venetian plaster runs $92–$205. For a Sydney apartment owner, whose outside walls belong to the owners corporation, an inside feature wall is a render job that can usually be arranged without waiting on a strata decision.
How to Save Money on Rendering Cost in Sydney
Interior and Feature Wall Rendering Cost in Sydney
Not every Sydney render job is a whole facade. Inside, a rendered feature wall costs $57–$125 per sqm (typical $86). Polished or Venetian plaster, the burnished high-gloss finish popular in Sydney renovations, costs $92–$205 per sqm (typical $140) because it goes on in several thin coats, each worked by hand. Outside, a single wall is still priced by the square metre at the rates in the table above: cement $34–$69, acrylic $46–$80. Small jobs rarely land at the low end, though, because set-up, masking and clean-up take much the same time for 15 sqm as for 150. If the new render will be painted, allow $14–$34 per sqm for the paint. For a single wall, ask for both the per-sqm rate and any minimum charge, so you can see which one you are paying.
Re-Rendering Cost in Sydney: Old Render Removal and Crack Repair
Re-rendering a Sydney home is priced as two jobs: getting back to a sound wall, then rendering it. Removing old, drummy render costs $17–$46 per sqm (typical $29). Patching cracks costs $57–$115 per sqm (typical $75) before any new coat goes on. Both come up often in Sydney, for different reasons. Reactive clay under much of Western Sydney moves slabs and footings, and that shows up as stepped cracking in the render. Near the coast, salt works in behind older cement render and pushes it off the brick. Once the wall is sound, the new coat is priced like any other job: cement $34–$69, acrylic $46–$80 or texture coat $57–$115 per sqm. Ask the renderer to tap-test the old render and to quote removal on the measured area rather than an allowance. It is the line that varies most between quotes.
Rendering cost per square metre in Sydney (2026): cement, acrylic and texture coat
Rendering in Sydney is priced per square metre of wall: cement render $34–$69/sqm (typically $52), acrylic render $46–$80/sqm (typically $63), a texture-coat system $57–$115/sqm (typically $80) and polished or venetian plaster $92–$205/sqm. Removing old render first is $17–$46/sqm. Over a house that comes to $9,200–$20,700 for a single-storey home of about 150 sqm and $13,800–$31,050 for two storeys of about 300 sqm. The bands are the Sydney table on this page, GST inclusive.
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cement render (per sqm) | $34 | $52 | $69 |
| Acrylic render (per sqm) | $46 | $63 | $80 |
| Texture coat render system (per sqm) | $57 | $80 | $115 |
| Polished / venetian plaster (per sqm) | $92 | $140 | $205 |
| Old render removal (per sqm) | $17 | $29 | $46 |
| Single storey house (approx 150 sqm) | $9,200 | $13,800 | $20,700 |
| Two storey house (approx 300 sqm) | $13,800 | $20,700 | $31,050 |
What moves the quote:
- Substrate: a brick house renders at the base rate; blueboard, besser block or old painted render need preparation or a different system.
- Cement or acrylic: cement is cheapest and suits brick; acrylic flexes and resists cracking on blueboard and in Sydney coastal air, which is why it is quoted higher.
- Height and access: two storeys means scaffold, and that is most of the gap between the single- and two-storey totals.
- Finish: a texture coat or a painted finish on top of the render is a separate line, as is paint.
For rendering quotes in Sydney that compare, give the wall area in square metres, the substrate, how many storeys and whether old render has to come off; ask for the per-metre rate, the preparation, the scaffold and the finish coat as separate lines.
Frequently Asked Questions — Rendering Cost in Sydney
Our Methodology
These are independent estimates from public cost guides, marketplaces and industry rate data, and no tradesperson can influence them, so always get a few quotes. Last reviewed October 2026. Read our full methodology →