What do contrator charge for removal of stucco?

Question

I'm getting my house insulated from the outside. The contractor at appraisal time though my house was made of stucco sprayed on wood.

When they started the remove the stucco they discovered that there was no wood behind the stucco, the whole house is one solid pored foundation from the basement to the attic.

So they decided to strap the house instead and then lay the high density styrofoam. In the price ajustment I only get back like $130. The company said that strapping a house is about $50 more per 10 square feet (cant remember the exact numbers) that removing and disposing of stucco, but there was the waste bin that I didn't have to pay for anymore.

I'm looking for a professional opinion on this and my question is.... How much do you charge for removing stucco compared to strapping a house?

thanks

Answer 1

here's the skinny.  a contractor will probably charge (in my area, new england) $60 an hour per person to remove stucco.  stucco sprayed on a wood structure is much easier to remove.  the wood will flex more than the stucco and with the right tools, stucco will come right off.  it won't come off with a concrete structure as easily.  so what they will usually do is only take of enough stucco to to get a nice flat path for the strapping to lay against the concrete.  then they have to drill ancor holes and anchor the strapping onto the structure, which is time consuming.  (they could also use power anchors which cost a bit more.)

but it sounds like they didn't strip any of the stucco, and just placed the strapping over the top.  this saved them a bunch of time.

so in the end, you got 130 back, and hopefully your house looks ok.  if it's solid concrete, it probably didn't really need any insulation on the outside, but the contractor didn't want to talk himself out of a job.

the contractor should have checked the structure better and known it wasn't wood.  in my area, you never see stucco over wood, because it will peel off in under 10 years.  

so i don't think you got taken for a ride.  60 an hour to remove stucco, 60 an hour + materials and supplies to put up strapping, depending on how many angles the house has and any tricky spots will increase strapping time.