Waterproofing cost guide, Cape Town
What waterproofing a Cape Town roof really costs.
Roofs, walls and damp, priced honestly after we have looked. One system, Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber, applied the way it was designed to be applied.
Waterproofing is the easiest trade in the country to underprice, because the difference between a good job and a bad one is completely invisible for about eighteen months. Then it rains properly.
Below is what a proper waterproofing job includes. We are an approved applicator and reseller for Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber, and that seamless liquid rubber system is the only waterproofing we install. No torch-on, no injection damp courses, no subcontracted mystery product.
What goes into the price
What a proper job includes, line by line.
Liquid rubber waterproofing, flat roof
Full clean and prime, all details and upstands reinforced with membrane, then three coats built to the specified thickness rather than two thin ones.
Recoat over an existing failed coating
Failed coating cut out, sound coating scarified and primed. Cheaper than a full strip because we are honest about what can stay.
Tiled or metal roof coating
Wash, rust treatment or ridge repointing first, correct primer for the substrate, then a full coating system. Galvanised and rusted metal need different primers and get them.
Non-asbestos fibre-cement sheeting coating
Porous sheeting cleaned, primed, every bolt and lap reinforced, then a full liquid rubber build instead of a re-sheet. Asbestos-cement roofs are outside our scope and go to a registered asbestos contractor.
Rising and lateral damp on walls
Diagnosed before it is priced. Plaster removed back to sound, treated, and rebuilt with a liquid rubber damp proof system. Painting over damp is not damp proofing.
Balconies, parapets, showers and details
This is where nearly every leak actually starts and it never prices sensibly per m². It gets its own line so it cannot be quietly skipped.
We do not publish rates. Every property is different. We give you one fixed price for the whole job after we have looked at it properly and written down what we found.
Why the cheap quote is cheap
The savings all come out of the same place.
Nobody diagnosed the leak
Water travels. The stain on your ceiling is almost never under the failure. Coating the area around the stain is the single most common waste of money in this trade, and it is what a same-day quote gets you.
Two coats instead of three
Liquid systems only work at their specified dry film thickness. Two coats saves a third of the material and a third of the labour, and it fails first at exactly the points that carry the most water.
The details get coated, not reinforced
Upstands, corners, outlets and pipe penetrations need membrane reinforcement. Brushing liquid over them looks identical on the day and cracks at the first movement.
The roof was never cleaned
Liquid rubber sticks beautifully to dust, right up until the dust lets go of the roof.
What we check before we price
So your fixed price stays honest.
- Structural repairs to the roof deck, quoted separately once exposed
- Replacing rotten timber, sheeting or broken tiles
- Electrical or solar disconnection and reinstatement where panels have to move
- Interior ceiling and cornice repairs after a leak, quoted on their own
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Get your own number
Guidance only goes so far. Let us look at the property.
We come out, get onto the roof and the walls, photograph what we find, and send you one fixed price for the whole job.