Lintel Replacement Costs UK — What to Charge to Replace a Lintel in 2026

What a Lintel Is and When It Has Failed

A lintel is the horizontal structural member that spans an opening — a window or door — and carries the load of the brickwork and roof above it down into the masonry either side. Older properties used timber or stone lintels; mid-century homes often have cast concrete; modern construction uses galvanised steel. When a lintel fails, the load it was carrying has nowhere to go, and the wall above starts to move.

The classic signs you're looking at when you survey are:

• Stepped or diagonal cracking above and to the corners of a window or door opening
• Sagging or dropped brickwork directly over the opening, often with a visible dip in the mortar courses
• A bowed or rusting steel lintel showing through the render, or a concrete lintel with spalling and exposed reinforcement
• Cracked or sticking window and door frames where the opening has distorted
• Internal cracking on the plaster above the opening, often mirrored on the inside and outside

Rusting steel is the most common cause of failure in older steel lintels — as the metal corrodes it expands, a process called oxide jacking, which forces the brickwork above it upwards and cracks the wall. Concrete lintels fail through carbonation and corrosion of the internal rebar. Timber lintels rot. Whatever the cause, once a lintel has gone, the only reliable fix is to prop the load, remove the old lintel and fit a new one.

Types of Replacement Lintel

The lintel you specify depends on the wall construction, the span and the load above. Get this wrong and you either over-engineer the job and lose margin, or under-spec it and create a callback or worse. Here are the main options.

Galvanised Steel (Catnic / IG Type)

Pressed galvanised steel lintels — Catnic and IG being the two dominant brands — are the default choice for cavity walls and most modern openings. They're light enough to handle, come in profiles to suit cavity, solid and internal walls, and a standard length is cheap relative to the labour. A single steel lintel for a standard window opening typically costs £40–£120 in materials depending on length and profile, rising for wider spans and heavy-duty types.

Prestressed Concrete

Prestressed concrete lintels are commonly used for internal load-bearing walls and as the inner leaf of some cavity details. They're heavier — often a two-person lift on anything beyond a short span — but cheaper for plain internal openings. Material cost runs £20–£90 for typical sizes. Factor the weight into your labour: a concrete lintel over a metre and a half is awkward to position by hand and may need a Strongboy and an extra pair of hands.

Stone and Reconstituted Stone

On period, conservation and stone-built properties, a steel lintel hidden behind the masonry often does the structural work while a stone or reconstituted stone lintel is fitted on the face for appearance. Natural stone lintels are expensive and slow to source — budget £150–£600+ for the face piece alone, more for a long bay head or a bespoke profile to match existing. Always check whether the property is listed or in a conservation area before you commit to a steel-only solution that changes the external appearance.

Typical Job Costs

The headline number a customer wants is "what does it cost to replace a lintel." The honest answer is that it ranges widely with the size of the opening, the wall construction and how much making good is involved. Here is how the common jobs break down in 2026.

Single Window Lintel

A standard window opening — roughly 900mm to 1,200mm wide — in a cavity wall is the most common lintel job. Propping the inner and outer leaf, cutting out the failed lintel, fitting a new steel lintel, rebuilding the brickwork on the new bearing and making good is typically a one-day job for two people. Expect to charge £400–£900 all in, toward the top of that range where access is awkward or the brick is hard to match.

Door Lintel

A door opening is wider and carries more load down to the bearing points, so propping is more involved and the rebuild is larger. A standard external door lintel replacement runs £500–£1,200 depending on width, wall thickness and whether you're working solid or cavity. Internal load-bearing door lintels using a prestressed concrete section can sit at the lower end if making good is just plaster rather than facing brick.

Bay Window or Larger Structural Opening

Bay windows are the job to be careful with. A bay head often carries a corner of the roof and an upper floor, the span is long, and the geometry usually demands a structural engineer's design and building control sign-off. Multiple props and needles are needed to take the load while you work, and the lintel may be a heavy-duty steel section or a pair of catnics. Realistically these jobs run £800–£2,500, and complex bays with significant making good, scaffolding or a steel beam can go higher. Never price a bay off a photo — survey it.

Temporary Propping — Acrow Props, Strongboys and Needles

The propping is where lintel work is either done safely or done badly. Before a single brick comes out, the load above the opening has to be supported. How you do that depends on the load and the wall.

• Acrow props: adjustable steel props that carry the vertical load. You'll typically set props on scaffold boards or a sole plate to spread the load on the floor, with a head plate or timber spreader up top.
• Strongboys: the bracket head that slots into a mortar bed and sits on top of an Acrow prop, letting you support brickwork directly without first inserting needles. Ideal for lighter, short-span jobs.
• Needles: for heavier loads and wider openings — particularly bays — you cut a hole through the wall above the opening, pass a steel or strong timber needle through, and support each end on an Acrow prop either side. This takes the full load while the lintel below is removed and replaced.

On a single window you might hire or already own the props and use Strongboys — a modest cost. On a bay or wide structural opening you may need four to six props, multiple needles and a day's extra labour just to prop and strike. Build propping in as its own line: allow £50–£150 for a simple window prop using owned kit, and £150–£400+ in props, needles and hire for a bay. Never strike the props until the new lintel has gained its bearing and the brickwork mortar above has set.

Do You Need a Structural Engineer or Building Control?

For a like-for-like replacement of a failed lintel on a standard window or door, where you're fitting the same size lintel over the same opening, you often don't need a structural engineer — but you should still notify building control or use a competent-person scheme, because structural work to a wall is notifiable. Document the lintel specification and bearings.

You do need a structural engineer's calculation, and building control approval, when:

• The opening is being widened or altered, not just re-lintelled like for like
• The lintel carries a significant load — a bay head, a wall taking a roof corner or an upper floor
• A steel beam (RSJ / UB) is needed rather than a standard lintel
• The property is listed or in a conservation area, where the external appearance is controlled

A structural engineer's lintel or beam calculation typically costs £250–£600, and building control fees add £300–£800 depending on the authority and whether you use the local authority or an approved inspector. Pass these through as separate costs in the quote — they're the customer's liability, not a margin you should absorb. Getting the engineer involved early on a bay also protects you: if the design is theirs and you build to it, the structural responsibility sits where it should.

Making Good — Where the Time Goes

Customers see a new lintel as a quick swap. In reality the structural part is often the fastest bit and the making good is what consumes the day and decides whether the customer is happy. After the lintel is in and the brickwork rebuilt on the new bearing, you still have:

• Re-pointing the rebuilt courses to match the existing mortar colour and joint profile — harder than it sounds on a weathered Victorian wall
• Matching the brick or stone — sourcing reclaimed or close-match bricks, or turning salvaged bricks to hide cut faces
• Internal plastering over the opening where the inner leaf and reveal were disturbed
• Painting and decoration to bring the internal finish back, which many customers expect included
• External render or a stone face piece reinstated where the elevation was rendered or stone-faced

Be explicit in the quote about where your making good stops. Plastering, painting and brick matching can each be a half-day, and a customer who assumed "all included" will dispute the final bill if you didn't set the boundary. On a heritage property where brick or mortar matching is critical, allow generous time and price accordingly — a poor mortar match on a front elevation is the kind of thing that gets you a one-star review even when the structural work is perfect.

What Affects the Price

Two lintel jobs of the same span can differ by hundreds of pounds. Check these factors before you commit a number:

• Access: ground-floor openings are straightforward; first-floor or higher needs scaffold or a tower, adding hire and setup time. A bay window at first floor is a different job to one at ground level.
• Wall thickness and construction: a single-leaf internal wall is quick; a cavity wall means propping and lintelling both leaves; a thick solid stone wall is slow, heavy work.
• Cavity vs solid: cavity walls need the correct cavity-profile lintel and care with insulation and the DPC tray. Solid walls are simpler structurally but heavier to break out.
• Height and load: the more storeys and roof load above the opening, the more propping and the heavier the lintel — which drives both materials and labour.
• Whether it's load-bearing: a non-load-bearing internal opening is low risk; a wall carrying a roof or floor demands proper propping, possibly needles, and often engineer sign-off.
• Brick and mortar matching: common modern brick is easy; reclaimed Victorian stock or a lime mortar match on a listed building adds real time and material cost.
• Spoil and waste: the old lintel, broken brick and rubble need removing — factor in a skip or grab on bigger jobs.

Quoting Tips — What to Check Before You Price

Lintel quotes go wrong when the builder prices off the customer's description of "a cracked window" rather than a proper survey. Before you give a figure:

• Confirm the wall construction — cavity or solid, and how thick — because it changes the lintel type and the propping completely.
• Establish what's above the opening — roof, floor, another opening — so you know the load and whether you need needles and an engineer.
• Check whether the property is listed or in a conservation area before assuming a hidden steel solution is acceptable.
• Photograph the crack pattern and existing lintel so you can show the customer the failure and justify the work — and so you have a record of the pre-existing condition.
• Source the matching brick and mortar early on period properties; if it's slow or expensive, that belongs in the quote.
• Define the making-good scope in writing — exactly what re-pointing, plastering and painting is and isn't included.

A short written survey note attached to your quote — wall construction, load above, lintel spec, propping method, making-good scope — sets you above competitors who just send a number and protects you if the customer later disputes the work. It demonstrates you understand the structural risk and have priced it properly.

Quick Reference: Lintel Replacement Prices UK 2026