How high should a scaffold be per floor?

Telling working height, platform height and reach apart

Working height is platform height plus 2 metres. Those 2 metres are the reach of an adult standing on the platform: your head sits roughly half a metre above the deck and your hands reach about 2 metres above it. Standing on a platform at 6 metres therefore gives you 8 metres of working height. The gap between those two figures is exactly where most misunderstandings during hire come from.

This matters because hire companies and manufacturers usually state scaffolds in working height, not platform height. If your gutter sits at 7 metres and you look for a 7 metre scaffold, your platform ends up at 5 metres and you reach 7 metres. That works, but you are labouring with your arms above your head. A platform just below the work point is far more comfortable, because you then work at chest height.

So do not calculate back from the height of the tower, but from the spot where your hands need to be. The sizes of our equipment are stated in working height on the working height page, where you click through from 4 metres to 14 metres to the matching scaffold. The range covers 4.2 to 14.2 metres of working height.

Key facts

Measuring instead of guessing

The most reliable method takes five minutes. Stand under the work point, hold a tape or a long batten against the wall and measure from ground level to the highest point you have to be able to touch. That figure is your required working height. If you cannot reach, count the courses of brickwork or use a window frame as a measuring stick and multiply. A photo of the elevation with a ladder against it helps you estimate too.

Measure from the spot where the castors will stand, not from the pavement at the front. A back garden sometimes sits half a metre lower than the front, and a basement entrance or an embankment can cost you a whole size. If the scaffold ends up on a sloping terrace, measure at the lowest point underneath it, because that is where the assembly starts. The rule of thumb per floor then only confirms your own measurement.

If you are unsure about the method, all fixed sizes are listed in mobile scaffold dimensions, so you can hold your figure against them. What limits the height of a mobile scaffold, and why the top platform position is not always the one you use, is covered in how high a mobile scaffold may go. With both figures in hand you pick the right size without converting. Write your result down and take it to the configurator, so you choose the right size in one go. Two measurements at different points along the facade are no luxury, because walls are rarely perfectly level.

Why a floor is not a fixed dimension

Storey heights differ considerably between houses. A post-war terraced house has lower floors than a period town house with high ceilings, and an apartment block with a raised ground floor starts above street level straight away. Two houses that look identical from the outside can therefore have gutters a metre apart. Treat the rule of thumb as a starting point and measure afterwards to confirm your choice.

The position of your work point within that floor counts as well. The bottom of a window frame sits a good metre lower than the head of the same frame, and a gutter sits above the highest frames. Anyone painting a whole elevation chooses on the highest point of the job. Anyone replacing a single first-floor window needs less and keeps the tower easier to handle at the same time.

Working height per floor at a glance

The table below sets out the usual sizes: per floor the work point you normally reach for, the working height that goes with it and the platform height that follows from it. Platform height is always working height minus 2 metres. Use the table to check your measurement rather than to replace it, because the height of your own facade always takes precedence.

Read the rows from top to bottom until you recognise the situation that resembles your house. Then click through to the page for that floor for the matching set-ups: first floor, second floor and third floor together cover the large majority of domestic jobs. The sizes in the table assume an average house; with a raised ground floor or a basement everything shifts half a metre to a metre. A dormer or bay window adds to that again.

Ground floor and single-storey jobs

On the ground floor 4 to 5 metres of working height almost always does the job. Think of painting window frames, touching up a canopy, cleaning the gutter of an extension or fitting an outdoor light. The platform then sits at 2 to 3 metres, which you can comfortably assemble on your own. The matching set-ups are listed on ground floor.

For this kind of work a low tower is often a better choice than a tall one you only half assemble. You handle fewer components, you roll on faster and you do not have to drag stabilisers across the lawn. If you are working indoors on a ceiling or a stairwell, look at the room scaffold rather than an outdoor tower, since it passes through a standard interior door from about 70 cm.

First floor: windows, canopy and extension

For first-floor work you normally reckon on 4 to 6 metres of working height. On an average terraced house the head of the first-floor window frames sits around 5 metres, so with a platform at 3 to 4 metres you work comfortably at chest height. From there you also reach the cladding between the floors and the top of a single-storey extension.

With an extension or a conservatory, watch what stands under the scaffold. You cannot place a mobile tower on a glass roof or a lightweight extension, so you look for a position beside it and bridge the last stretch with the 245 cm platform length. If that does not work, tying the tower in or choosing another position is the answer.

If you are working on the rear elevation, check that the parts pass the gate before you order. The RS51 is 75 cm wide and clears most gates and alleys; the RS52 at 135 cm does not. Both have the same platform length of 245 cm. The sizes and models are listed at mobile scaffold hire. Measure the gate with the latch included, because it often projects just far enough to catch a frame. A corner immediately behind the gate matters at least as much as the width itself.

Second floor and the gutter of a terraced house

On the second floor you usually sit between 6 and 8 metres of working height. That is the classic size for the gutter and fascia boards of an ordinary terraced house: the platform stands at 4 to 6 metres and you look just over the edge of the gutter. Anyone cleaning gutters or painting fascia boards ends up at these dimensions.

Choose your working height on the gutter here, not on the ridge. You do not walk onto the roof surface from a mobile scaffold, so everything above the lowest row of tiles falls outside the reach of this set-up. For gutter work the comparison of sizes is in which scaffold for the gutter, and the job itself is described at cleaning the gutter.

From this height the stabilisers become serious work. They project a fair distance, so measure whether they clear the hedge, the fence or the car before you assemble. When you move the tower they come up and go down again, which makes relocating slower than on a low set-up. Count on slightly fewer positions per day. On a driveway with a car beside it that usually means moving the car before you start, rather than halfway through the assembly.

Third floor and above: town houses and apartments

Above the second floor the required working height rises quickly: 8 to 10 metres for a third floor and 10 to 14.2 metres for the fourth and fifth. Those are the sizes for town houses with high ceilings, for apartment blocks and for houses with a raised ground floor. The top of our range sits at 14.2 metres of working height, which comes down to a platform at 12.2 metres.

At this height the character of the job changes. You assemble with two people, you work with stabilisers or ties as set out in the manual, and you move the tower deliberately and without haste. Wind plays a bigger part than at 6 metres, so you plan your working days around the weather. The set-ups per floor are listed on fourth floor and fifth floor.

With apartments there is the added question of where you are allowed to stand: a walkway, a parking deck or a communal garden needs permission from the owners association. What else is involved is covered in which scaffold for an apartment. If you need to go above 14.2 metres, a mobile scaffold is no longer the right tool. Ask about the delivery route as well, because a courtyard or a first-floor walkway cannot always be reached with a van.

The work point shifts with the job

Two people on the same floor can need different scaffolds. Someone painting the lower part of a window frame works a metre lower than someone doing the head. Someone finishing the side of a dormer has to go higher than someone only cleaning the gutter beneath it. So establish the highest point of the entire job first and choose on that, otherwise you end up stretching halfway through.

With a dormer you also need to reach the sides and the top. The top of a dormer often sits one to one and a half metres above the gutter, which adds a size. In which scaffold for a dormer you can read how to build that extra height into your choice. If you are finishing the cheeks of the dormer you also want a little more platform length, so you do not have to roll the tower every time you switch sides.

Solar panels, dishes, cameras and lighting have their own work points as well, usually just below or just above the roof edge. Run through the list below and stick to the highest point you come across in that sequence. A dish or camera often sits just under the gutter, while solar panel brackets lie a little way onto the roof surface. In that case measure to the point you can still reach with a straight arm and both feet on the deck, and no further.

• Bottom of a window frame: lowest work point on the floor
• Head of the frame and cladding: roughly a metre higher
• Gutter and gutter brackets: above the highest window frames
• Fascia boards and barge boards: level with or just above the gutter
• Top of a dormer: one to one and a half metres above the gutter
• Lowest row of roof tiles: the highest point you still reach from the deck

What the ground does to your height

The height you need starts at the castors, not at ground level on a drawing. A tower on a lowered terrace, in a basement entrance or on a sloping garden starts lower and therefore has to reach higher. The other way round, a raised terrace or driveway sometimes saves just enough to hire one size down. So measure at the exact spot where the scaffold will stand.

The ground also decides whether you reach that height safely. Grass, gravel and sand sink under point loads, block paving is rarely completely level and a garden path often falls towards the fence. Adjustable feet and base plates absorb that, but there is a limit: the taller the tower, the more a crooked start carries through. The approach is set out in mobile scaffold on uneven ground.

Before ordering, walk the spot once with the points below in mind. They remove most of the surprises on the delivery day. They take five minutes and stop the scaffold ending up in the wrong place or having to be dismantled to get past. Include the route from the van to the back garden, because that is where it goes wrong most often.

• Measure from where the castors stand, not from the pavement
• Check that the ground is level enough along the whole route
• See whether stabilisers clear the hedge, fence or car
• Watch for drain covers, crawl space hatches and garden lighting
• Measure the narrowest passage to the back garden before choosing a model

Between two sizes: why you go up

If your measurement falls between two sizes, take the higher one. A tower that stands too low tempts you into stretching, standing on tiptoe or climbing on the guard rail, and that is exactly where things go wrong. A tower one size up simply does not have to be assembled to its full height, or you leave the top platform position unused.

Rounding up costs less than you might think. You pay the full rate for the first hire day and 5 percent of that day rate for every following day, so the duration weighs heavier in the sum than one size. How the rate is built up per working height is shown on mobile scaffold hire costs. With that declining rate a longer hire is cheaper than two short periods, certainly when the weather upsets your planning.

What you do weigh up: a taller tower means more components, more assembly time and more attention while moving. For a half-day job at 5 metres a set for 10 metres is awkward. For an elevation you work through in stages, that extra size is exactly what keeps the work calm. Your transport counts too if you collect in person: a set for 12 metres fills a van faster than a set for 6 metres, while the platform parts stay the same length.

From size to delivery: ordering, delivery or collection

Once you have your working height, you choose the matching scaffold and the delivery day. Order before 15:00 and the scaffold is with you the next working day, anywhere in the Netherlands. Delivery and collection sit together in a fixed amount per province; the amounts are on delivery costs. We put the set down at an agreed spot, and you assemble it yourself with the manual and the instruction video.

Collecting it yourself is free by appointment at Zeeburgerpad 89 in Amsterdam, provided you have a van or trailer for the 245 cm parts. The deposit varies per model and per delivery method, and is back in your account within 1 working day after return. If the sizes leave you stuck, send a photo of the elevation on WhatsApp or get in touch through contact.

• Establish the highest work point of the entire job
• Measure from the castor position up to that point
• Subtract 2 metres for the matching platform height
• Round up to the nearest available size
• Check the passage to the spot where the scaffold will stand
• Order before 15:00 for delivery the next working day