Short answer: the system first, then the finish
The facade finish is chosen last. Before it, five things need deciding: where the insulation goes in the wall and how thick the wall becomes; where the windows sit within that thickness; how the junctions at the plinth, sills and parapet are detailed; what else will be on the facade, from downpipes to AC units; and what the municipal planning rules require of the house’s appearance.
Start from a picture and these questions still arrive, only on site, where fixing them costs more. The materials themselves, from render to stone, are compared in a separate guide.
Wall build-up and window position
Insulation outside, inside or in the cavity: a decision that changes everything else. It sets the wall thickness, the thermal bridges and where the window is best placed. A window aligned with the insulation layer performs better than one pushed to the inner face, but its fixing has to be properly designed.
Window position also shapes the look: a deep reveal adds shadow and depth, a window flush with the facade looks flat and contemporary. It is an architectural decision made together with the thermal calculation, not afterwards.
The junctions that stain a facade
Most streaks on new facades come from junctions, not from the material. A window sill with no drip groove or no projection beyond the wall face, and within a year there is a grey stripe under every window. A parapet with no coping sloping inwards, and stains run the full height.
The plinth, the bottom 40–60 cm of the wall, takes rain splash, irrigation water and knocks from garden tools. A tougher material than above belongs there. Where the facade meets a terrace or roof is detailed together with the waterproofing, not improvised by the finisher.
Everything else that will sit on the facade
Downpipes, outdoor AC units, ventilation grilles, the kitchen extract outlet, wall lights, garden sockets, video entry panel, letterbox, house number, awning brackets. None of them appear in the beautiful render; all of them appear on the real house.
Draw them on the elevations before choosing the finish. A downpipe can be hidden within the wall or made part of the architecture; AC units can go on the roof or behind a screen. Leave it for later and they end up wherever suited the installer.
Sun, shade and municipal rules
South and west facades of a house in the Garraf or Maresme take strong sun. Canopies, louvres, external blinds and roof overhangs are resolved as part of the facade, not bought after the first summer. House orientation is covered in a separate guide.
Municipal planning rules may also restrict colours, materials, boundary wall heights and roof appearance, especially in historic centres and residential developments with their own regulations. Check with the project technician before picking samples, so you do not fall for something that cannot be built.
On-site samples and maintenance access
A small sample in the office tells you nothing about a 60 m² wall in full sun. Ask for a trial patch of about one metre by one metre on the house itself, next to a window frame in the chosen colour, and look at it in the morning, at midday and in the evening. The approved sample is photographed, labelled and kept until the works are finished, so purchasing follows it rather than a phone photo.
Then decide how the facade will be reached for cleaning and repair: is there room for a lift platform, is the pool or the slope of the plot in the way? Our project archive has photos, during and after the works, of the facade of the house with a pool that we built from start to finish between 2022 and 2024. Every decision there answered to its own plot.
Next step
Send us the house project or sketch elevations. We will go through the five questions above, point out which junctions and elements are still unresolved and quote after visiting the plot. We run projects in Spanish and Russian, with one person responsible. We reply within an hour.