I’ve been using scratch renders nearly 20 years now, I did an apprenticeship and sand cement was the only option. No panel is maintainence free, but you can seal a mono render with a good sealant on completion to help your cause. any north facing will dirt up and without correct planning of coping’s/roof details. a good sand cement will last a long time, but it will need maintainence ie painting etc, and forgetting that, my days of hand balling sand cement gear on walls went out with the cassette player, and getting shite quality sand etc I guess you can always use pre bagged ocr gear and paint.
we have moved mainly onto Bucket renders these days due to its flexability and better weathering qualities, and the way we build is changing. The amount of timber frame/durisol/icf builds is increasing, we use thin coats on them all, 10 years ago none of these were a thing. Ewi over the next few years will be more to the fore due to epc ratings on rentals and heating bills on the rapid increase, again a few years ago I may have done one remotely now it’s 20% of our projects. Like any trade you need to move with the times.
Rendering isn’t a get rich quick though, it’s essentially a 9 month a year occupation, I’ve done alright out if it, only because I’ve scaled up and take on meaty projects with margins on running decent projects,but there’s easier ways of making a living that’s less toll on your body and less stress fretting over weather etc, I’m 41 now I’ll be out of the industry by my mid 40s.