Stucco, plaster, or?

I have been tasked at my not permie workplace to find a solution to the below dammage. The area is about 6ft wide and 4 feet tall. A Cheap solution is desired.


The texture is smaller than a pebble, larger than sand. I'm hoping to be able to walk into an ace hardware and buy what is needed. My google-foo sucks. The color is about a sandy beige.

Thoughts?

I am fond of using drywall mud.

I only know how to do smooth.

I wonder if a small cell sponge would duplicate that.

First I would sand the damaged area.

Maybe Ace Hardware will have examples of dry wall texture.

Here are 15 examples:

https://www.angi.com/articles/drywall-texture-tips-and-trends.htm

Maybe Sand Spray?

There's stuff that you mix as you need it, that the paint department in most hardware stores. You just add a little water at a time, and mix just until the texture matches the stuff you're repairing. It's not expensive to start with, it's a dry mix, and you only mix up the amount you need at a time, so there will be plenty to cover that and a lot more damage, in the future. I think it's mostly just gypsum.

Indoors or out? And it's outside, is it exposed to the elements or is it sheltered?

Outside in the elements. The eaves do not protect it at all. It is leeward of the usual storm path. We are currently in the rainy season. Dry weather is rare. So of course, this needs to be done NOW.  Ha. It'll be a couple weeks if not later.

OK, that's good info and rules out gypsum-based drywall products. If you're up to a little bit of DIY, a lime plaster could work. To try and match the texture, you could make a relatively sloppy mix and daub it on with a brush, or use a trowel to spread a patch and then pull it directly away from the wall to leave the bumpy bits.

Eek! Yup - my solution was an indoor one.

In latin america, that stucco-like finish is commonly called paneta (with a tilde over the n). It is a sand mix of cement just like ready-mix mortar for bricklaying. The whole issue of texture arises from the size of the sand grains and the finishing technique. Basically it goes like this: you prepare the surface by removing any loose material, then if the underlying surface is concrete, there is often some kind of acrylic-based bonding aid that can be painted on and that supposedly will "re-emulsify" when the wet cement is applied on top to help with adhesion.

When you mix the actual mortar, the paneta, you mix it very carefully to be wetted but firm; not crumbly and yet very low slump. You may literally add water drop by drop to get it just so. You trowel the mortar over the patch area and use a "float" - usually wood or hard rubber but maybe steel - to smooth it flat and even with the surroundings. Then you wait about an hour or so for it to start setting.

Once the cement is firm, but still damp, you "polish" it with a damp sponge; round and round and rinse often. This will remove cement paste and expose the sand grains to give the rough surface. You might have to experiment a little with different textures of rag or sponge in a small area. A coarser and more textured finish could be made with a coarse brush. But you will almost certainly not exactly match the old finish - you cannot know what sand source was used or what finish material may have been employed - it might even have been a textured molded surface that was poured? But usually it does not matter so much; once it is painted it will look fine.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. The boss got tired of my dithering, and bought a can of spray paint. And ummm... yes, it looks bad. Poor color match. Ah well.

If the damage is mostly cosmetic and the texture is the primary issue, some stores sell textured paint that could both cover the patch and re-create the texture in one go.