Single storey, double storey, side returns and wrap-arounds, taken from the footings up to a weathertight shell. For most homeowners this is the biggest job their house will ever have done, so the parts that matter are being told what is happening, keeping the place liveable while the work runs, and brickwork that matches the house instead of announcing itself.
Trenches dug to the depth building control and the ground actually require rather than the depth that was hoped for, concrete poured, then engineering brick or block up to DPC with the DPC lapped into the existing. Everything above ground only works if this part is right.
New facing brickwork chosen and laid to sit with the existing house, with the bond, the coursing and the joint finish matched. Where an old house has weathered beyond matching, we will show you the closest options and be straight about how the difference will look.
Openings formed, lintels and steels seated on proper padstones, and the through-knock done with the right propping in place. This is the part of an extension that worries people most, and it is the part that gets planned in detail before anything is cut.
Dust sheeting and temporary protection where the house stays occupied, materials stacked so the drive is still usable, and the site left tidy at the end of the day rather than at the end of the job. You get told what is happening tomorrow before tomorrow.
On most extensions we take it from footings to a weathertight shell, working alongside the roofer, and on plenty of jobs we carry on through the rest of the build. If you already have a builder and just need the bricklaying, that is fine too. Tell us where you want us to start and stop.
Many extensions go through under permitted development and many do not, and it depends on size, height, boundaries and whether the property has had work done before. Building regulations apply either way. Your architect or the council will confirm it, and we will build to whatever is approved.
The shell of a typical single storey rear extension is usually a matter of weeks rather than months, but footings, weather, steel deliveries and building control inspections all move the date. You get a realistic programme at the quote and an update when something changes it.
That is the goal and it is normally achievable on a house of any recent age. Older stock brick weathers in ways new brick cannot copy exactly, so we will show you the closest match laid up and let you judge it rather than telling you it will be perfect.
Yes, and it makes the job easier. Working from the approved drawings and the engineer’s details means fewer decisions get made on site by whoever happens to be standing there. Where a detail will not build, we raise it with them rather than improvising.
Based in Watford and out across Hertfordshire and north west London most days, so a look at your job is rarely more than a couple of days away. Development and plot packages are taken on nationwide.
Send the drawings or a few photos over and we will price it up.