Builders in Bournemouth

Each trade has its own page with the detail. Here is what each involves on Bournemouth's houses, and the decision to get right before you book it.

Roofs, roofline and chimneys

The town's roofs run from natural slate and clay tile on the Victorian and Edwardian villas, through clay plain tile on the inter-war semis, to concrete interlocking tile on the post-war and later estates, with flat roofs over garages, porches and dormers. We repair and re-roof all of them: slipped slates, ridges and verges in mortar or dry fix, lead at chimneys and abutments, skylights, fascias, soffits and gutters, and flat roofs re-covered in EPDM, GRP or felt. Close to the cliffs, salt corrodes cheap fixings, so the quote for a re-roof there should say what the nails and clips are made of. See roofing, roof repairs and flat roofing.

Brickwork, walls and repointing

Garden walls and piers, cracked brick arches over doors and windows, failed wall ties, brick matching and stonework. The villas were built in soft brick laid in lime, and a repoint in hard cement holds water in the face of the brick until frost flakes it off. Those walls want lime back. The post-war houses were built in cement mortar, and cement is right for them. On an older wall, find a matching brick before anything comes down. More on brickwork and repointing.

Plastering and render

Inside: re-skimming, covering artex, dry lining, and lime plaster on the solid walls of the older houses, where gypsum over a damp wall tends to blow. Outside: sand and cement, monocouche and silicone render, and pebbledash patched to match. Tap a cracked render. If it sounds hollow round the crack, it has let go of the wall, and filling the crack alone will not last. On a seaward elevation, a through-coloured silicone render sheds wind-driven rain better. See plastering and rendering.

Extensions

We build the extension: foundations, the brick or block walls, the beam or lintels over the new opening, the roof, then insulation and plaster inside. The drawings, the structural engineer's calculations and the building control application are arranged by you, or named on the quote. The depth of the foundation is agreed with the building control inspector once the trench is open, and near trees or soft ground it can go deeper than drawn. That is why a fair quote shows the foundation as a provisional sum. More on house extensions.

Driveways and patios

Block paving, resin bound and tarmac drives, repairs to a drive that has sunk or holds puddles, drainage and soakaways, and porcelain patios. Paving more than five square metres of front garden needs planning permission unless the surface is permeable or the water runs off onto your own lawn or border. A new dropped kerb is a separate application to BCP Council. See driveways, block paving, resin driveways, tarmac and patios.

Insulation

Loft insulation topped up between and over the joists, cavity walls filled where the cavity suits it, internal wall insulation, room-in-roof work and warm roofs. The villas have solid walls with no cavity, so the choice there is insulating on the inside, and it has to manage moisture or it causes damp behind the boards. Insulate a roof while it is stripped for a re-roof, when the access is already there. See insulation, loft insulation and wall insulation.

Kitchens

The old kitchen out, the walls and floor made good, then units, worktops, sink and appliances fitted, including a kitchen you have bought yourself. Gas must be connected by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and new circuits come under Part P, so the quote names who does the gas and the electrics. See kitchen fitting.

We also take on commercial roofing and plastering for shops, offices and blocks of flats.

Builders charge in two ways. A day rate pays for time on site, with materials on top. It suits work whose size nobody can know until it is opened up, such as tracing a damp problem. A fixed quote prices a defined job as a whole, and it suits most building work, because you know the figure before anyone starts.

An hourly rate on its own tells you very little about what a job will cost. What moves the price is access and scaffold, how much making good there is, the materials you choose, how much has to be taken away, and what turns up behind a wall or under a floor. A good itemised quote puts each stage on its own line, marks any provisional sum (an allowance for something that cannot be measured yet, like the depth of a foundation), and lists what is excluded.

Put the same questions to every builder you are comparing:

• Is scaffold included, and for how long?
• Is a skip, or taking the waste away, included?
• Which items are provisional sums, and how will they be adjusted?
• What is left out: making good, decorating, fees?
• Who arranges the drawings, the calculations and building control?

Our own approach is on how we price a job.

BCP Council (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole) is the planning authority for the whole town, and runs its planning and building control service.

Planning first. Repairs and like-for-like replacement do not normally need permission. Many single storey rear extensions on a house fall within permitted development, inside limits on depth and height. Flats and maisonettes have no householder permitted development rights, so building work on the outside of a flat usually needs an application, and the freeholder's consent under the lease as well.

Bournemouth has a number of conservation areas, among them Dean Park, The Saints, Meyrick Park and Talbot Woods, and East Cliff. They are on the BCP conservation area list. Inside one, a side extension, rendering or cladding a wall, and some roof changes need permission, and a few streets carry an Article 4 direction that removes more. A listed building needs listed building consent for work that affects its character, inside or out.

Building regulations apply whatever planning says. An extension needs approval from BCP building control or a registered approver, by full plans or a building notice. Re-covering a large part of an existing roof can mean bringing its insulation up to Part L. On a semi or terrace, work on the shared wall or digging close to next door's foundations means serving notice under the Party Wall Act before you start.

None of this needs sorting before you ask for a quote. At the visit we say which of it applies to your job, and who will deal with each part. Our guide to planning, building regulations and listed building consent sets out the difference.

• Landlords and managing agents: quotes for freeholders and blocks
• Recent projects: photos of our own jobs
• How we price a job: what goes into the written quote

Roofing and everything else in Bournemouth Every area we cover Request a free quote