Builders in Wimborne

There is a fuller page for each trade. In short, this is how each one plays out on Wimborne's buildings.

Roofing

Round the Minster the roofs are mostly clay tile and natural slate, steeply pitched, with lead in the valleys and against the chimneys. The post-war estates and the newer roads have concrete tiles, and flat roofs cover dormers, garages and back additions. We replace slipped or broken tiles and slates, rebed or dry fix ridges, renew lead, fit rooflights, replace fascias and gutters, re-cover flat roofs in EPDM, GRP or felt, and strip and re-roof when a covering is beyond saving. On an old roof, reusing the sound tiles keeps it looking right from the street. See roofing in Wimborne, roof repairs and flat roofing.

Brickwork and lime repointing

The town centre is solid brick in lime mortar, and a lot of it has been repointed in cement at some point. You can spot it: the joints stand proud and hard, and the brick edges beside them crumble. Raking that out by hand and repointing in lime lets the wall dry through its joints again. We also rebuild leaning boundary walls, reusing the old brick where it is sound, repair arches and cracked corners, replace corroded wall ties in later cavity walls, and match new brick to old. See brickwork in Wimborne and repointing.

Plaster and render

Older rooms often have lime plaster on lath or straight onto brick. Patch it in lime, because gypsum on a damp solid wall blows within a few winters. Newer houses take a conventional skim, dry lining, or a skim over artex. Outside, we repair or renew render, whether sand and cement, monocouche or silicone, and patch pebbledash to match. A hard render on a soft old wall traps water behind it, so on those we talk about lime first. See plastering in Wimborne and rendering.

Extensions

We build the shell and finish it: foundations, block inner leaf with a facing brick to match the house, the beam over the new opening, the roof, insulation and plaster. Drawings, structural calculations and the building control application come from you, or from whoever the quote names as doing them. The ground in parts of the area is clay that moves with the seasons, so footings near trees may go deeper than drawn. That depth is settled with the inspector on site, which is why the foundation is a provisional line on the quote. Read more about house extensions.

Drives and patios against old walls

New drives in block paving, resin bound or tarmac, rutted or sunken ones relaid, drainage put in, and porcelain patios. Against an old solid wall, keep the new surface well below the inside floor so rain cannot splash above the base of the wall. Hard surfacing over more than a small part of a front garden that drains onto the road needs planning permission, so a permeable surface is usually the simpler route. See driveways in Wimborne, patios, block paving, resin and tarmac.

Insulation

The loft is the place to start on almost any house. Cavity fill suits the post-war houses where the cavity is clear. On solid walls, internal insulation has to manage moisture, or damp appears behind it, so it needs specifying with care. Rooms in the roof and warm flat roofs are done when the covering is off anyway. See insulation in Wimborne, loft insulation and wall insulation.

Kitchens

Stripping out, making good, then fitting units, worktops and appliances, including a kitchen you have bought elsewhere. We leave gas and wiring to others: a Gas Safe registered engineer connects the gas, and a registered electrician handles new circuits. See kitchen fitting.

There are day rates and there are fixed prices. A day rate bills the hours on site, with materials added. It fits work nobody can size until it is opened up, like tracing where damp is getting in. A fixed price covers a defined job for an agreed sum, so you know the cost before work starts. That is the better fit for a job with a clear scope.

An hourly rate on its own will not tell you what your job costs. The figure moves with the scaffold and access, the amount of making good, which materials you pick, the waste to remove, and what is found behind plaster or under a floor. On an older house, lime and salvaged materials take longer to use than modern ones. A clear quote lists each stage, marks any provisional sum and says what it excludes.

Questions worth putting to every quote:

• Does the figure include scaffold hire, and for what period?
• Is the waste, or a skip, included?
• Which lines are provisional sums, and what settles them?
• Is anything left out, such as making good, decoration or consent fees?
• Who is responsible for the drawings, the structural calculations and building control?

Our method is on how we price a job.

Dorset Council is the planning authority for Wimborne and runs building control alongside it.

Much of the centre lies in the Wimborne Minster Conservation Area, and a second conservation area covers St John's Hill and Rowlands Hill nearby. Inside them, cladding or rendering a wall, side extensions and some roof changes need permission, and so does taking down a sizeable wall facing a road. The town also has a large number of listed buildings, from the Minster Church of St Cuthburga, Grade I, and the Priest's House Museum to houses and shops along West Borough, East Borough and the Cornmarket. Work that alters the character of a listed building, such as repointing in a different mortar or replacing windows, needs listed building consent first. Dorset Council explains the process.

A lot of Wimborne's homes are flats or maisonettes. The roof and outside walls of a flat usually belong to the freeholder, so a leaseholder cannot order that work alone. When major works will cost each leaseholder more than a set amount, the freeholder has to consult them first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act. We give an itemised quote that can go straight into that consultation.

On a house, many single storey rear extensions are permitted development. At the edge of town, where houses back onto the Green Belt, an extension that needs an application is judged on whether it is out of proportion with the original house. Near the Stour and the Allen, check the flood risk first. Building regulations apply in every case, and renewing most of a roof can bring in Part L insulation.

None of this has to be settled before you ask for a quote. We tell you at the visit what applies and who handles it. Our guide explains where planning, building regulations and listed building consent each apply.

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

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