Patios in Hangersley
The plots here sit on the escarpment above the Avon valley, so a level terrace means cutting into the bank at one end and building out at the other.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On a sloping plot the important half of the patio is the half that is built out on fill. Cut ground is solid the day it is dug; fill is only as good as the way it was compacted, and that is where a terrace either stays level or drops away at the far corner.
The three calls we get here are a terrace that has settled along the outer edge, a retaining wall that has started to lean out of line, and a garden being reworked where the level area is too small to be much use.
All three come back to how the ground was formed rather than what was laid on it. We dig a trial hole, look at what the terrace is standing on and take a level off the damp proof course. Then the work goes into one written itemised quote with the excavation, the muck away, the sub base, the edgings and retaining, the paving and the jointing on their own lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Cutting in, building out and holding it there
Setting the level. Before anything is dug we decide where the flat surface sits, because that decision fixes how much comes out of the bank and how much has to be built up at the front. Get it wrong and you either lose the view or end up with a retaining wall twice the size it needed to be.
The cut. Excavating into the slope gives firm ground straight away. What comes out goes by skip or grab lorry, priced by the load, and on a plot with a long drive the lorry access is worth checking before anyone quotes a figure.
The fill, and why it is the risk. Ground built out at the front has to be placed and compacted in layers rather than tipped and levelled, with a geotextile between made ground and clean stone. Tipped fill consolidates for years and takes the paving with it, which is exactly why so many sloping gardens have a terrace that is flat by the house and low at the far edge.
Retaining. Whatever holds the cut or the fill needs a footing, a coping, a drainage layer behind it and weep holes through it, so water is not left pressing on the back of a wall. Heights matter and so does what is on the other side of the boundary.
Base and bedding. Compacted hardcore, MOT type 1, in layers, then a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer under each slab. Not five dabs and not a screeded sand bed. On ground that has been reformed, a continuous bed is what spreads the load rather than concentrating it on four corners.
Paving and steps. Porcelain is calibrated, absorbs nothing and has a published slip rating, which is worth having on steps outside. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine are uncalibrated and warmer, each slab bedded to its own thickness. Steps run at a consistent rise with the nosings bedded solid.
Falls, the damp proof course and drainage. Surface falls away from the house, finishing at least two courses below the DPC, into a channel drain at the low end and on to a gully or a soakaway, with a permeable border where the ground will take it. Joints go in with a two part compound rather than sand or a bagged grout.
Repairs. Sunk and rocking slabs, a cracked step, a bulging retaining edge, algae on the shaded half, efflorescence and iron staining on newer stone.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: excavation and muck away, the sub base, the falls and where water goes, edgings and steps, the slabs themselves, and jointing on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Paving a garden at ground level is normally permitted development and needs no planning application or building control notice. Cut and fill terracing is where that changes, because a raised platform and a substantial retaining wall are both treated differently, and the ground here is inside a conservation area covering the western escarpment, so what can be seen from the lane matters. The New Forest National Park Authority is the planning authority, and its heritage and conservation pages set out how it is handled.
Cost
What decides the price of a patio
No rate per square metre, because the slabs are the part you choose and the smallest part of the price.
Getting to it. A house behind a long unmade drive, a plot with a steep approach to the back garden and a bungalow with double gates are three different jobs before any stone is ordered. Everything comes in and goes out through the garden, often through a side gate or the house. A patio you can barrow to directly is a different job from one where every slab is carried. The work at height rules still apply to the dig and the machinery.
What is coming out before anything goes down. An old concrete slab, a raised bed, tree roots or made ground all have to be dug out and taken away, and that is priced by the load rather than by the metre. The dig is where a patio quote is won or lost.
Falls, levels and the damp course. A patio has to fall away from the house and finish at least two courses below the damp proof course, and getting that right often means steps, a retaining edge or a drainage channel. Laying a new patio up against a wall at the wrong level is the single most expensive mistake on this kind of job.
Comparing quotes? Ask how deep the dig goes and what sub base is specified, whether the slabs are laid on a full wet bed or on dabs, what the falls are and where the water goes, whether edgings and steps are included, and what the jointing compound is. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it has become a hazard
A patio that has lifted, sunk or turned slippery
Ring rather than use the form. A slab that has lifted at one corner or a step that has dropped is a trip, and a north facing patio in winter can be genuinely dangerous. We can usually lift and re-lay the worst of it quickly, then look properly at whether the base under the rest has gone. It is eleven miles up the valley from us, so a call from here is normally looked at within a couple of days. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Fill settles, and it settles for years
Gardens on the escarpment almost always end up as cut and fill. You take material out of the higher end and move it to the lower end to make one flat area, and the two halves of that terrace then behave completely differently for the rest of their lives.
The cut side is undisturbed ground. Dig it, compact the base and it will not move. The fill side is new made ground, and unless it went down in layers with a whacker over every one of them, it will keep consolidating quietly for years. A patio built on it looks perfect for a season or two and then drops at the outer corner, opens the joints along one line and pulls away from the step. Relaying the slabs achieves nothing while the ground beneath them is still settling.
What that means practically is worth asking about. On any sloping plot, ask whoever is quoting how the built up ground is going to be formed, whether it is compacted in layers, whether there is a membrane between the made ground and the sub base, and what is retaining the front edge. If the answer is that it will be levelled off and left, expect the far side of your terrace to go down. It is also why we would sooner set the finished level a little lower and cut more out than perch a big area on fill.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Hangersley, Poulner, Crow, Linford and the lanes east of Ringwood, broadly BH24, under the New Forest National Park Authority. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Questions
Hangersley questions we get asked
What makes only the built up side of a terrace settle?
Fill that was tipped and levelled rather than placed and compacted in layers. It keeps consolidating for years, so that half goes down while the cut half stays exactly where it was. The slabs are rarely the problem.
How should built up ground be formed under a patio?
In layers, each one compacted before the next goes on, with a geotextile between the made ground and the clean stone. It is slower than tipping and levelling and it is the only version that holds its shape.
Do I need a retaining wall for a level terrace on a slope?
Almost always something. It might be a low retaining course rather than a wall, depending on the drop. Whatever it is wants a footing, drainage behind it and weep holes, and its height is worth checking against the rules before it is designed.
Does the conservation area affect a terrace on a sloping plot?
It can, because cutting a level platform into a hillside changes what is visible from the lane, and a substantial retaining wall is a structure rather than paving. Ground level paving out of sight in a back garden usually is not affected.
Can the spoil from the cut be used in the fill?
Often yes, and it saves paying twice, once to take it away and once to bring material in. It has to be suitable material and it has to be placed and compacted properly, otherwise you have simply moved the problem downhill.
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Ask how the built up half is going to be formed
Thomas sets the level, works out the cut, the fill and the retaining, and prices the lot in writing. The site visit and the quote are both free.