Patios in Holton Heath
A lot of the paving here came with the house in the 1980s and 1990s, laid flat on sand in the last fortnight of the build, and it is now showing exactly what that costs.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Most patios we take up at Holton Heath were laid by the developer on a thin bed of sand, flat, with no edge restraint and no membrane. Whether yours can be lifted and relaid or has to be rebuilt depends on what is actually under it.
The story is nearly always the same. The patio came with the house, it was fine for years, and now there is a puddle by the back door after rain, a slab that rocks when you step on it and a strip of dark brickwork behind the paving that never dries.
None of that is bad luck. We come out, lift a couple of slabs at the edge to see what is underneath, take a survey of the levels and tell you honestly whether this is a lift and relay or a rebuild. Either way the dig, the base, the edging, the drainage and the paving go on separate lines in a written itemised quote. The site visit and the quote are free.
The work
Taking up a patio the developer left behind
Working out whether it can be saved. Not every builder's patio needs ripping out. We lift a couple of slabs at the edge and look underneath. A real depth of compacted hardcore means a lift and relay. Forty millimetres of sand over subsoil means a rebuild, and we would rather say so on day one than halfway through.
What we usually find. Flags on dabs or on sand, no membrane, a token skim of stone, and the whole thing laid dead flat because a fall takes thought. That is why it ponds by the door and why a slab or two is rocking, cracked and hollow when you tap it.
The dig and the muck away. Old flags, the sand they sat on, any made ground from the original build and any roots that have found their way in, all excavated to formation. Access on these estates is fine for machinery and a skip, and the spoil is priced by the load that leaves.
Levels, and the bit the builder skipped. We scrape back, chalk the DPC on the brickwork and set the paving two courses below it with a proper fall running off the wall. Where a threshold has to stay flush for a patio door, a recessed channel takes the water instead of a step taking the height.
Base and bed. Geotextile membrane, MOT Type 1 hardcore compacted in layers to a real depth, a sharp sand screed to level it, then a full bed of mortar under every slab with a slurry primer on the back. A proper mortar bed is the difference between this patio and the one you are taking up.
The paving. Porcelain is calibrated, so the joints stay even across a wide area. Riven sandstone is hand cut and warmer against brick, limestone and granite wear harder, and travertine holds water. Joints are filled with a brush in resin compound, a grout slurry or hand pointing in mortar, never the loose sand that came with the original.
Edges and steps. The perimeter goes on a haunched kerb or an edging bedded in concrete rather than butted against soil, retaining walls sit on a footing with a coping over them, and a gravel border runs along the wall to take splashback. That edge is the commonest omission on the paving we take up here.
Where the water goes. The fall runs into an ACO channel, an existing gully or a soakaway set clear of the foundations, and permeable construction where the runoff has nowhere else to travel. This is the Poole Harbour catchment, so surface water stays on the plot rather than being pushed out to the road. Where paving has only sunk in one bay, or gone slippery with algae and shown efflorescence and staining, we quote the lift and relay.
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 ordinarily permitted development and replacing an existing patio is maintenance, so planning permission is not usually in play; the government guidance on when permission is required sets out where that stops. There is no conservation area over the settlement and five listed entries in the parish, and work in the grounds of a listed building needs listed building consent. The level against the house is building control, from Approved Document C.
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. An estate plot you can bring machinery and a skip onto, a house where everything goes through a side gate, and a garden backing onto open ground are three different jobs. 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. Holton Heath is under nine miles from us, so a rocking slab by a back door or water standing against the wall is normally looked at within a day or two. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
The patio that came with the house
More than a third of the housing at Holton Heath went up between 1983 and 2008, with the biggest single share in the 1980s. That matters because of what came with those houses: a patio the developer laid at the end of the build, usually in a fortnight, usually in the last week.
They follow a pattern and we take them up most weeks. Concrete flags bedded on dabs or on a thin bed of sand. No membrane. Whatever hardcore was left on site, spread thin. Laid flat, because a fall has to be set out and setting out takes time. And run right up to the brickwork, frequently level with the damp proof course rather than two courses below it. It looked fine for the first few years, which was the point.
Thirty years on the same three faults show up. Water stands by the back door. The outer course has crept away because nothing restrained it. And the wall behind the paving is dark where the level was never right. The plot itself is usually fine and the access is good, so a rebuild here is straightforward. Ask any quoting builder to lift an edge slab and show you what is under it.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Holton Heath, Sandford, Organford and the roads towards Wareham and Lytchett Minster, broadly BH16, under Dorset Council. 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
Holton Heath questions we get asked
How can I tell what my patio was built on?
Lift a slab at the outer edge, which is usually the loosest. If you find a bed of sand on soil, that is your answer. If there is a solid layer of compacted stone under the bedding, the base may well be reusable and the job gets smaller.
Can the existing slabs be relaid rather than replaced?
Often, yes, if they are sound and you like them. They come up, get cleaned off and go back on a full mortar bed over a corrected base. You save the cost of the paving and pay for the labour.
Why does water stand by my back door?
Because the patio was laid flat. Paving needs a deliberate fall away from the house, roughly one in eighty, or the water simply sits in whatever hollow the ground has settled into. Relaying to a proper fall and adding a channel deals with it.
The edge of my patio has moved. Is that serious?
It is a sign the perimeter was never restrained. On its own it is a tidying job; left alone the joints keep opening and the bedding washes out from the edge inwards. Haunching a new edging in concrete stops the movement.
Do I need to be at home while the patio is replaced?
Not usually, as long as we can get to the garden and to water. People ask how long it runs: about a week for a straightforward rebuild on an estate plot with good access, towards ten days with a drainage channel, steps or a retaining edge.
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Find out what is under your patio
Thomas comes out, lifts a slab at the edge, takes the levels and prices the honest job in writing. The visit and the quote are free.