Patio laying in Sandford
Most of the estate houses here open onto a narrow rear garden with a side gate as the only way in, and that gate decides more about the job than the brochure does.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
On the estates around Sandford the practical limit on a patio is the width of the side gate. It sets the size of slab we can handle, the machine that can get to the back and how the spoil leaves, and it is worth settling before anyone picks a colour.
Three things get people dialling. A back door step where the paving has sunk and now holds a puddle. Slabs lifting at the corners where roots or frost have got under them. And a small square of original paving that has never been big enough since the kitchen doors were changed.
The answer to all three starts underground. We lift a slab, look at what it was bedded on, take a level off the damp proof course and measure the gate. Then it goes into one written itemised quote with the dig, the muck away, the sub base, the edgings, the paving and the jointing on their own lines, so it can be read against anybody else's. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Rear gardens, tight access and a base that lasts
Getting in and getting the muck out. Where the only route is a side gate, the dig is done with a micro digger that fits through it or by hand, and the spoil goes out by barrow to a skip or a grab lorry on the road. That is priced by the load, and on a house of this type it is a bigger share of the bill than most people expect. It is also the line to check on a rival quote.
Excavating to something solid. Turf, an old concrete path, a garden wall footing left in the ground, or made ground from when the estate was built all come out until we reach a firm formation. Digging to a set depth rather than to good ground is how a patio ends up settling in patches.
The base. Compacted hardcore, MOT type 1, in layers, whacked as it goes, then a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of every slab. Not a screeded sand bed, and never five dabs. Dabs leave voids and voids fill with water, and that is the whole story behind a rocking slab.
Choosing a format that fits the gate. Large format porcelain looks superb and a single 900 by 900 tile is a two person carry through a gap you can barely turn in. On tight access we will often suggest a smaller module, or a mixed pattern in sandstone, and the finished terrace looks no worse for it.
Materials. Porcelain is calibrated, takes up no water and comes with a published slip rating. Sandstone, limestone, granite and travertine are warmer and mostly uncalibrated, so each slab is bedded to its own thickness. All of them get primed and bedded full.
Falls, thresholds and the damp proof course. The surface falls away from the house and finishes at least two courses below the DPC. Where a back door sits low, a threshold channel along the wall takes the water instead of the paving being built up to meet the frame.
Edges, steps and water. A haunched kerb or a retaining course with a coping to hold the outer row, steps of an even rise where the garden drops, a channel drain at the low end into a gully or soakaway so runoff stays on your ground, a permeable border where the soil will take it, and joints brushed in with a two part compound rather than sand or a bagged grout.
Repairs. Sunk, lifted and rocking slabs, a cracked step, algae on a shaded strip, 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 rear garden at ground level is normally permitted development, so there is no planning application and no building control notice for most of this work. Raised platforms are the exception, along with a boundary or retaining wall above the usual heights, where the height rules apply. Dorset Council is the authority, there is no conservation area over the village, and only a handful of entries in the parish are listed, where listed building consent would come into it.
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 semi with a 900mm gate, a terrace with a shared alley and a detached house with double gates onto the drive are three different jobs before a pallet 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. We are under ten miles away on the Wareham road, so a call here is usually 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 side gate sets the size of the job
Sandford grew mostly between the late 1940s and the early 1980s, and a large share of it is semis and terraces built to a similar pattern: a modest rear garden, a fence line close on both sides, and one gate at the side of the house. Nobody thinks about that gate until the day a pallet arrives.
It matters in four ways. It decides whether a digger can reach the back, and a hand dig costs hours rather than pounds of plant hire. It decides how the spoil leaves, because every barrow load goes out through the same gap. It decides the slab format, since a large format tile has to be carried flat by two people and turned in a space that will not always allow it. And it decides where the pallets sit, which usually means the drive or the verge for a couple of days.
What we do about it is simple. We measure the gate and the tightest turn at the survey, then price the job around what will genuinely fit. Sometimes a fence panel comes out for a week, which is cheaper than every alternative. If a quote for a house like yours does not mention access at all, that is the number most likely to move once the work starts.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Sandford, Holton Heath, Wareham St Martin and out towards Organford, broadly BH20, 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
Sandford questions we get asked
Can you get a digger into a normal rear garden here?
Usually, with a micro digger built to pass a standard side gate. Where even that will not fit, the dig is done by hand and barrowed out, which is slower but perfectly workable. We measure the gate before quoting so nobody is guessing.
Are large format slabs a bad idea with narrow access?
Not a bad idea, but a slower one. Big tiles are a two person carry and need room to turn. On tight access a smaller module or a mixed pattern gets the same look with far less handling, and we will say which we would choose.
Where does all the dug out material go?
Out through the gate by barrow to a skip or a grab lorry on the road, and away with us. It is priced by the load rather than by the square metre, and it should appear on your quote as its own line.
Do the neighbours need to be told before you start?
It is only polite where the fence line is close and skips are on the road, and we will knock ourselves. If any part of the dig runs near a shared boundary or a wall footing, that is something we raise at the survey rather than on the day.
How much longer does a hand dug patio take?
Reckon on a couple of extra days over a job a machine can reach, sometimes more where the spoil has a long way to travel. We sweep and clear the route through at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, so the house stays usable while it runs.
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Measure the gate, then price the patio
Thomas checks the access, digs a trial hole and puts the dig, the base, the paving and the drainage in writing. The visit and the quote are free.