Patios in Sandleheath, priced after the trial hole

Opening a hole first. On a plot with a century behind it the ground is a record of everything that has stood on it. We dig a trial hole where the terrace is going, and if it turns up an old slab or a footing we say so before the price is written.

Old concrete and buried footings. Sometimes an old slab can serve as the base if it is sound, thick enough and at the right level. More often it is thin, cracked and laid straight on soil, so it comes out. Buried brick footings get broken out or the sub base cannot be built to an even depth.

The dig and the muck away. Turf, topsoil, rubble, ash, roots and made ground get excavated back to a firm formation. Old brick and concrete are heavy, so the spoil load is bigger than a plain soil dig. It leaves in a grab lorry or a skip.

The sub base. MOT type 1 in compacted layers, with a geotextile between subgrade and stone where the ground is soft or mixed. Where old fill has come out, the replacement stone goes back in lifts so it is as good as the ground beside it.

Full bed, never dabs. Every slab on a full wet mortar bed with a slurry primer on the back of porcelain. Not five dabs and not a sand screed. Over ground that has been disturbed and rebuilt, full support under each flag is what keeps the surface honest.

Sandstone, limestone and granite. Riven sandstone in a mixed size suits the older brick houses here. Limestone and travertine give a flatter, paler surface. Granite is dense and the best choice for a step tread. None is calibrated, so each piece is bedded to its own thickness.

Porcelain. Calibrated to a single thickness, almost no absorption and available in slip rated finishes. On a shaded terrace behind a tall hedge it stays clean and grippy where a porous stone would go green within a season.

Falls, levels and drainage. A fall away from the house, a finished level at least two courses below the damp proof course, and somewhere for the runoff to go. Usually an ACO channel to a gully, or a permeable build up over a stone reservoir feeding a soakaway.

Edges, steps and retaining. Haunched edging or a kerb to hold the outer course, a retaining edge with a coping where a bank or a border sits above the paving, and steps on a full bed with an overhang so water drips clear of the riser.

Jointing and repairs. A resin grout brushed into damp joints, or hand pointing in mortar where the work meets old brick. We also lift and relay sunk and rocking flags, cut out cracked ones, repoint washed out joints, and deal with staining, efflorescence and a slippery green surface.

No rate per square metre, because the slabs are the part you choose and the smallest part of the price.

Getting to it. A Victorian cottage on the lane with a barrow width path, a post war semi with a side gate and a modern detached house with a drive to the back 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.

A fifth of the housing here dates from before the first war and the single biggest slice of the stock is pre 1900. That is a long time for a plot to accumulate things, and gardens behind houses of that age are rarely simple ground.

What we turn up is fairly predictable. A brick or cobbled yard under six inches of soil. The footings of an outhouse or a wash house demolished decades ago. A concrete slab from a shed. Ash and clinker spread as hardcore. Sometimes a filled soakaway or an old drain run nobody has a record of.

None of that stops a patio. It changes two numbers: how deep the dig goes and how much spoil leaves, and old brick and concrete weigh far more than soil. So we dig the trial hole before the quote is written and put the excavation and the muck away on their own lines. It is also why we would rather find an old drain with a spade than a breaker.

We cover the village, Alderholt, Damerham and the lanes towards the river, broadly SP6, under New Forest District 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.