Roofers and builders in Branksome
Roofs, flat roofs, gutters, brickwork, render and plastering, insulation, driveways, patios and exterior cleaning across Branksome, from County Gates and the Brunstead Road streets along Poole Road to the station and up towards Alder Road. BH12, priced in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Branksome
Edwardian houses, 1960s blocks and a main road through the middle
Branksome is a mixed suburb, and the job usually depends on which part of it you live in. Older brick and tile houses near County Gates, semis and bungalows on the side streets, and blocks of flats along and behind Poole Road. Every trade is quoted on all three, and the free written quote tells you what needs doing now and what can wait.
Roof trouble in Branksome usually shows before anyone goes up a ladder. A slipped clay tile on the front slope of an Edwardian house. A brown ring on a top-floor ceiling in a block. A gutter over the pavement on Poole Road dripping onto people walking underneath. Or a rented house where the landlord has asked for a price on the whole outside before the next tenant moves in.
If water is already coming in, ring 07435 839745, tell us which room it is in and whether there is a flat above you. Otherwise Thomas comes out, looks at the roof, the walls and the ground around them, and puts a written, itemised price in front of you.
The housing
Edwardian houses, semis and blocks, and a different job for each
Branksome does not have one typical house. A good share of it was built before the First World War, a lot more between the wars and in the decades after, and there are more flats here than in most of Poole, many in blocks from the 1960s and 70s and others in older houses divided up.
That spread is the reason we ask for the address before anything else. The same symptom, a damp stain on a bedroom ceiling, points at different causes depending on which of these you live in.
- The older houses near County Gates. Clay plain tiles hung on nibs, tile hanging on the gables, brick laid in soft lime mortar and suspended timber ground floors. These wear slowly and fail at the fixings: rusted nails, snapped nibs, flashings that have lifted at the chimney. They want repair in matching materials far more often than they want replacing.
- The inter-war and post-war semis and bungalows. Mostly concrete interlocking tile, with a chimney on the party wall, a flat roof over a garage or back extension, and a front drive that was laid decades ago. The weak points are ridges and verges letting go, a tired felt roof, and a drive that has sunk in the wheel tracks.
- The blocks and converted houses. One roof for many owners. The roof, the outside walls and the gutters normally belong to the freeholder, so the managing agent instructs the work, and a big job means consulting the leaseholders under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 first. We write the quote so it can go straight into that process.
Plenty of homes in Branksome are rented. If you rent on a tenancy of under seven years, keeping the outside of the building in repair is normally the landlord’s job under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, gutters and drains included. Report a problem in writing with a photograph, and we are happy to quote the landlord or the agent directly.
Planning
One small conservation area, at the County Gates end
The streets around Brunstead Road are a conservation area, and the rest of Branksome is outside it. The Brunstead Road conservation area sits at the eastern end of the suburb, towards County Gates and the old boundary between Poole and Bournemouth.
It was designated for its late Edwardian Arts and Crafts houses: clay tiled roofs, tile hanging, roughcast and a lot of painted timber. The edge of the much larger Meyrick Park and Talbot Woods conservation area touches the suburb too, but it belongs to Bournemouth rather than to Branksome. BCP Council publishes the boundaries and the appraisals, and we check the address, not the street name, because a boundary can run down the middle of a road.
Inside Brunstead Road, what that changes for an ordinary house:
- Keep the roof clay. Replacing clay tiles with matching clay tiles is maintenance. Swapping them for concrete interlocking tile, or for a flat machine-made clay that will never weather to match, changes the look of the street. The Planning Portal guidance on roofs explains where the permitted development line falls, and inside the boundary that is a question for the council before the order goes in.
- Rendering over brick needs permission. Cladding a house in render, pebbledash, stone, timber or tiles is not permitted development on conservation area land under Part 1 of the permitted development order. Repairing roughcast that is already there, in the same finish, is fine.
- Extensions start with drawings. A side extension, or a rear extension of more than one storey, needs planning permission here. When one goes ahead, the brick is matched in colour, size and bond, and the tile hanging carries on above it, so it reads as part of the house.
- Clean gently. Roughcast loses its stones and old clay tiles lose their surface under a jet. On these houses we soft wash and test a patch first, because a clean that damages the finish leaves you with a repair that has to match.
The one local thing
Working on Poole Road
Poole Road, the A35, runs straight through Branksome, and a lot of the property along it sits right on the pavement: shops with flats above, houses with the gutter over the footway, and blocks set close to the kerb. That changes how almost every outside job is set up.
A ladder against a shopfront on a busy road is not a safe way to replace a gutter or a fascia, so the work is done from a scaffold or a tower, and anything standing on the pavement needs a licence from BCP Council under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, with the footway kept open. Allow for that in the start date, and check any quote says who applies for the licence. Ours lists the licence, the scaffold and the barriers as separate lines.
Driveways are the other thing. A new vehicle access onto a classified road like the A35 needs planning permission as well as the dropped kerb, and the council looks hard at sight lines and bus stops. So before anyone designs a drive on Poole Road, we check with the council that a crossing is possible at all. On the side streets it is usually just the dropped kerb application. Either way, the front wall stays up until the crossing is approved.
What we do in Branksome
Every trade, matched to the house in front of us
Each trade has its own Branksome page. These are the short versions, with what matters most on an Edwardian house, a semi or a block.
Roofs and flat roofs
Clay plain tile repairs with matched reclaimed tiles on the older houses, dry fix ridges and verges on the concrete tiled semis, and full re-roofs on new membrane and battens. On the blocks, the flat roofs, parapet copings and outlets, where most of the leaks actually start.
Roofing in Branksome Flat roofing in BranksomeFascias, soffits and gutters
Rotten timber boards replaced in uPVC, gutters re-hung to a proper fall, and clearing by hand with a note left for the landlord or agent. On Poole Road, done from a tower or scaffold under licence.
Fascias and guttering Gutter cleaningBrickwork and repointing
Front walls, piers, chimneys and extensions. On the older brick we check whether the mortar is lime before raking anything out, and repoint to match the joint profile the house was built with.
Bricklaying in Branksome Repointing in BranksomeRender and plastering
Roughcast repairs matched to the original on the Arts and Crafts houses, re-rendering on the later ones, and inside, skimming, patching and ceilings brought down by a leak from above.
Rendering in Branksome Plastering in BranksomeDriveways and patios
Block paving, resin bound, tarmac and porcelain. A drive onto a main road starts with the council, and a new front drive over five square metres has to be permeable or drain to a border.
Driveways in Branksome Patios in BranksomeCleaning and insulation
Soft washing of roofs, render and paving. Loft top-ups, and on the older houses a look under the floor, because cold air moving through the void under suspended timber boards is often what makes a front room feel chilly. The air bricks always stay open.
Exterior cleaning Insulation in Branksome Loft insulation Wall insulationHow a job runs
From the first call to the last barrow of waste
Thomas comes out and looks at the whole problem, not just the part you rang about. On a house near County Gates that means checking the boundary before any material is named. On a block it means finding out who manages it, because the quote needs to go to them. You get a written itemised price with the scaffold, any licence and the waste as their own lines.
If you rent, send us the landlord’s or agent’s details and we will quote them directly, with photographs, so nobody has to pass a description along. If you are a leaseholder, we can write the report so the agent can separate the repair that has to happen now from the bigger job that has to wait for consultation.
Once work starts, one person is your contact. A roof is only opened as far as it can be closed again the same day, the site is swept each evening and the waste leaves with us. If we find something nobody could have seen, rotten timber under the tiles or a wall tie gone, we stop, photograph it and price it before doing any more.
Reviews
What customers said
A roofing customer and a patio customer, quoted word for word from Google. The roofing review talks about being kept informed and a site left clean; the patio review is about how the finished paving looks.
Brilliant service from start to finish. The team were professional, friendly and kept me informed throughout the whole job. The workmanship was excellent, everything was completed to a high standard, and they left the site clean and tidy afterwards. ……
Really happy with our new patio from Bournemouth Roofing & Building. It looks beautiful and we couldn't be more pleased with how it's turned out. ……
Free quote
How do you get a free quote in Branksome?
Send the form or ring 07435 839745. Thomas Hannen comes out to Branksome, looks at the job and puts an itemised price in writing, and neither the visit nor the written quote costs anything.
Our base is at 80a Wolverton Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth BH7 6HX. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Branksome?
Most repairs in Branksome need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Branksome |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Branksome. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Brunstead Road Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Branksome. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Branksome. |
Questions
Questions about building work in Branksome
Is my house in the Brunstead Road conservation area?
Only if it is in the small group of streets around Brunstead Road at the County Gates end of Branksome. Most of the suburb is outside it. The boundary follows particular plots rather than whole roads, so check your address on BCP Council's conservation area pages, or ask us and we will check it before we quote.
Can you match the clay tiles on an Edwardian roof?
Usually, yes. We keep every sound tile, make up the shortfall with reclaimed or new clay tiles of the same size and colour, and put the new ones on the slopes that show least. We name the tile on the quote rather than just writing clay.
I rent my flat and the gutter overflows. Who should I call?
Your landlord or the managing agent, in writing, with a photograph. On a tenancy of under seven years the outside of the building is normally the landlord's to repair. We are happy to quote them directly.
Can I put a drive in on Poole Road?
Sometimes. Poole Road is the A35, and a new access onto a classified road needs planning permission as well as the dropped kerb. We check with the council that a crossing is possible before anything is designed, and we do not take the front wall down until it is approved.
Why do you need a licence to work on my gutter?
If the scaffold or tower has to stand on the pavement, the council has to license it, and the footway has to stay open. It is common on Poole Road, where the gutters sit over the pavement. We arrange it and show it as its own line on the quote.
Branksome is part of Poole, in BH12, and BCP Council handles planning and building control. Our Poole page covers the rest of the town, and Parkstone and Westbourne are next door on either side.
Trade by trade
Each trade, written for Branksome
Every trade has its own page for Branksome, covering the older houses, the semis and the blocks, and what Poole Road and the conservation area change for that job.
- Roofing in Branksome
- Flat roofing in Branksome
- Fascias, soffits and guttering in Branksome
- Gutter cleaning in Branksome
- Bricklaying in Branksome
- Repointing in Branksome
- Rendering in Branksome
- Plastering in Branksome
- Driveways in Branksome
- Patios in Branksome
- Exterior cleaning in Branksome
- Insulation in Branksome
- Loft insulation in Branksome
- Wall insulation in Branksome
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Branksome is about three and a half miles west of our base in Boscombe. We cover all of it, from County Gates and the Brunstead Road streets along Poole Road past the station, up to Alder Road and the Bourne Valley, and next door into Parkstone and Westbourne. BCP Council handles planning and building control.
You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. That takes a minute to check. Thomas Hannen owns the firm and he prices every Branksome job himself, so the person who quotes it is the person answerable for it. One written itemised quote covers every trade on the job.
There is a verified customer's 10 out of 10 on our Checkatrade profile. The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent in Branksome, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Free quote
Get a price for your Branksome property
Tell us the road, whether it is a house or a flat, and who owns or manages it if you rent. We will look at the roof, the gutters and the walls together and put an itemised price in writing.