Roofers and builders in Lilliput
Roofs and flat roofs, fascias and gutters, brickwork and retaining walls, render and plastering, insulation, driveways, patios and exterior cleaning in Lilliput, along Sandbanks Road and Lilliput Road from Whitecliff to Evening Hill and Salterns. BH14, on the edge of Poole Harbour.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Lilliput
Between the harbour and the hill
The wind and salt coming off Poole Harbour, and the way the ground falls towards it, shape most building work in Lilliput. Every trade is priced here, from the roof and the roofline down to the render, the retaining walls and the drive, and the written quote says how each part has been specified for a house this close to the water.
Roof and wall problems in Lilliput follow a pattern. A fascia that looks sound but has started to move because the fixings have rusted. A flat roof peeling back from its edges. A garden wall holding up the level above it that has begun to lean. Or render near Evening Hill that needs repairing, and a question about whether the colour can change.
If water is coming in now, ring 07435 839745, tell us which room and which side of the house faces the harbour. For anything else, Thomas comes out, looks at the building and the ground it sits on, and gives you an itemised price in writing.
Wind and salt
What the harbour does to a building
Most of Lilliput is within a few hundred metres of Poole Harbour, and wind that has crossed open water arrives with nothing to slow it. On the streets that rise from the shore it meets the roofs higher up the slope. That changes how things should be fixed, and it is the part of a quote you cannot see once the job is done.
Every house here is different, so we do not quote from a template. What stays the same is the list of things we check and write down:
- Tile fixings to the exposure. BS 5534 asks the roofer to work out the fixing for each tile from the site’s exposure, so a roof here can need a heavier fixing pattern at the eaves, verges and ridge than the same roof a mile inland. A new roof or a large repair should come with that specification, not just nailing like the old one.
- Flat roofs held down across the whole deck. Wind over a flat roof pulls upward, hardest at the corners and edges, which is why coverings near the water peel back from the perimeter first. We say how the covering and edge trim are fixed, with BS 6229 as the reference, and a roof terrace gets a finish made to be walked on.
- Stainless fixings on the roofline. Salt does not hurt uPVC boards, but it attacks the metal holding them up. Plated screws rust and mild steel brackets pit and stain the wall. We fix boards with stainless steel and use coastal-rated fittings on any metal gutter, worst elevation first.
- Render and pointing on the weather side. The elevation facing the harbour takes the driven rain. Cracks there let water in behind render, and open joints let it into the brick. We look at that side before the front.
Planning
Evening Hill is a conservation area
Part of Lilliput is inside a conservation area, and it is worth knowing before you change the look of a house. The Evening Hill conservation area covers the harbour side of Sandbanks Road around Evening Hill. The rest of Lilliput is outside it, but the boundary follows 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.
Inside Evening Hill, for an ordinary house that is not listed:
- Repair like for like. Mending render in the same finish and colour, re-covering a roof in matching tiles and repainting in the existing colour are maintenance, and you can get on with them.
- Changing the render is a planning question. Rendering over a brick front, or cladding in stone, timber or tiles, is not permitted development on conservation area land under Part 1 of the permitted development order. Taking render off, or switching to a different system in a different shade, changes the street too, so ask before you choose.
- Dormers and roof changes. Roof extensions come out of permitted development there. The Planning Portal guidance on roofs sets out the general rules, and inside the boundary a visible change of material is where the question starts.
- The trees count. Most tree work in a conservation area needs six weeks’ notice to the council. If a branch has to come back for a scaffold, we flag it at the first visit so the notice runs before the start date.
Landfall, on Crichel Mount Road, is listed at Grade II*, and any work affecting the character of a listed building needs listed building consent, inside or out.
The one local thing
A sloping garden is a structure
Lilliput is built on ground that falls towards the harbour, steeply in places around Evening Hill and the roads above the shore. Where a garden has been stepped into that slope, each wall holding up a level has soil and water pressing on it all year. It is a retaining wall, and rebuilt like a freestanding garden wall it ends up leaning again.
So if a wall has moved, the first questions are how high the ground behind it is, how the new wall will be drained, and whether it needs an engineer’s design before anyone prices it. Weep holes and free draining backfill stop water building up after rain. If the wall holds up a neighbour’s ground as well as yours, talk to them early, because the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply and they have a stake in how it is done.
The slope matters for access too. A house built into it can be two storeys at the front and three at the back, with the rear gutter high above steps or a terrace. A ladder on uneven ground at that height is what the work at height rules say to avoid, so we use a tower on levelled bases or reach from the ground, and the quote says which. A cheap price that assumes a ladder at the back is usually a price for the front only.
What we do in Lilliput
Each trade, specified for the water and the slope
Every trade has its own Lilliput page. These are the short versions, with what the harbour and the hill change for each one.
Roofs and flat roofs
Tile and slate repairs, ridges and verges on a dry fix system, leadwork and full re-roofs fixed to the exposure. Flat roofs, balconies and terraces re-covered with the edges held down properly.
Roofing in Lilliput Flat roofing in LilliputFascias, soffits and gutters
uPVC boards on stainless fixings, coastal-rated gutter fittings, and gutter clears on sloping plots done from a tower or the ground rather than a ladder on a slope.
Fascias and guttering Gutter cleaningBrickwork and repointing
Retaining walls built with drainage and, where needed, an engineer’s design. Front walls, piers and chimneys, and repointing on the weather side matched to the original joint.
Bricklaying in Lilliput Repointing in LilliputRender and plastering
Render repairs matched in finish and colour, which matters most around Evening Hill, and new systems with proper beads and mesh elsewhere. Inside, skimming and ceilings after a leak.
Rendering in Lilliput Plastering in LilliputDriveways and patios
Drives and terraces on sloping plots, where the levels and the drainage are designed before the surface is chosen. A new front drive over five square metres has to be permeable or drain to a border.
Driveways in Lilliput Patios in LilliputCleaning and insulation
Soft washing of render, roofs and paving, with the runoff kept out of the drains. Loft and wall insulation chosen for the wall in front of us, after a survey rather than before it.
Exterior cleaning Insulation in Lilliput Loft insulation Wall insulationHow a job runs
From the survey to the specification
Thomas visits, looks at the roof, the walls and the ground around the house, and checks the address against the Evening Hill boundary before any material is named. You get a written itemised quote with the fixings, the scaffold or tower and any engineer’s input shown as their own lines, so you can compare it properly.
If you live in a flat, the roof and outside walls usually belong to the freeholder, so the repair goes through whoever manages the building. We write the report and the quote so an agent can act on them, and bigger jobs will need the leaseholders consulted first.
Once work starts, one person is your contact. On a sloping plot we agree where materials and the skip can go before the day, because level ground is usually in short supply. 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 something turns up that nobody could see at the survey, you get a photograph and a price before we go further.
Reviews
What customers said
Roofing customers, quoted word for word from their Google reviews. One writes about turning up when promised, the other about the property being left clean and tidy at the end of every day.
…It's refreshing to deal with a company that's reliable, turns up when they say they will, and clearly takes pride in their work. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Bournemouth Roofing & Building to anyone looking for quality roofing work.
…The workmanship is outstanding, and they left the property clean and tidy every day, which I really appreciated. You can tell they genuinely take pride in their work…
Free quote
How do you get a free quote in Lilliput?
Send the form or ring 07435 839745. Thomas Hannen comes out to Lilliput, 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 Lilliput?
Most repairs in Lilliput 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 Lilliput |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Lilliput. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Evening Hill Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Lilliput. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Lilliput. |
Questions
Questions about building work in Lilliput
Is my house in the Evening Hill conservation area?
Only if it is in the area around Evening Hill on the harbour side of Sandbanks Road. Most of Lilliput is outside it. The boundary follows plots rather than whole roads, so check BCP Council's conservation area pages, or ask us to check before we quote.
Does being near the harbour change how a roof should be fixed?
Yes. BS 5534 asks for tile fixings worked out from the site's exposure, and a roof close to open water can need more fixings at the eaves, verges and ridge than one inland. Ask any roofer how they have allowed for it. We put our answer on the written quote.
Why are the screws on my fascias rusting?
Salt in the air attacks ordinary plated fixings and mild steel brackets, usually worst on the side facing the water. The boards can look fine while the fixings fail. We refix with stainless steel and use coastal-rated fittings on metal gutters.
My garden wall is leaning. Can you just rebuild it?
If it holds up the ground behind it, it is a retaining wall and needs drainage and the right thickness, and a taller one may need an engineer's design. Rebuilding it like a garden wall is how it ends up leaning again. We look at the height and the ground before we price.
How do you reach the gutters at the back of a house on a slope?
From a tower on levelled bases, or with a vacuum on a reach pole from the ground, depending on the height and the ground. Not from a ladder on steps or a sloping lawn. The quote says which we will use.
Lilliput is part of Poole, in BH14, and BCP Council handles planning and building control. Our Poole page covers the wider town, and Canford Cliffs and Parkstone are next door.
Trade by trade
Each trade, written for Lilliput
Every trade has its own Lilliput page, covering what the harbour wind, the salt, the slope and the Evening Hill conservation area change for that particular job.
- Roofing in Lilliput
- Flat roofing in Lilliput
- Fascias, soffits and guttering in Lilliput
- Gutter cleaning in Lilliput
- Bricklaying in Lilliput
- Repointing in Lilliput
- Rendering in Lilliput
- Plastering in Lilliput
- Driveways in Lilliput
- Patios in Lilliput
- Exterior cleaning in Lilliput
- Insulation in Lilliput
- Loft insulation in Lilliput
- Wall insulation in Lilliput
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Lilliput is about five miles west of our base in Boscombe. We cover all of it, along Sandbanks Road and Lilliput Road from Whitecliff to Evening Hill and Salterns, and on to Canford Cliffs and Penn Hill. 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 Lilliput job himself, so the person who quotes it is the person answerable for it. One company 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 Lilliput, 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 Lilliput property
Tell us the road, which side faces the harbour, and whether the garden is stepped. We will look at the roof, the roofline and the walls together and put an itemised price, fixings included, in writing.