Foundations · 7 photographs
Structure and groundworks
Excavations into London clay, steels over new openings, compacted sub-bases and corners rising in block and brick — the work that decides whether everything above it lasts.
Down to the clay
Deep excavation pit showing London clay and existing footingsThe story
This page is the opposite of a brochure. Excavations, wacker plates, steel over footings — the photographs nobody frames, of the work everything else stands on. We publish them because the difference between a builder and a liability is entirely in this layer, and you can only judge it if someone shows you.
Into the ground
London clay moves with the seasons, so foundations go below the movement — and deeper again where trees are drinking. The pit in these photographs shows what that actually looks like: clean-cut clay, existing footings exposed, everything inspected open before concrete.
Sub-bases are compacted in layers, not dumped and hoped. The wacker plate is not glamorous; neither is a cracked floor slab.
Steel, block and brick
Where a new opening carries the house, a steel carries the opening — sized by the engineer, set on padstones, inspected before casing. Corners rise in blockwork with facing brick outside, tied across the cavity, level to a line.
New openings in an existing elevation get the same discipline: the yellow-stock wall here took its new windows without a crack telegraphing anywhere, which is the whole test.
How every job of ours runs
It starts with a survey, not a phone estimate — then a fixed, itemised written scope before any deposit is discussed. Skips, scaffolding, licences, making good and waste removal are named in it rather than discovered later.
On site you get a named project manager and online progress tracking with photographs like the ones above. You pay in arrears of work completed, and where the work is notifiable, building control inspects at stages and issues the completion certificate — the paperwork a buyer's solicitor asks for years later.
- Service
- Foundations
- Photographs
- 7
- Payment
- In arrears
Answers
Common questions about work like this
Do I need planning permission for foundations in London?
It depends on the property type and what is proposed. Many single-storey rear extensions and loft conversions fall under permitted development, but those rights do not apply to flats and are restricted in conservation areas or where an Article 4 direction applies. We check the planning position for your specific address before quoting, and tell you in writing which route applies.
How do you price the work?
From a site survey, written up as a fixed and itemised scope before any deposit is discussed. If something genuinely unforeseen appears once work is opened up, it is priced and agreed in writing before we continue — never added to the final invoice after the fact.
When do I pay?
In arrears of work completed. You pay for work that has been done and inspected, not for work that has been promised. This has been how the company operates since 2008.
Do you handle Party Wall notices?
Yes, where the work requires them. Under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, notifiable work on a shared wall needs 2 months written notice to the adjoining owner, while excavation near a neighbouring structure and building at the line of junction need 1 month. We serve the notices and manage the award process as part of the job.
Will I get certificates at the end?
Yes. Electrical work is tested and certificated under Part P, and building control issues a completion certificate where an application was required. You receive the handover pack — it is what a buyer's solicitor will ask for when you eventually sell.
How long will it take?
It depends entirely on scope, and we give a programme with the written quote rather than a guess on the phone. What we will not do is start a job we cannot resource, which is the usual reason a build stalls halfway through.
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Every job we run is documented stage by stage — it is how our project tracking works. Send us a photo of your space to start.