Foundations & Footings
Set out, dug and poured to the engineer's drawings, inspected by building control before anything is covered, and ready to build off on the date we gave you. Free site visit, no deposit normally required.
20 years
Hands-on construction experience
£5m
Public liability cover
£10m
Employers' liability cover
15–25
People on the books
CPCS & SMSTS
Certificated plant & site management
Service Overview
Foundations transfer the whole weight of a building into ground that can carry it. That means the right type of foundation, at the right depth, on suitable bearing, with the reinforcement the engineer specified and the cover to protect it. Get all four right and nobody thinks about the foundations again. Get one wrong and it surfaces as cracking, movement, a failed inspection or a broken-out pour.
We set out from the drawings, excavate to the specified depth and width, prepare the bearing, fix and tie the steel, and pour. Building control is booked and attended by us, and the trench stays open until it has been inspected. On sloping Cornish plots we step foundations properly rather than fudging levels, and where the ground turns out different from the site investigation we stop and get the engineer to look before concrete goes in.
Because we also do the drainage, ducting and slabs, service runs and thresholds are thought about while the trench is still open, not chased through finished concrete later.
Why It Matters
Building control can refuse a foundation for depth, width, bearing, reinforcement or cover. Once concrete is in, putting it right means breaking out, carting away and repouring while bricklayers, frame deliveries and scaffold all wait.
Part of a building founded on good bearing and part on made ground, soft spots or backfill will move at different rates. The result shows up as diagonal cracking at openings, doors that stick and, in bad cases, structural repair work.
Shrinkable ground near trees swells and shrinks with the seasons. Foundations taken to the wrong depth, or without the engineer's allowance for heave, move with it, and remedial work on a finished house costs many times the original footing.
Steel pushed into wet concrete, laid on the trench bottom, or without proper cover corrodes and cannot carry the loads it was designed for. It looks identical to correct work on the day and fails years later.
A base out of square or out of level is inherited by every trade above it. Frames do not sit, brick courses do not work out, and the tolerance has to be absorbed somewhere expensive.
Our Process
Every job follows the same order, so you always know what has happened and what comes next.
Step 1
We read the structural drawings, walk the site, check access and existing levels, and look for the things that change a foundation: trees, slopes, old structures, springs and made ground. Free visit, free quote.
Step 2
Written scope covering setting out, excavation, bearing preparation, reinforcement, concrete and inspections: fixed price, cost-plus or labour-only. Stage payments, no deposit normally required.
Step 3
Profiles and pegs set from the drawings, diagonals checked for square, and datum levels established so depth is measured from a fixed reference rather than the ground surface.
Step 4
Trenches dug to specified depth and width, bottoms cleaned and trimmed, water dealt with, and the bearing assessed. If it does not match the design assumption, work stops and the engineer reviews it before we go further.
Step 5
We book the visit and attend it with the drawings on site. The excavation stays open until it has been passed, the inspection happens before the pour, not after.
Step 6
Steel fixed, tied and set on spacers to maintain cover, concrete placed, compacted and levelled, then protected while it cures. Levels and dimensions are checked and recorded before the next stage.
Step 7
Substructure blockwork, drainage penetrations, membranes and slab follow on with the same team, so the base you build off is square, level and ready when the frame or bricklayers arrive.
What You Get
Depth, width, bearing, steel and cover match the drawings, and building control sees the trench open with the details to hand.
Set out from datum with diagonals checked, so frames, kits and brickwork sit as designed instead of absorbing errors.
Bearing is checked before the pour and drainage and service positions are formed while the trench is open, not cut in afterwards.
Strip, trench fill, stepped, reinforced or pad, chosen with the engineer for your plot rather than whatever was used last time.
The ground stage is the usual reason a frame delivery slips. Our own plant and operators keep the dig moving through awkward ground and poor weather.
£5m public liability, £10m employers' liability and Contractors' All Risks cover, with CPCS plant operation and SMSTS site management behind the job.
Fixed price for a defined design, cost-plus where the ground is genuinely unknown, labour-only if you are supplying the concrete and steel.
Footings, substructure, drainage and floor slab under one point of contact, so nothing falls between two trades.
In Detail
The traditional solution: a mass concrete strip under load-bearing walls, typically with substructure blockwork built up off it to damp proof course level. Width and thickness follow the engineer's design and the load, and the strip is centred under the wall so the load is not eccentric. Strip footings suit consistent, good bearing ground and are economical on concrete, but they need more blockwork below ground than trench fill.
The trench is excavated to depth and filled with concrete to within a few courses of ground level. It uses more concrete but far less below-ground blockwork and gets you out of the ground faster, which is why it is common on deeper digs and on sites where the trench sides will not stand for long. It also reduces the amount of time an open excavation sits on site, which matters in wet Cornish weather.
Where loads concentrate or bearing varies, reinforcement does the work. We fix and tie cages and mats to the engineer's schedule, on spacers that hold the specified cover, with correct laps and starter bars for the structure above. Ground beams span between better bearing points; pad foundations carry columns, steel frames, portal frames and agricultural buildings. Reinforcement is inspected in place before concrete is called off.
A lot of Cornish plots fall across the footprint. Rather than dig the whole building to the deepest level, foundations are stepped in controlled increments with the overlap the design requires at each step. Wide strip footings spread load where bearing pressure needs reducing. Both need accurate levels and a plan agreed with the engineer before excavation, because steps in the wrong place mean blockwork that cannot course out.
Where spreading load suits the ground better than trenches, a raft or thickened-edge slab carries the structure. The build-up is compacted sub-base, blinding, damp proof membrane, insulation and reinforced slab, poured in one operation where possible to avoid cold joints. Rafts are also used on fill and variable ground where the engineer wants the building to move as one unit rather than in parts.
Shillet and granite are broken out to reach the specified depth. Springs and high water tables are dewatered so concrete is never poured into standing water. Near trees, the engineer's guidance on depth, heave precautions and compressible material is followed rather than estimated. Made ground from previous buildings: old footings, slabs, backfilled cellars - is dug out or designed around, because it does not carry load reliably. Everything found in the ground that differs from the assumption is reported and reviewed before the pour.
Extension footings are usually about working next to something that already exists: matching or founding below existing footings, protecting the house, hand-digging near services, and keeping a family living there through it. New build plots allow machine work throughout and are driven by frame or kit dates. Commercial and agricultural work brings pads, portal frames and heavier point loads, plus more documentation for inspections. We work across all of them from our base at Horningtops, across Cornwall and Devon as far as Exeter.
On Site
Photographs taken on our own sites across Cornwall and Devon.
FAQs
If your question isn't here, ring Calum and ask, a straight answer costs nothing.
It comes down to depth, ground conditions, access and the engineer's design, a straightforward trench fill footing on good ground is very different from a stepped, reinforced foundation next to trees. We look at the site and the drawings, then quote as a fixed price, cost-plus, or labour-only if you are supplying materials. Site visits and quotes are free.
Depth is set by the structural engineer and building control based on the ground, the loads and factors like nearby trees, not by a standard figure. We dig to the specified depth measured from a fixed datum, and if the bearing we expose is not what the design assumed, we stop and have it reviewed before pouring.
For a typical extension, setting out through to a poured footing is usually a few days plus the building control visit and curing time. A full house plot is normally one to three weeks depending on size, depth and whether rock or water is involved. We give you a realistic programme at quote stage.
Yes. On notifiable work we book and attend the inspections, keep the drawings and engineer's details on site, and leave the excavation open until it has been passed. We can also submit the planning application on your behalf.
That is the engineer's call and it depends on ground conditions, loads and the site. In practice we build strip, trench fill, stepped, wide strip, reinforced footings, ground beams, pads and ground bearing slabs. We build to the design supplied, and we will tell you if what we find in the ground means it needs revisiting.
Yes; we work directly with architects, designers and structural engineers, and coordinate the engineer's details on site. If you do not have drawings yet, we can talk you through what will be needed before anyone digs.
Old footings, made ground, springs and rock all turn up in Cornwall. We report what we have found, get the engineer to review it where it affects the design, and agree the change with you before carrying out extra work. On a cost-plus basis you see the actual cost; on a fixed price we agree the variation first.
Fully insured, £5 million public liability, £10 million employers' liability, products liability and Contractors' All Risks cover for the works and plant. Calum holds CPCS for plant operation and SMSTS for site management safety, with 20 years' hands-on experience.
Yes. We take the ground stage right through: footings, substructure blockwork, drainage and ducting, membranes, insulation and the finished slab - so the base handed to the next trade is complete, square and level.
All of Cornwall and Devon as far as Exeter, from our yard at Horningtops just outside Liskeard. Liskeard, Callington, Menheniot, Saltash, Looe, Bodmin, Launceston, Torpoint, Fowey, St Austell and Tavistock are regular working areas.
Related Work
Most jobs cross more than one trade. Taking them together keeps the programme and the price tighter.
Calum will come out, look at the site and give you a straight price: fixed, cost-plus or labour-only, whichever suits the job. No deposit normally required, and stage payments as work is completed.
Send us the details and Calum will come out, look at the ground and give you a straight, free quote: fixed price, cost-plus or labour-only, whichever suits the job.
