General Building · Highworth · Swindon · Cotswolds
Structural alterations, load-bearing openings, small repairs and the awkward jobs other trades won't touch: handled in-house by the same family team.
40 years' experience · Family-run · Free site visits · Fully insured
Overview
"General building" is a phrase that can mean almost anything, so here's what it means for us. It means the jobs that need more than one trade: structural openings, chimney work, external repairs, part-project rescues, and it means the small jobs that don't fit anyone else's diary. Because we're a small team, we take those on.
Load-bearing wall removals with steel installation, chimney removal or rebuild, structural repair, rebuilding damaged elevations, brick and stone repairs, small rear alterations short of a full extension, garage conversions (shell and finish), rebuilding fire-damaged sections, insurance-work reinstatement, and the general small repairs that keep a property watertight and tidy.
Homeowners with a structural alteration too small to appeal to a big contractor but too involved for a handyman. Landlords needing a reliable local firm for repair and reinstatement work. People halfway through a project with a builder who's disappeared. Insurance claim clients who need a proper firm to reinstate work after damage.
You want to knock through into the kitchen. A chimney is failing and needs rebuilding or taking down. Storm damage has taken part of a wall or roof. A previous builder has left you with unfinished, non-compliant or dangerous work. Or you just need one trusted firm to look after the property over time.
General building is where jobs go wrong. Multiple trades, sequencing, structural implications, someone has to keep the whole picture in mind. On our jobs that person is Dale, and he's on the tools with you, not on the phone from a portacabin.
The cost of getting it wrong
Small building problems don't stay small.
A cracked lintel is a day's work today, or a rebuilt opening in two years' time.
Missing tiles, failed pointing and blocked gutters all put water into the fabric. By the time internal plaster is staining, the damage is already three months old.
Insurers pay for the fix but the client has to find someone to do it properly: and stall the claim if the work isn't right.
Someone else has to inspect, unpick, and finish. That inspection alone can eat what you thought you'd saved by going cheap.
Common mistake, Common mistake: taking the cheapest quote from a builder whose name you don't recognise. Local reputation matters: we live in Highworth; we can't afford a bad job in the village.
Our process
Same four steps regardless of size.
Ring, email or drop a message. We reply within one working day and book a free site visit if it's a job we can help with.
Dale walks the job, listens, and gives you a straight opinion: including telling you if it's not the right job for us.
Itemised written estimate within 3–5 working days. Small repairs may be quoted on the spot or by return.
We turn up when we say we will, work in staged payments, and don't leave the job until you're happy.
The benefits
Dale runs the job. You don't chase multiple trades or an absent project manager.
Bricklayers doing brickwork, plasterers doing plaster: not one 'general labourer' doing everything.
We take on small repairs and awkward jobs that bigger firms won't quote for.
£5m public liability and £10m employers' liability: paperwork available for insurers when they need it.
If a job is out of our lane (major heritage restoration, gas, electrics) we'll say so and point you the right way.
We're not going anywhere. If something needs looking at in 12 months, we're still five minutes down the road.
In detail
What we take on, and where the honest edges are.
Load-bearing wall removals with steel beams and pad-stones installed to a structural engineer's design. Chimney breast removals with appropriate support. Opening up walls between rooms. Reinstating structural elements damaged by movement or impact.
Rebuilding sections of failing brickwork, repointing failed mortar joints, replacing damaged copings, repairing chimney stacks above the roofline, patch repairs to render and stone, tie replacement on cavity walls that have moved.
Individual brick or stone replacement, garden wall repair after impact or collapse, replacement lintels, hearth and fireplace rebuilds, garage floor repair, external step and threshold rebuilds: the small useful jobs.
Picking up work left half-finished by another builder. Reinstating damage caused by storm, impact or fire. Insurance-claim work with paperwork the loss adjuster is happy with.
Gas work, electrical installation, soft landscaping (plants, borders), flat roofing, and large commercial or industrial contracts. We can recommend trusted trades for the ones we don't cover.
Recent works
Where we work
Not really. We take on individual brick repairs and small alterations that bigger firms won't quote for. Give Dale a ring and we'll be honest about whether we can help.
Yes, with a structural engineer's design for the steel beam and support. We'll help you appoint one if you don't already have one.
Yes. We're fully insured and can supply the paperwork insurers ask for.
For genuine emergencies (collapse, impact, exposed structure) we'll try to attend same or next day. Ring 07926 334368 rather than emailing for anything urgent.
Building control is between you and building control. We assist with the on-site inspection stages and provide what building control need at each visit.
No: bank transfer or cash only, in staged payments as the work progresses. No deposit taken.
Sometimes, it depends on what's already been done. Dale will come out, look at it honestly, and tell you whether it's rescuable or whether some parts need to come out and start again.
Yes, both are close by. We also cover Swindon, Highworth, Lechlade, Fairford, Cirencester, Witney and Burford.
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Read moreReady when you are
Free site visit at a time that suits. Written, itemised estimate in 3–5 working days. Staged payments, nothing due before we start.
