Groundworks & foundations
Get the ground right, and everything after it is easy.
Footings, drainage, slabs and site clearance across the Forest of Dean. The same team digs the trench and lays the blockwork off it, so there is no gap between two gangs and no argument about whose level was wrong.
What we dig
The part of the job nobody sees, and everything depends on
Groundworks is the stage where a job is quietly won or lost. Footings dug to the wrong depth, drainage laid to the wrong fall, a sub-base that was never properly compacted: none of it shows on handover day, and all of it shows two winters later.
We have been digging in Forest of Dean ground for over 15 years, which around here means clay, rock, old spoil and the occasional surprise from a colliery. We dig it, we take the spoil away, and we get it signed off by Building Control before a drop of concrete goes in.
Steep plots around Lydbrook and lower-lying ground near Newnham each bring their own problems, and we’ve dug footings on both.
- Footings & foundations
- Drainage & soakaways
- Site clearance & muck away
- Concrete slabs & oversite
- Driveway sub-bases
- Service trenches & ducting
What’s included
Dig to slab, handled properly
Whether it’s the first stage of a job we’re building or a groundworks-only package for someone else to build off.
Site survey & set out
Levels taken, the building set out square to your drawings, and existing services traced before anything gets dug.
Site clearance & excavation
Vegetation, slabs, old bases and topsoil stripped out. Trenches dug to the depth the ground and the engineer call for.
Muck away
Spoil loaded and carted off to a licensed tip, priced in the quote. Or levelled on site if there’s room, which is usually cheaper.
Concrete & footings
Trench fill or strip footings poured to spec, then blockwork up to damp course, level and ready to build off.
Drainage & soakaways
Foul and surface water runs laid to correct falls, inspection chambers set flush and true, connections made and tested.
Building Control sign-off
We book the trench and drainage inspections and meet the inspector on site, so each stage is signed off before it’s covered up.
How it works
From first dig to ready-to-build
Five stages, each one signed off before the next starts.
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1
Site visit
We walk the site, check access for machinery and give you an honest, itemised quote.
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2
Set out & strip
Levels taken, the footprint set out square, topsoil and obstructions cleared.
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3
Dig & inspect
Trenches dug to depth, then Building Control inspect before any concrete is poured.
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4
Pour & drain
Footings poured, blockwork up to DPC, drainage runs laid and tested.
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5
Slab & handover
Oversite and slab finished, site left tidy and ready for the build to start.
One team
The lads who dig it are the lads who build it
On most jobs the groundworks gang finishes, leaves, and then you wait for the bricklayers to become free. That gap is where extensions lose weeks, and where the blame goes round in circles if a level turns out wrong.
We do both. The same team digs the trench, pours the footings and lays the blockwork off it, so the setting-out is ours to get right and there’s nobody to hand off to. We also take on operated digger work on its own, machine and driver, for other trades, landscapers and homeowners.
See how digger hire worksRecent groundworks
A closer look
★★★★★
“Professional and experienced in their craft.”
Common questions
Groundworks, answered
Yes. We take on groundworks packages for other builders, developers and homeowners: dig, footings, drainage and slab, then hand the site over ready for someone else to build off. We’re just as happy doing the groundworks and the build.
It depends entirely on the ground, and it isn’t something to guess at. Typical domestic footings start around 900mm, but clay, made-up ground, high water tables and nearby trees all push that deeper. Building Control inspect the trench before any concrete is poured, and we dig to whatever the inspector and your structural details call for.
Yes. Muck away is priced into the quote so there’s no surprise bill at the end. If there’s somewhere on site to level the spoil out instead, that usually works out cheaper and we’ll tell you.
Usually. A mini digger fits through a standard side gate of around a metre, so most rear gardens are reachable without taking a fence down. If access is genuinely too tight we’ll say so at the quote stage, rather than turning up and finding out.
Cinderford, Coleford, Lydbrook, Bream, Mitcheldean, Newnham and across the wider Forest of Dean and Gloucestershire. If you’re nearby and not sure, just ask.
Groundworks is rarely the whole job
It’s usually the first stage of an extension, sometimes just the machine and driver working on their own, and often what a garden needs before a patio goes in.
Ready to break ground?
Let’s talk about your groundworks
Send us the drawings, or just tell us what you’re planning. We’ll come out, look at access and give you a free, itemised quote.