Services
Porcelain & Sandstone Patios£185/m² all‑in Block & Resin Driveways£140/m² all‑in Retaining Walls, Sleepers & Stepsfrom £210/lin.m Lawn Drainage & Soakawaysfrom £38/m² Oak Gazebos, Pergolas & Outdoor Kitchensfrom £3,200 Fencing, Gates & Turfingfrom £130/lin.m Complete Garden Makeovers£8k–£28kAreas We Cover
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Completed Projects & Invoices→ Book a Free Site Survey→A heavy oak frame or an aluminium roof is only as steady as the concrete under its posts. We dig each foundation below frost depth, build the frame or counter on top, and lay the cable duct so your electrician can finish the job.
We build all three on new or existing terraces. The photos below show the sort of patios we build them on; David brings frame samples and brochures to your survey.
FOR TERRACES LIKE THIS
A traditional frame in seasoned green oak, joined with oak pegs rather than screws. Oak moves and opens small surface cracks as it dries over its first summers. That is normal and does not weaken it. Roofed in cedar shingles, slate or clear polycarbonate.
FOR DINING AREAS LIKE THIS
Sometimes called a bioclimatic pergola. The roof is a row of powder-coated aluminium blades that you tilt open for sun or close for rain. Water runs into gutters hidden in the frame and down the posts, which we connect to a soakaway or drain.
FOR PATIOS LIKE THIS
A brick or blockwork counter on its own concrete slab, topped in porcelain to match your patio, with a recess for a built-in BBQ and an optional raised plinth and fire-safe hearth for a pizza oven. We lay the cable duct before the slab goes in.
In a Cheshire winter, frost can reach about 450mm into the ground. Wet clay that freezes swells and lifts anything sitting in it. So every post sits on a concrete pad at least 600mm deep, and deeper still on shrinkable clay near large trees, where the ground also shrinks in dry summers.
Pads: minimum 450×450×600mm in C20/ST2 concrete; increased to 900mm or more within the influence zone of trees on high-shrinkage clay. Where a pergola sits on an existing patio, we core through the slabs and cast the pad below rather than bolting onto paving.
Outdoor kitchen slab: 100mm reinforced concrete slab on 150mm compacted MOT Type 1, with the duct cast in. Counter in engineering brick or dense block, porcelain bonded with flexible exterior adhesive.
Cable: steel wire armoured (SWA) cable in twin-wall duct with a draw cord, warning tape 150mm above. Connection, testing and certification by a Part P registered electrician.
Final Invoice: £6,250
"Callum cored through our patio and put the pads underneath instead of just bolting onto the slabs, which another firm had suggested. Two gales later, it has not moved a millimetre." — Rajesh & Anita Mistry, Wilmslow (SK9)
Final Invoice: £11,300
"We wanted to cook outside even when it drizzles, which in Cheadle Hulme is most of the summer. The louvres close, the rain disappears down the posts, and the duct was ready for our electrician on day five." — Elaine Rothwell, Cheadle Hulme (SK8)
Hulme Hall Road kitchen: £3,900 for a 3m counter (our 2.4m base starts at £3,200) including the pizza-oven plinth and duct. The pizza oven itself was supplied by the customer.
