Garden rebuilds
A whole garden taken back to soil and rebuilt, with new levels, paving, steps, planting and lighting. For a layout that fights the house.
Access solutions
Landscaping and External Works in London
The finishing work around a building or a garden, from levels and retaining structures to turf, planting, fencing and the drainage that has to work underneath it all.
Landscaping That Starts With the Levels
External works is everything that happens once the building or the access system is done. Levels, retaining, paths, steps, drainage, fencing, planting and making good where the machines have been. On a development it is the package signed off last. On a garden it is the part you look at every day.
The most expensive mistake in a garden rebuild is a level that sends water at a building. Ground has to fall away from a wall, and finished surfaces have to sit well below the damp proof course, normally by around 150mm. Raise a patio to meet a back door without thinking it through and you have built a channel into the brickwork.
Retaining structures fail for one reason more than any other, which is water with nowhere to go. Soil behind a wall holds it, and saturated soil weighs far more than dry soil. Anything holding back ground needs free draining material behind it, a land drain at the base and weep holes through the face. A sleeper wall built straight against wet clay is on a countdown.
Sequencing matters more than most people expect. Turf laid before the heavy plant has finished gets churned back into mud, and topsoil compacted under a tracked machine stops being topsoil. We plan the order so the soft work lands last, and where a site has to stay in use we protect the routes.
Because the digging and the drainage are ours, the ground is prepared by the people who understand what is going on top of it. Ducting for external lighting goes in before the paths do. Drainage is set out before the beds are formed. Nobody is lifting a finished surface a fortnight later because a cable was forgotten.
What that includes
- Levels, terracing and cut and fill
- Retaining walls and timber sleeper walls
- Topsoil, ground preparation, turf and planting beds
- Fencing, gates and boundary treatments
- Steps, ramps and level access routes
- Land drainage, soakaways and channel drains
- Ducting for external lighting and power
- Bin stores, cycle stores and making good
Types of Landscaping Work
External works packages
The finishing package on a commercial or residential development, covering car park edges, footpaths, boundary fencing, bin and cycle stores and the soft landscaping. Priced and programmed as one package, not five trades.
Levels and retaining
Sloping ground turned into usable terraces, held with retaining or sleeper walls and drained behind. For a garden is unusable on a slope, or ground is pushing against a boundary.
On site
How a Landscaping Job Runs
The same five stages every time, with the programme written down before anybody starts digging.
Book a site visit- Stage one
Site visit and survey
We come out and look at the ground, the power, the drainage, the traffic and the risk, and take measurements on site instead of guessing from a photograph.
- Stage two
Design and written quote
A drawing and an itemised quotation naming the exact equipment, so you can compare it like for like with anyone else you have asked.
- Stage three
Civils and groundworks
Excavation, drainage, ducting and foundations, carried out by our own team to the programme we agreed.
- Stage four
Installation and commissioning
Fit, wire, set the force limits, prove the safety devices and test the whole system before anybody signs it off.
- Stage five
Handover and aftercare
The paperwork, and a walkthrough for whoever uses it every day.
Common questions
Questions About Landscaping
Do I need planning permission for a retaining wall
It depends on the height, the position and what sits around it. A low wall inside a garden is usually permitted development, while anything tall, on a boundary, next to a highway or inside a conservation area may not be. We will flag when a job needs checking with the council, and we would far rather raise it before we build than after.
Why does the patio have to sit below the back door
Because water follows the ground. Finished levels are normally kept around 150mm below the damp proof course so rain runs away from the wall instead of soaking into it. Where a flush, step free threshold is wanted, that is done with a channel drain across the doorway and a fall away from the house, not by raising the paving.
Can you work while the building work is still going on
Yes, though the order matters. Soft landscaping laid while heavy plant is still moving gets destroyed, and compacted topsoil never really recovers. We would normally do the levels, drainage and ducting early, then return for surfaces and planting once the machines have gone. If the programme forces an overlap, we protect the routes and say so up front.
Will you take the spoil away
Yes. Changing levels almost always leaves surplus material, and a garden rebuild generates more than people expect. Where subsoil can be reused to build up a low area we will use it on site, which saves lorry movements and cost. Anything that cannot be reused is taken away.
How soon can we walk on new turf
New turf needs watering and time to root before it takes traffic, and that depends on the season and the weather far more than on anything we do. Autumn and spring laying establishes fastest. Turf laid in a dry summer needs serious watering to survive at all. We will tell you what yours needs and when it is ready.
Related Services
Pathways, driveways and slabs
Driveways, paths, block paving and concrete bases, laid by the same team that digs the ground out and builds what sits underneath.
Read moreTarmac and resin surfacing
Tarmac and resin bound surfacing for driveways, car parks, yards and footways, laid on a base we dig and build ourselves.
Read moreUtilities and groundworks
Excavation, drainage, service trenches and ducting, dug by our own team and put back so the ground above stays sound long after we have gone.
Read more
Tell us about the site and we will tell you what it needs
Send a photograph and a postcode and we will come back to you with what the site needs.