Previous projects

Four jobs, written up properly. What the client asked for, what was awkward about it, what it cost and how long it took — including the parts most builders leave out of a portfolio.

There is no gallery on this page and that is deliberate. A grid of kitchen photographs tells you nothing about whether a firm can run your job. A job that nearly did not work, and the decision that made it work, tells you a great deal.

Over 100 projects have been completed since 2002. These are the four we have documented to a standard worth reading.

Every figure below is a contract value before VAT. Twenty per cent goes on top of it. One of the four carries no figure at all, and where that is the case the page says so rather than rounding something up out of memory.

The loft that had no height — Chichester

The problem: the roof space was too shallow to convert, and the usual answer to that is no.

We lowered every ceiling in the house instead, then built a full rear dormer and put French doors into it. Out of it came a bedroom, a walk-in wardrobe and an en-suite. The client then kept us on for six more phases: oak fire doors on every opening, a full-width rear extension, a deck, LVT laid right through downstairs, a new consumer unit, and every fence replaced.

Roughly 20 weeks in total. Around £110,000 + VAT, contracted in phases as each one was agreed.

If you read one of these, read this one. It is the clearest example of the thing that actually separates builders: knowing what a regulation says, and knowing what a room needs, and understanding that those are two different questions.

Read the Whyke Close loft conversion in Chichester · loft conversions in Chichester · the work we do in Chichester.

The porch at the same house — Chichester

The problem: new brickwork at the front of a house, an arm's length from the front door, with the original wall standing next to it to be judged against.

The same clients, the same address, a second and entirely separate contract. An old porch came down. A new one went up in brick, laid by hand and matched to the house, under a tiled hipped roof tied into the existing tiling, with an anthracite composite front door. Inside it went a cloakroom — WC, basin, a black ladder towel radiator and a tap to match.

No cost and no duration are published for this one, because we do not hold them. Every other completed job on this index carries both. When James confirms the figure and the weeks, they go up in the same form as the rest.

Read the brick porch at Whyke Close, Chichester · building work and renovations in Chichester.

The 50m² extension you can go and stand in — Bognor Regis

The problem: joining fifty square metres of new house to an old one without the join showing, while the family carried on living in it.

Bifold doors. A full knock-through. Underfloor heating below a tiled ground floor, high-end LED lighting, a boiler room put up as a separate structure at the side, and two lanterns set into a fibreglass roof. £100,000 + VAT, which across fifty square metres is £2,000 per m² + VAT — the bottom of the band we publish.

Still on site, near completion, and it stays described that way until handover. Part way through, the same client asked for a price on converting the roof of that house as well — which is the only kind of recommendation we take seriously.

Read the Victoria Road extension in Bognor Regis · extensions in Bognor Regis · the work we do in Bognor Regis.

120m² of sandstone and a site you could barely get into — Petersfield

The problem: the access was dreadful, and a stone terrace that size is a lot of weight to move by hand.

We ran the whole project as main contractor, with every subcontracted trade answering to us: Egyptian sandstone, 120m² of it, wrapped around a new swimming pool, plus a pool house, and part of the pool build itself including the lighting. About 12 weeks on site. Roughly £50,000 + VAT for the stone terrace and the works that went with it.

Petersfield is in Hampshire, some 25 miles beyond the area we normally cover. It is here because it shows what we do as main contractor rather than as one trade among several — and because the finished terrace, the water and the pool house are all photographed, which is the shortest route to seeing what 120m² of stone actually looks like laid.

Read the Church Farm Cottage pool surround in Petersfield · landscaping and outdoor living.

A hipped roof that everybody writes off — Guildford

The problem: there wasn't one, and that is the point of including it.

A hip-to-gable conversion on the outskirts of Guildford: the hipped end came off, a full-height gable went up in its place and was hung in plain clay tiles to match the roof it grew out of. One bedroom, a bathroom, French doors with a Juliet balcony, and fitted storage worked into the eaves behind doors cut to the pitch of the rafters. Every door on the job was made and painted in our own workshop.

£55,000 as contracted in 2016. About £70,000 + VAT to build the same thing today. Nine weeks on site. Both figures are here because one alone would mislead you — the 2016 number is real and is a decade out of date, and the 2026 number is the one to plan around. Prices are shown before VAT.

Guildford is in Surrey and well outside our patch. It earns its place here because a hipped roof is the shape homeowners are most often told is not worth converting, and because the joinery is the best photographed on this site.

Read the hip-to-gable loft conversion near Guildford · loft conversions.

Selected work

Work from the last few years. These are photographs of real jobs, but the filenames the camera gave them do not say which house they belong to, so none of them is captioned with an address. Where several were taken on the same day they are shown together, because they are almost certainly the same job.

Loft shower room with patterned feature tiles, a wall-hung vanity and a lit mirror — An en-suite worked into the roof space, with the tiling set out so the pattern band lands level under the slope.

Loft bathroom with a bath, WC and anthracite ladder towel radiator under a sloping ceiling — The same room from the other end. Getting a full bath under a slope is mostly a question of where the stud walls land.

Cavity walls being built for a rear extension, with insulation and a formed opening — Outer leaf, cavity insulation and inner blockwork going up off the slab. The opening is formed as the wall is built, not cut afterwards.

Insulated warm flat roof under construction with two rectangular rooflight openings formed — A warm flat roof being built up — insulation over the deck, firrings set out to fall, and two openings framed for rooflights.

Newly plastered extension with black bifold doors installed and underfloor heating pipework laid across the floor — Same extension, three months on. Underfloor heating clipped out and pressure-tested before the screed goes down.

New roof structure over a rear extension with four rooflight openings framed out — New rafters cut on site, with four rooflight openings framed as the roof goes up.

New timber joists spanning a large rear extension on a brick bungalow

Rear extension at joist stage with new brickwork on a 1930s bungalow

Newly cut roof rafters in place on a rear extension

White gloss handleless kitchen with granite worktops and a garden view over the sink — Handleless units with a speckled granite worktop, upstand and window sill cut from the same slab.

White gloss kitchen units beneath a speckled granite worktop and matching splashback

Kitchen island with a coral painted end panel, integrated wine cooler and an arched oak door beyond — The island end panel painted to pick up the arched door behind it.

Large open-plan kitchen with a quartz-topped island, range cooker and bar seating

Kitchen run beneath two flush rooflights with tall larder cupboards and garden views — Two flush rooflights over the run — the cheapest way to get daylight into the back of a deep plan.

Shaker kitchen with a range cooker, marble-effect splashback and glazed wall cabinets

Open-plan kitchen island with bar stools facing a range cooker

Dining area in a curved bay window overlooking a mature garden

Bathroom with marble-effect tiling, a wall-hung basin unit and a chrome towel radiator — Wall-hung units mean the floor tiles run underneath, which makes a small room read as bigger and is easier to clean.

Grey tiled bathroom with a mosaic border, wall-hung WC and a bath with a shower screen

Wall-hung WC and chrome ladder radiator in a grey tiled bathroom

Bathroom with a geometric feature wall, grey fitted units and a bath with a glass screen

Compact shower room with a grey vanity unit, metro tiling and a large mirror

Bathroom with a bold geometric feature wall, a bath and a tall grey storage unit

New downstairs cloakroom with a black ladder towel radiator and matching tap — The cloakroom inside the new porch, plumbed as part of the same contract.

New brick entrance porch with a tiled hip roof and an anthracite composite front door — A new entrance porch built in matching multi brick, with a hipped roof tied into the existing tiling.

New brick porch and block-paved path leading to a resin-bound driveway — The finished porch seen from the drive.

Under-stairs drawers pulled out to show bespoke storage beside an oak staircase — Deep drawers on runners under the stairs. Almost every house has this space and almost none of them use it.

Bespoke under-stairs storage with deep pull-out drawers beside an oak staircase

Green oak porch with a king post truss above a brick arched doorway, before the roof covering — A green oak frame, pegged rather than screwed. It will move and settle over the first couple of years, which is what oak does.

Green oak porch frame newly erected against a red-brick house

Rear of a brick house with an old flat-roof lean-to sun room, before work started — Before. The existing lean-to that came off.

Rear extension under construction with new brickwork built up to sill height and the old windows stacked to one side — The lean-to stripped out and new brickwork going up to sill height.

New softwood flat-roof joists sitting in galvanised hangers on a timber wall plate over new brickwork — Joists hung off a wall plate rather than built into the brickwork, so the load is carried properly and nothing is buried in the wall.

Flat roof boarded out in sterling board with a timber kerb framed up ready for a roof lantern — Same day, later on. The lantern kerb is framed and flashed before the glazing arrives, not cut in afterwards.

Completed extension from inside, with a large flush roof lantern and white sliding doors onto the garden — Finished, from the inside. The lantern is doing the work that a window on one wall never could.

Roof lantern seen from directly below, set into a white plastered ceiling

Completed single-storey rear extension in matched buff brickwork with white fascia and wide sliding doors — After. Brick matched to the house, and the gutter line carried through so it reads as part of the building rather than bolted on.

Completed single-storey rear extension in brick with a full-width set of white sliding doors opening onto the garden

Drained swimming pool mid-refurbishment with new stone coping slabs being set out along both long edges — The pool drained and the coping being set out. Stone this size is laid to a level you cannot correct later.

Finished swimming pool with a broad cream sandstone terrace, loungers along the far edge and mature planting behind — The finished terrace. Large-format sandstone laid to falls so water runs away from the pool rather than back into it.

Swimming pool with turquoise water, cream sandstone terrace, timber loungers and a brick garden building beyond

Sandstone terrace with a parasol, timber table and wicker chairs, the pool and open farmland beyond

Sandstone terrace running alongside an old red brick garden wall with a table and chairs at the far end

Swimming pool and sandstone terrace with the pool house beyond, seen across the lawn — The pool house sits at the far end of the terrace, in brick and flint under a tiled roof.

Swimming pool and terrace framed by an old tree, loungers set out along the paving

Sandstone terrace running the full length of the pool with the pool house at the end — Egyptian sandstone, one hundred and twenty square metres of it, laid to falls away from the water.

Sandstone steps set into a flint and brick retaining wall, leading down to the pool terrace — The change in level is taken up in steps rather than a ramp, so the terrace itself stays flat.

Swimming pool with the countryside beyond, sandstone paving running to the water's edge

Rectangular pool with a wide sandstone surround and open fields behind

Terrace furniture and a parasol on the sandstone beside the pool

Timber table and wicker chairs under a parasol on the sandstone terrace

Corner of the pool seen from the terrace, with a parasol and an old brick wall behind

Pool and sandstone terrace looking back towards the garden and the mature trees

Sandstone terrace and lawn with a planted pot, the pool edge just in frame

Refitted bathroom with a grey vanity unit, black tap, illuminated mirror and oak-effect floor

Bath with a black thermostatic shower riser and glass screen against grey wall panels — Panelled walls rather than tiled — fewer joints, nothing to regrout, and a sensible answer in a room that gets heavy use.

Bathroom seen from the corner with WC, vanity unit, black wall cabinet and bath

Rear of a house with a dark-clad dormer loft conversion above a single-storey extension with grey bifold doors onto decking — The whole of the back of the house: the extension below, the dormer above, and the decking that went in with them.

Finished dormer clad in dark grey boarding, set into a tiled roof beside a brick chimney — The dormer from outside. Cladding rather than tile-hanging keeps the weight and the depth down.

Steel beam with new timber joists sitting in galvanised hangers, insulation boards fixed between the rafters above — New joists hung off a steel, because the original ceiling joists were never sized to be a floor.

Dormer under construction, lined with foil-faced insulation, a rooflight fitted and the stair opening cut through the floor — Insulation in, rooflight fitted, and the opening cut down to where the stairs will land.

Blockwork shell of a single-storey extension with the roof structure open and a rooflight above — The extension shell before the roof was closed in.

Stairwell rising to a landing lit by a rooflight in a white sloping ceiling — The stair rises into daylight, which is what stops a loft landing feeling like a cupboard.

Finished loft bedroom with a double bed against a white wall and French doors to a balustrade

Finished loft bedroom with a dressing table under a rooflight and storage built into the eaves — The low side of the room is where the storage goes; the full-height side is where you stand up.

Finished loft bedroom with two rooflights, a chest of drawers, a radiator under the eaves and painted doors either side — The finished room. Two rooflights on the same wall put light right across the floor rather than in one patch.

Tile-hung gable end with a window, the new roof tiled to match the existing house — The new gable, hung in plain tiles to match the roof it grew out of.

Storage doors built into the low eaves under a rooflight, each door cut to the angle of the roof slope — Every one of these doors was made and painted for the space it fills. The angle is the roof pitch, so nothing is wasted at the low side.

Pair of hand-built painted wardrobe doors with a shaker panel and chrome knobs — Hand-built and hand-painted, not bought in.

Painted panelled door in a loft bedroom with a chest of drawers beside it

New landing with a painted balustrade, square newel posts and a moulded handrail

Carpeted staircase turning past a leaded window on the way up to the loft — The stair goes up past the existing leaded window, which is what keeps the flight from feeling boxed in.

Staircase and painted balustrade seen from the landing below

Curved plastered ceiling over the stairwell, following the line of the new roof

Made bed with cushions against a headboard in the finished loft bedroom

Swanbourne Construction sign on the brick end wall of the unit at Middleton Business Park — The unit at Middleton Business Park. The address on this website is a real place you can drive to.

Entrance door to the showroom and office with a notice reading Open By Appointment Only — Open by appointment. Ring first and somebody will be here — turning up unannounced usually means the unit is empty, because we are on site.

Showroom and office interior with a branded reception desk, framed panels on the wall and a meeting table beyond — Inside the showroom.

Meeting table with four chairs and a wall-mounted screen in the showroom — Where a quotation gets talked through, line by line, with the drawings on the table.

Seating area inside the showroom with framed panels and brochures on a glass table

Showroom window graphics listing the services Swanbourne Construction offers

Bespoke fitted wardrobes built into the sloping ceiling of a loft room, primed ready for painting — Wardrobes scribed to the slope and the purlin, photographed before the painter came in.

New flat roof deck with a timber upstand framed for a large rooflight — The upstand is built and flashed before the rooflight arrives, so the glazing sits proud of the finished roof surface.

Dark green shaker kitchen with brass handles, quartz worktops and a live-edge oak table — Full-height splashback in the same quartz as the worktop — more expensive than tiling, and the reason this run has no grout lines in it.

Handleless cream kitchen with a dark worktop and metro tile splashback

New kitchen with a large island and slate-effect worktops, fitted before final decoration — A kitchen set out and fitted while the room is still at bare plaster. The order of trades is what keeps a job to programme.

Freestanding slipper bath beside a walk-in shower in a grey tiled family bathroom — A freestanding bath needs its pipework set out before the floor goes down — there is nowhere to hide it afterwards.

Grey tiled bathroom with a freestanding bath, walk-in shower and back-to-wall WC

Bespoke under-stairs pull-out drawers and shelving in a painted staircase

Pull-out storage drawers and stepped shelving fitted into the space beneath a staircase

Bespoke dresser unit newly built and primed, with open shelving above glazed cupboards — Built in place and primed, waiting for the decorator. Made to the room rather than ordered to a size.

Sitting room with lit bespoke alcove bookcases either side of a stone fireplace and log burner — The homepage photograph. Two alcove units with lighting run into the shelves, built to the chimney breast either side.

Single-storey rear extension with a flat roof, timber posts and full-height glazing onto a lawn — Full-height glazing wrapping two elevations, photographed just before handover — the protective tape is still on the frames.

Grey composite decking with a bullnose step edge laid against a stone house with anthracite bifold doors — Composite decking laid to a stone elevation, with a new close-board fence behind.

Three new grey roof windows installed into a clay plain-tile roof, protective labels still on the glass — Rooflights let into an existing plain-tile roof. The flashing kit does the work here, not the sealant.

Loft bathroom under a sloping ceiling with a wall-hung WC and a patterned roman blind

What to do next

Prices by type of work are set out in our price guide, dated August 2026 and quoted the same way — before VAT, with the 20% added on top. Live work is on everything we have on site right now.

If one of these looks like your job, ring James on 07470 078236. He will come out and look at yours, free of charge — book a free site visit. Rated 5 stars on Yell, £2m public liability, Company No. 16870716, over 100 projects completed.