Church Farm Cottage, Petersfield: 120m² of sandstone around a new pool

Petersfield is in Hampshire, about 25 miles outside the patch we normally work in. We have left it in the portfolio anyway, because it is the job that shows what we do when we are running everything rather than turning up to build one part of it.

The brief

A new swimming pool with a full stone terrace around it and a pool house alongside — and, as far as Kate was concerned, one firm accountable for the lot.

We were appointed as main building contractor for the whole project. That means every subcontracted trade on that site answered to us, and the client had one number to ring when something needed a decision. The headline element was 120m² of Egyptian sandstone laid around the pool, plus the pool house. We were also part of the pool build itself, including its lighting.

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.

The property

A private house outside our usual area, with grounds large enough to take a pool, a terrace of that size and a separate building beside it. The photographs on this page show the finished result, with open country behind it.

We took it because Kate wanted a main contractor rather than a landscaper, a pool company and a builder each blaming the other two. That is a different job from laying a patio, and it is the one we were being paid to do.

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

What was awkward

The access was dreadful. On a job like this that is not a detail, it is the largest single line in the estimate that nobody thinks to ask about.

Here is what poor access actually does to a build.

Everything gets handled twice, or three times. Stone paving arrives by lorry, crated, and is unloaded by crane onto firm ground near where it is going. When the lorry cannot reach that point, the load is dropped wherever it can be dropped and then moved again — by dumper, by barrow, by hand. A 120m² terrace is a great deal of stone and every additional metre of carry is multiplied by every slab.

Plant gets smaller, so work gets slower. If a machine cannot get in, you use a smaller machine, or none. Excavation, spoil removal and muck-away all slow to the pace of what will physically fit through the gap, and spoil that would have left in one lorry leaves in several small loads.

The route itself becomes a cost. Ground gets boarded and protected so it survives the traffic, and it gets reinstated at the end. Deliveries are booked to times that do not block anybody, which means materials arrive when the lorry can come rather than when the gang wants them, so more has to be stored on site and more has to be protected.

And the programme stretches. Not because anyone is working more slowly, but because a fixed volume of material is moving through a smaller opening.

None of this is a reason to refuse a job. It is a reason to price it properly, in daylight, before anyone signs. Access is a named line in our quotations for exactly this reason. The builder who has not looked at your access has not priced your job — he has priced an easier one somewhere else, and you will hear about the difference later.

Difficult access on your site? Call 07470 078236. He will come and look at the route before quoting a penny of the work. Free site visit, itemised quotation.

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

How we solved it

By planning the site around the constraint rather than fighting it.

Materials were scheduled to arrive in the sequence the work needed rather than in one delivery, because there was nowhere sensible to put one delivery. The route in was set, protected and used consistently instead of being improvised by each trade in turn. Trades were sequenced so that two gangs were not competing for the same narrow route on the same morning — which, on a site with one way in, is the difference between a working day and a wasted one.

The stone itself was set out from the pool edge outwards, so the cut slabs fell where they would be least seen and the coping ran true against the water. The photographs here are all taken from a distance, which is how a terrace is normally seen — and distance is exactly where a bad set-out shows itself, in a coping line that wanders or a run of thin cut slabs down one side. Laying is the visible skill. Setting out is the one you are actually paying for.

The whole terrace was laid to a fall as well, taking rainwater off the stone and away from the water rather than towards it. That is the sort of thing no photograph will ever show you and the first heavy shower always will.

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

Specification

Main building contractor for the whole project, coordinating all subcontracted trades
120m² of Egyptian sandstone laid around a new swimming pool
A pool house
Part of the pool build itself, including the pool lighting

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.

Duration

About 12 weeks on site.

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

Cost

The sandstone patio and associated works came to roughly £50,000 + VAT. That is the contracted total, before VAT. Read every figure here as a before-VAT one, with 20% VAT charged on top.

That figure covers the stone element and the works that went with it, not the entire project — a pool build carries specialist costs of its own. It is quoted here because it is the part we can speak to precisely.

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.

Result

A 120m² sandstone terrace wrapped around a finished pool, a pool house beside it, lighting in the water, and one contractor answerable for all of it from start to handover. The pictures here were taken with the furniture out on the stone, which is the state a terrace should be judged in rather than empty and swept for the camera.

For anyone weighing us up on a larger job, this is the useful part: not the stone, but the fact that Kate had several trades to coordinate and handed the coordination to us. That is what a main contractor is for, and it is how we would run yours. How we run a job sets out the documentation that goes with it.

All workmanship guaranteed for 24 months from completion. Manufacturer warranties on all materials and installed products passed to you in full — many run to 10 years or more. Structural work is signed off by Building Control and covered by our £2m public liability insurance. We're working towards an insurance-backed guarantee scheme and will offer it as soon as we're eligible.

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.

The work this sits under

Terraces, pool surrounds, decking and garden structures sit under landscaping and outdoor living. Running a whole project with several trades under one contract is building works and renovations. A separate building in the grounds is garden rooms and annexes.

This job is outside our core patch — the areas we cover sets out where we work as a matter of course, and Hampshire is not it. We travelled for this one because it was worth travelling for. If yours is too, say so when you ring.

Arrange a free site visit or see our previous projects. Company No. 16870716, £2m public liability, over 100 projects completed.

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