Residential New Builds
Individual houses taken from bare plot to finished home by one company: feasibility, architecture, planning, building regulations and construction, with a structural warranty available and a 12-month defects period as standard.
Free initial consultation and site appraisal. NHBC or LABC structural warranty available on new builds.
The Service
A new build is the longest and most exposed project a private client will run. We take it end to end: site appraisal, concept design, planning application, building regulations, structural coordination, construction, testing and handover.
It suits plot owners, self-builders, people replacing an existing dwelling, and investors developing a site. It also suits owners who already hold consent and need a contractor who can read and challenge the drawings rather than just price them.
The point to involve us is before the plot is bought if possible. Access, drainage, ground conditions, overlooking, tree constraints and planning history all determine whether a site is worth what is being asked for it.
Professional help matters because a new build has no existing structure to hide behind. Every decision, foundation type, wall build-up, airtightness, services strategy, is yours, and each one compounds through the programme.
Our ARB registered architect designs it and our own construction staff build it, so responsibility never splits.
We prepare and submit the application, manage the case officer relationship and deal with conditions after consent.
NHBC or LABC structural warranty can be arranged on new builds, alongside the standard 12-month defects period.
Because we build, budget reality is applied at design stage rather than discovered at tender.
What It Costs To Get Wrong
Most new build overruns are set in motion before groundworks. These are the failure points we look for first.
Access rights, drainage connections, ground conditions, trees and planning history can wipe out the margin on a site that looked cheap.
A scheme drawn without construction input gets consent, then gets value-engineered into something you did not want. Cost belongs in the design conversation.
Foundation type is one of the biggest single cost variables on a new build. Surveying properly beforehand is far cheaper than redesigning after the dig.
Consent usually arrives with conditions attached. Ignoring them until you need sign-off stalls the programme at the worst possible moment.
Without a structural warranty a new build is harder to sell and harder to mortgage. It has to be arranged at the start, not at the end.
Our Process
We assess the plot, access, levels, drainage, constraints and planning history, and tell you what is realistically achievable and what it costs.
Our ARB registered architect develops the house against your brief, the site constraints and a construction budget applied from the first sketch.
Full planning application, discharge of conditions, then building regulations drawings and structural calculations with our partner engineer.
Groundworks, superstructure, envelope, services and finishes, run by our own staff under a JCT contract with valuation-based staged payments.
Building control sign-off, commissioning, warranty registration where applicable, handover and a 12-month defects period.
What You Get
One contract and one team for design and build, so nobody can blame the other side when something needs resolving.
The people producing the technical package are the people who will build from it, which removes an entire category of site delay.
Insulation, airtightness, glazing and heating strategy decided together, so the house is cheap to run rather than just cheap to build.
Valuations monthly or fortnightly against completed work under a JCT contract, rather than large payments in advance.
NHBC or LABC structural warranty available, plus a 12-month defects period as standard on every build.
£5m public liability, £10m employers' liability and £1m professional indemnity covering the design work as well as the build.
In Detail
New build decisions cluster around three things: what sits under the house, what the walls are made of, and how the house is heated and ventilated.
Foundation type follows ground conditions, tree proximity and site levels rather than preference. Strip, trench fill, raft and piled foundations each carry very different costs and programmes.
Drainage strategy, foul connection, surface water attenuation, soakaways, is settled early because it affects levels, external works and often the planning conditions themselves.
The main choices are traditional masonry cavity construction, timber frame, and steel frame where large spans or unusual geometry are involved.
Wall build-up, insulation strategy, junction detailing and airtightness determine both compliance and comfort. Thermal bridging at junctions is where paper performance and real performance separate.
External materials, brick, render, timber, zinc, stone, are chosen against planning context as well as budget, and often form part of the consent itself.
Heating, hot water, ventilation, electrical distribution and increasingly EV charging and solar all need coordinating with the structure before first fix rather than after.
Underfloor heating, heat pumps and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery each impose their own requirements on floor build-up, plant space and duct routes.
New build applications are scrutinised harder than householder ones: scale, overlooking, amenity, parking, drainage and materials all get tested. We manage the submission and the correspondence with the case officer.
After consent there are usually conditions to discharge before work can start. We deal with those and run building control inspections through to final certification.
Replacing an existing house brings demolition, asbestos survey, existing service disconnections and often a tighter planning argument about scale relative to what stood before.
Multi-unit and investor schemes add sequencing, phased handover and commercial considerations. We work with landlords, developers and property owners as well as private clients.
External works are routinely underestimated on a new build and then arrive as a shock at the end of the programme. Driveways, parking, levels, retaining structures, drainage runs, boundary treatments and planting all sit within the planning consent and frequently within its conditions.
Where a site slopes, retaining structures and level changes are structural elements with real cost, and they need designing at the same time as the house rather than being resolved once the building is up.
Access during construction also shapes the programme. A tight site with restricted delivery access affects crane and plant strategy, material storage and therefore sequence, and it is assessed at the appraisal stage rather than discovered by the first lorry that cannot turn in.
Common Questions
Related Services
ARB-registered, in-house architecture from first sketch to Stage 4 technical drawings: available on its own or as part of a full build.
Architecture in Surrey & LondonFull planning applications, building regulations packages and technical drawings; the standalone service that makes up around 75% of our work.
Planning & Architectural Drawings in Surrey & LondonDirectly employed building staff and long-standing subcontract teams, running under a JCT contract with valuation-based staged payments.
Construction in Surrey & LondonSingle and double storey, side return and wrap-around extensions, designed and built by the same team.
Residential Extensions in Surrey & London
A free consultation and site appraisal, then one contract from planning through to handover with warranty options and a 12-month defects period.
