Groundworks and Drainage work carried out by Bespoke Paving

Landscaping

Groundworks and Drainage

Excavation, levelling, soakaways and land drainage for gardens that hold water.

Free written quotes
Fixed price, not an estimate
Worksop and across the county

Get a price for groundworks and drainage

Friendly advice, no obligation. We will come out and measure up.

Custom solutions
Quality you can see
Local and reliable
Adds value

If your lawn is still wet three days after it rains, or there is a patch of the garden that never dries out, laying a new surface over it will not fix it. It will just give you a wet new surface.

Water sits for a reason: heavy clay that will not let it through, a compacted layer left by the builders, ground that falls towards the house, or a soakaway that has silted up and stopped working. Which of those it is decides the fix, so the first job is working out why the water is there.

We install land drainage, perforated pipe in a stone-filled trench taking water to a soakaway or a suitable outlet, dig and build soakaways, regrade ground to fall the right way, and put in channel drainage where a hard surface has to shed water fast. On a new driveway or patio, this is designed in from the start rather than added when a problem shows up.

Groundworks and Drainage carried out by Bespoke Paving

What’s included

What you get for the price

The quote covers finding the cause as well as fixing it. We dig a trial hole where we need to see what is under the surface, because the fix differs for clay, compaction and a silted soakaway.

Working out why the water is sitting before anything is dug
Land drainage in stone-filled trenches, laid to fall
Soakaways sized for the area being drained and dug to permeable ground
Channel and linear drainage across hard surfaces
Regrading and levelling so ground falls away from buildings

What affects the price

Why we quote per job

There is no useful price per square metre for this, because these change the number more than the material does:

How much drain run is needed and how deep it has to go
Whether there is a suitable outlet, or a soakaway has to be built
Ground conditions, since heavy clay is slower to dig and needs a larger soakaway
Access for a machine, because hand-digging trenches is far slower
How much reinstatement the surface above needs afterwards

Where there is no suitable outlet, a soakaway has to be dug through to a layer that will take the water. In heavy clay that can mean going deep, and occasionally there is no such layer within reach.

How it works

Groundworks and Drainage, step by step

01
Find the cause
We look at the ground, the levels and any existing drainage, and dig a trial hole where we need to see what is underneath.
02
Agree the scheme
A written quotation setting out what is being installed, where it runs and where the water ends up.
03
Excavate
Trenches and soakaway excavation dug to line and to fall.
04
Install
Pipe and stone laid, membrane wrapped where needed, connections made to the outlet.
05
Reinstate
Trenches backfilled and the surface made good, with spoil carted away.

Why us

Why people pick us for this

The base is specified

Our written quote names the sub-base depth and the materials, so you can see what is going under the surface and compare quotes on the same terms.

A fixed price

The written price is what you pay. If something genuinely unforeseen turns up once we open the ground, we stop and talk to you before doing anything about it.

You deal with the person doing the work

No sales visit followed by a different crew. The person who quotes the job is on site doing it.

Straight advice

If the job you have asked for is not the right answer, or a clean would do instead of a replacement, we will tell you before you spend the money.

Groundworks and Drainage across Nottinghamshire

We are based in Worksop and cover the towns below, plus the villages around them.

Worksop
Mansfield
Chesterfield
Newark on Trent
Nottingham
Lincoln
Derby
Grantham

Common questions

Groundworks and Drainage questions

Why is my garden always waterlogged?

Usually clay subsoil, a compacted layer left from when the house was built, or ground falling the wrong way. Sometimes it is an old soakaway that has silted up. We would dig a trial hole to see which it is, because the fix is different for each.

Can I drain surface water into the foul sewer?

No. Connecting surface water to the foul drain is not allowed and it overloads the system. Surface water goes to a soakaway, a surface water sewer, or a watercourse where there is a right to discharge.

Will a soakaway work in clay?

It has to be dug through to a layer that will take the water, which in heavy clay can mean going deep, and sometimes there is no such layer within reach. Where that is the case we would look at a different outlet instead of building a soakaway that will not empty.