What structural carpentry do you do in Alton?
Across Alton (GU34) it is mostly barn and rural conversions, hand-cut roofs on period property and one-off timber frame houses. Alton and the villages around it bring rural work, barn conversions, agricultural buildings and one-off houses, where the existing structure is rarely regular and the new timber has to be set out to fit what is actually standing. Every job is priced off your architect and engineer drawings and a look at the site access, because a rate per square metre for structural work is a guess dressed up as a quote.
Do you charge extra to come out to Alton?
No. Travel is in the price. Alton is about 22 km from our Farnborough base, well inside the patch we cover as a matter of course, so you are paying for labour and materials rather than for the van. What does affect the price is access: whether a crane can get in and stand, and whether the deliveries can be taken on site or have to be double handled.
Do you cover Alton regularly?
Yes. Alton and the villages round it bring the rural jobs, barn conversions and one-off houses where the structure has to be cut to fit what is there. We are based in Farnborough and cover London, Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire as standard, so Alton is well inside our normal patch rather than a favour. Call and tell us where the site is, roughly what the structure is and when you need it, and you will get a straight answer on whether we can hit your dates.
Does the property in Alton change how the job is done?
A great deal. Older property in Alton has spread, sagged and been altered over a century or more, so nothing is square and no truss layout drawn off an assumption will land on it. That is why almost everything we do there is cut on site: the pattern rafter is set out from real measurements taken off what has actually been built, valleys and abutments are cut to the true bevels, and the new structure is made to fit the old one rather than the other way round. It takes longer and it is the only way to get a roof that lines through.
How long would the structure take on a job in Alton?
For a single house in Alton, a timber frame is usually one to two weeks to wind-tight, a truss roof is a day or two once it is craned in, and an extension roof cut on site runs to two to four days. A steel goalpost and the timber framed off it is often the same visit. Larger schemes get a programme rather than a rule of thumb, worked out off the drawings before you commit to anything.
Can you look at drawings for a Alton job before we commit?
That is the order we would rather do it in. Send the architect and engineer drawings over and we will come back with a broken-down price and, more usefully, with the questions. Details that are awkward or expensive to build are cheap to change on a drawing and expensive to change on site, so it is worth having that conversation before the kit or the trusses are ordered.
Do you work as a subcontractor for developers in Alton?
Yes, and a good share of our work is exactly that. We are used to working to a main contractor programme, to site rules and method statements, and to being one of several trades on a live site. Insurance certificates and the usual subcontractor paperwork go over with the quote so nothing holds a start date up. We are equally happy dealing direct with a self-builder handling their own plot in Alton.
