BricklayerandBrickworkSpecialistinFerndown
Ferndown is the town we work out of, not one we drive to. It sits on the Branksome sands, so what holds a garden wall up here is the footing nobody ever sees. Message us and we will come and look at yours this week.
- Free, no-obligation quotation on every job
- NVQ Level 2 qualified and CSCS carded
- Five-year workmanship guarantee
- NVQ Level 2Diploma in Bricklaying
- CSCSCarded tradesman
- Up to £1mPublic liability cover
- 5 yearsWorkmanship guarantee
What the ground is like in Ferndown
Sandy Ground That Changes Plot To Plot
Ferndown sits on the Branksome Sand, the belt of Eocene sand that arcs from here down through Parley into north Bournemouth. It drains well, but loose sand gives way at the sides of a trench and will not carry a footing the way firmer ground does. It is not uniform either: the sand fines upwards into bands of silty clay, so what is under one lawn is not always what is under the next. Head towards Longham and Hampreston and you drop onto the Stour river terrace instead, with alluvium, gravel and a higher water table. Most of the town went up after the war on generous plots, so a boundary run here tends to be longer than people expect. That is why Jack digs a trial hole and looks at what is actually there before anything gets priced.
- Footings go in and get filled the same day, because an open trench in sandy ground does not hold its sides
- Anything retaining or raised gets a drainage layer built in behind it, so the sand cannot wash out through the joints
- Long boundary runs get piers built into them as they go, not added on as an afterthought
What We Build and Repair in Ferndown
Wall building is the bulk of it here, which suits a town of wide frontages and long boundaries. Find the job closest to yours below, and the note tells you what it means on this ground.
Brick and garden walls
Garden wall buildingLong boundary runs on Ferndown's wide, generous plots, founded on what the trial hole actually finds under them.
Driveway wallsFrontages here are broad, so a drive wall is nearly always longer than it first looks.
Retaining wallsFor a garden that steps down towards the Stour side, drained so the sand behind it stays put.
Decorative brickworkFlemish bond gives a plain post-war frontage something worth looking at.
Brick piers and gate postsPiers are what keep a long Ferndown boundary standing straight, not just the coping on top.
Brick stepsSand settles over time, so front steps here often need the base doing properly, not just the treads relaid.
Brick plantersRaised beds worth having on thin, hungry heathland soil, built to match the house.
EV charger wallsA short wall to mount a charger on, out where a Ferndown drive usually has the room for it.
Repointing and brickwork repairs
Brickwork repointingMost Ferndown brickwork is twentieth-century cement mortar rather than lime, and it keys in cleanly once raked back properly.
Brickwork repairsStepped cracking along a boundary wall here is usually the footing moving in the ground beneath it, not the brick itself.
Brick matchingMid-century facing brick is often easier to match here than the older brick found nearer Wimborne.
Chimney repointing and repairsStacks on the 1950s to 1970s houses that make up so much of the town, repointed or rebuilt from the flashing up.
Blocking up doorways and windowsOld patio doors and side doors bricked up to match the facing brick around them.
Wall tie replacementThis is cavity-wall country, and the ties in the older houses do corrode.
Extension brickwork
Footings and foundationsBlockwork below ground, which is the part this sandy ground makes worth getting right.
Cavity and structural wallsCavity work tied into a post-war house that was not built to today's insulation standard.
Subcontract bricklayingBricklaying for a builder running a domestic job in Ferndown or West Parley.
How a Ferndown Job Runs
The same four stages whether it is a patch of repointing or thirty metres of boundary wall.
We come and look at the job
Message us and we will usually be out that week. On a wall, Jack digs a trial hole while he is there, because sand and Stour gravel price differently, and you get a free, no-obligation quotation in writing.
We agree a start date
We order the materials and book you in. Gardens here tend to be planted up, so the beds and the drive get covered before anything comes off the van.
We build it
Footings go in and get filled the same day so the trench sides hold, then the wall goes up off them. The site is left clean and tidy at the end of every day.
We walk you through it
Everything is cleaned down and the spoil goes with us. Then we walk you through the finished job, including what went in underneath it, so you can see how the wall has actually been built.
What Customers Say About the Work
Word for word from the Google profile.
5.0
Rosemary Collins
Jack did an excellent job rebuilding a section of our garden wall and repairing cracks in other sections despite having to work through challenging weather conditions and unexpected complications in relation to the groundwork.
James Hickman
Jack was excellent from first inquiry to the finished product. We needed an old set of French doors bricking up to match our existing window still height.
Dane Gardner
Jack is a real craftsman who repaired my steps and repointed my patio to a very high standard. From the start he was good at communicating, replying to messages quickly and providing a prompt quote.
The Things People Ask Before They Say Yes
The questions that come up on the doorstep, answered straight.
Will my garden be left in a state?
We clean down and tidy the site at the end of every day, and all the waste leaves with us when the job is finished. You get your garden back, not a skip and a pile of sand.
Will we actually hear back from you?
Yes, and quickly. Replying fast and quoting promptly comes up again and again in our reviews, and it is the part of the service we are most careful about.
What if something goes wrong later?
Every job we complete carries a five-year workmanship guarantee. If something we built fails inside that time, we come back and put it right. We also carry public liability cover of up to £1 million.
Questions From Around Ferndown
If yours is not here, message us and we will answer it properly.
Do you cover Ferndown?
Yes. We are based in Ferndown and are over this way regularly, taking in Ferndown, West Parley, Longham, Stapehill, Hampreston and Wimborne. Message us and we will come and look at the job, usually within the same week, and the quotation is free and comes to you in writing.
What does the sandy ground here mean for a garden wall?
Most of the town sits on the Branksome Sand, which drains well but is loose, and that matters below ground rather than above it. The footing has to be wide enough and deep enough to bear on firm sand, the trench gets filled the same day so the sides do not run, and piers get built into a long run rather than added on at the end. The sand is not the same everywhere either. It fines upwards into bands of silty clay, and towards Longham and Hampreston you come off it altogether onto the river terrace. That is why we dig a trial hole while quoting instead of pricing from a photograph.
Is any of Ferndown in a conservation area?
The town itself is not. Ferndown grew out of heathland over the last century, so there is no conservation area across it. Hampreston and West Parley, on its edge, both are, and Dorset Council is the authority to check with if your property falls inside one before any brickwork is altered or rebuilt.
How high can I build a boundary wall without planning permission?
The usual rule is one metre where a wall runs beside a road, which a front boundary wall normally does, and two metres elsewhere. That is national permitted development rather than a Ferndown rule, and Dorset Council is who confirms it for your address. We will tell you what we think you can build, and it is worth checking with them before work starts.
Towns Either Side of Ferndown
The nearest ones first. We work across Dorset and into Hampshire.
West Moors
Just north, on the road up towards Verwood.
West Moors coverageWimborne
Just west, and the address JFE Brickwork is registered to.
Wimborne coverageBroadstone
The far side of Wimborne, and one of the post office boards we advertise on.
Broadstone coverageVerwood
North of here, up towards the Cranborne edge of the heath.
Verwood coverageBournemouth
South over Parley, where the same sand belt runs under the northern suburbs.
Bournemouth coverageRingwood
East over the county line, on the Avon rather than the Stour.
Ringwood coverageGet a free quote
Tell us what you need and we'll come back with a price. No pressure, no hard sell.
Prefer to talk? Call JFE Brickwork on 01202 028 343