BricklayerandBrickworkSpecialistinFordingbridge
A town we work in, up the Avon from Ringwood. Ground that digs easily until it meets the clay or the river, in a town whose own old brick still has to be matched by eye.
- Free, no-obligation quotation on every job
- NVQ Level 2 qualified, CSCS carded
- 5-year workmanship guarantee
- NVQ Level 2Diploma in Bricklaying
- CSCSCarded tradesman
- Up to £1mPublic liability cover
- 5 yearsWorkmanship guarantee
Working in our own town
Fordingbridge is the ground we know best
Fordingbridge gives its name to a geological high, a ridge of chalk running deep under the district that a local borehole once proved out at over four hundred metres. None of that is what a footing actually meets. Nearer the surface, most gardens here sit on river terrace sand and flinty gravel, laid down by Ice Age meltwater off the Avon, resting on the mottled red, yellow and purplish clay of the Reading Beds. Down by the water it is alluvium instead, soft and peaty in places, and the Environment Agency's flood warning area for the Middle Avon takes in Roman Quay, Timbermill Court and Bowerwood. The High Street is Georgian and Victorian brick almost the whole way along, with the red-brick Town Hall as its centrepiece, in a town that made its own bricks and tiles well into the early 1900s.
- The terrace gravel digs easily and drains well, right up until it meets the sticky Reading Beds clay underneath, and that change sets the footing depth
- The low ground down towards Roman Quay, Timbermill Court and Bowerwood floods on a rising water table as much as on rainfall, so footings there get planned around it
- Old town brick was never a standard product, so a repair is matched by eye against the wall rather than ordered off a pallet
Fordingbridge, on the AvonWhat we can build or put right in Fordingbridge
Fordingbridge sits well inside the hour we travel from our base in Ferndown, so it is ground we know well. Wall building is the bulk of it, with repointing, brick repairs and patios alongside. Pick the one nearest your job and it will tell you what it involves.
Brick and garden walls
Garden wall buildingNew walls and rebuilds. The terrace gravel digs easily until it meets the clay underneath, and that is what sets the footing depth.
Driveway wallsEntrance and boundary walls either side of a drive, set out clear of the pavement on the narrower streets off the High Street.
Retaining wallsThe town rises off the flood plain towards the chalk downs of Cranborne Chase, and that slope is where most retaining wall jobs come from.
Decorative brickworkA skilled pattern most bricklayers will not quote for. It suits a High Street of Georgian and Victorian brick fronts and a red-brick Town Hall.
Brick piers and gate postsPiers dig easily out of the gravel terrace, which is exactly why they still want a proper base under them.
Brick stepsSteps where a garden sits above or below the road, common on the rise away from the river towards the downs.
Brick plantersRaised beds, and a sensible answer on the lower ground near the river, where the soil stays wet longest after the Avon has been up.
EV charger wallsA short brick wall to take a home charger, built to match a High Street brick front rather than bolted onto it.
Repointing and brickwork repairs
Brickwork repointingGround that floods on rising groundwater as much as rainfall keeps mortar damp for longer near the river, and damp mortar goes soft first.
Brickwork repairsCracking here often traces back to the clay under the terrace gravel, which shrinks in a dry summer and swells again once the rain sets in.
Brick matchingThe High Street is Georgian and Victorian brick nearly all the way along, so a patch in the wrong brick or bond stands out fast.
Chimney repointing and repairsRepointing, repairs and rebuilds at the stack, the exposed part of a house on the rise above the river.
Blocking up doorways and windowsAn old door or window bricked up and matched to the sill heights on a Georgian or Victorian front.
Wall tie replacementCorroded ties in a cavity wall, taken out and replaced from the outside without disturbing the room inside.
Extension brickwork
Footings and foundationsThe blockwork below ground. Close to the flood plain that dig gets planned around the water table rather than just the weather.
Cavity and structural wallsCavity walls and structural brickwork on a domestic extension in the town.
Subcontract bricklayingBricklaying for a builder running a domestic job around Fordingbridge.
Here is how a job runs
The same four stages on a Fordingbridge repoint as on a garden wall.
We come and look at the job
Fordingbridge is a straightforward run for us, so getting to a job here rarely takes long. Jack goes to look at every job himself, and on the streets nearer the river that first visit is when he checks what the ground and the water table are doing. The quotation is free and it comes in writing.
We agree a start date
We order the bricks and the mortar and book you in. On an older wall in the town that means settling the brick match before anything is delivered, and if the job is on the low ground near the water we plan the dig around the forecast rather than fight it.
We build it
The work is done to a high standard and the site is left clean and tidy at the end of every day. Footings go down through the gravel terrace onto ground that will actually hold, and on the wetter plots that can mean a deeper, wider base.
We walk you through it
Everything is cleaned down, all the waste leaves with us, and we walk you through the finished job. On a wall that means the joints and the coping as well as the face of it.
What customers say
Word for word from the Google profile. Google does not show where people live, so these are from across the patch rather than from Fordingbridge specifically.
5.0
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.
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.
The bits people ask about before they say yes
The questions that come up on the doorstep, answered straight.
Will my garden be left in a state?
The site gets cleaned down and tidied at the end of every day, and all the waste leaves with us when the job is finished.
Will we actually hear back from you?
Message us on a Monday and we will usually have looked at the job by the end of that week, with the quote to you by the weekend.
What if something goes wrong later?
The work carries a five-year workmanship guarantee. If something we built fails in that time, we come back and put it right.
Questions people in Fordingbridge ask
If yours is not here, message us and we will answer it properly.
Do you cover Fordingbridge?
Yes. JFE Brickwork works out of Ferndown these days, and Jack still goes to look at every job himself rather than sending someone else. Fordingbridge sits well inside the hour we travel, along with villages such as Sandleheath, Alderholt, Breamore and Rockbourne.
Do I need planning permission for a garden wall in Fordingbridge?
Usually not for a boundary wall up to two metres, or one metre where it fronts a road, though anything taller or any change near a listed building can need permission. The town itself sits just outside the New Forest National Park, so it is New Forest District Council you deal with rather than the National Park Authority, although two small parts of the wider parish, near Upper Burgate and Criddlestyle, do fall inside the Park. The historic centre is also a conservation area, which brings extra control over anything visible from the street, particularly taking an existing wall down. We will tell you what we think applies, but the council is the one that decides.
My garden floods near the river. Can you still build a wall on it?
Usually, yes, but not on the same footing we would use higher up the town. The strip down towards Roman Quay, Timbermill Court and Bowerwood is alluvium, soft silt and clay that can be peaty, and the Avon here rises on high groundwater rather than only on rainfall, so the water table can sit close to the surface. That means digging deeper for firm ground and widening the footing to spread the load. We would rather find that out with a spade before we quote than halfway through building.
Can you match the brick on an old building on the High Street?
Usually, though it takes hunting rather than ordering. Fordingbridge made its own bricks and tiles well into the early 1900s, so a lot of what is standing along the High Street and around the older streets is a softer, more varied brick than anything sold today. We match it by eye against the wall itself and say plainly how close a match is realistic before any work starts.
Towns near Fordingbridge
Dorset and into Hampshire, all worked from right here.
Ringwood
The next town down the Avon, a few miles south.
Ringwood coverageVerwood
Over the heath to the south west, on the Dorset side of the boundary.
Verwood coverageSalisbury
Further up the valley, where the Avon rises into Wiltshire.
Salisbury coverageWimborne
South into Dorset, and the address our own paperwork still carries.
Wimborne coverageFerndown
The town we work out of, on beyond Wimborne.
Ferndown 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