BricklayerandBrickworkSpecialistinPoole
Poole runs from sandy heath to soft ground behind the harbour, and salt off the water adds to what frost already does to a wall. We look at the ground before we quote, not after.
- 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 building here is actually like
Poole Is Not One Kind Of Ground
Poole sits in the Poole Basin on the Poole Formation, Eocene river sand banded with clay and capped in places by the Parkstone Clay. The Branksome Sand only reaches the Branksome side of town, so the ground under one garden is not reliably the ground under the next. Behind the harbour, the Old Town and the Quay sit low enough to flood on a high spring tide rather than after rain, and salt off the water adds to what frost does to a wall. Much of Victorian Parkstone was built from brick fired out of clay dug locally, and those brickworks closed a century ago.
- Sand on Canford Heath drains fast. Clay bands under Parkstone hold water and shift with the seasons
- Harbour-facing walls need a frost-resistant, low-salt brick, because salt and freeze-thaw together are what flake a face
- A fair amount of Victorian Poole brick is no longer made, so matching it takes hunting rather than ordering
JFE Brickwork
3 New Merrifield, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 7AL
Brickwork We Take On Around Poole
Wall building is the bulk of it, with repointing, brick repairs and patios keeping us busy the rest of the time. Pick the one nearest your job and it will tell you what it involves.
Brick and garden walls
Garden wall buildingFront walls on the Parkstone and Ashley Cross terraces, new walls out on the heath side.
Driveway wallsThe deeper plots around Branksome and Canford Cliffs, where the drive wall is the first thing anyone sees.
Retaining wallsPoole climbs quickly off the water towards Constitution Hill and Evening Hill, so banks here often need holding back.
Decorative brickworkFlemish bond and the skilled patterns, which sit right against the Georgian and Victorian frontages in the Old Town.
Brick piers and gate postsPiers on the harbour side get a hard brick and a proper cap, because they stand in a salt wind all winter.
Brick stepsThe ground rises fast off the harbour, so steps down to a garden or a drive are common round here.
Brick plantersRaised beds hold their soil on the free-draining heathland sand, where an open border dries out fast.
EV charger wallsA short brick wall to mount a home charger on, usually set back on the drive rather than the boundary.
Repointing and brickwork repairs
Brickwork repointingMortar softens first on the walls facing the harbour wind.
Brickwork repairsSalt off the water and repeated freezing are what spall a brick face, and it spreads further every winter.
Brick matchingVictorian Poole brick came out of local clay pits that closed a century ago, so a match takes hunting.
Chimney repointing and repairsA stack is the most exposed brickwork on a Poole house, so it loses its pointing before the walls do.
Blocking up doorways and windowsBricked up to match what is already there, which matters more again inside one of Poole's conservation areas.
Wall tie replacementCavity walls on the postwar Poole estates, where corroded ties start pushing the courses apart.
Extension brickwork
Footings and foundationsSand and clay lie in bands under Poole, so the trial hole decides the footing, not the postcode.
Cavity and structural wallsCavity work built for a coastal exposure, which is a different specification to an inland one.
Subcontract bricklayingBricklaying for a builder running a domestic job somewhere in the Poole area.
How A Job In Poole Runs
Four stages, whether it is a patch of pointing or a wall across the front.
We come and look at the job
Jack will personally visit and look at what the ground and the wall are actually doing on your side of Poole, whether that is harbour salt or heath sand, before anything is quoted. You get a free, no-obligation quotation in writing.
We agree a start date
Once you are happy with the quotation, we order brick and mortar to suit where you actually are, which nearer the harbour means something more resistant to frost and salt, then book you in and protect the areas around the work.
We build it
Footings go in to suit the ground we find on site rather than the ground the map suggests, then the brickwork goes up. The site is left clean and tidy at the end of every day.
We walk you through it
Everything gets cleaned down and every scrap of waste leaves with us, heath sand included. We then walk the finished job round with you to make sure every part of it is right.
What Customers Tell Us
Word for word from our Google profile, nothing tidied up.
5.0
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.
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 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 People In Poole Ask Us
If yours is not here, get in touch and we will answer it properly.
Do you cover Poole?
Yes. We are based out of Ferndown and travel here regularly, and Poole is one of the two towns we work in most. We advertise in the post office here, and a fair amount of the work comes off the back of that and our Google reviews. Message us and we will come and look at the job.
Do we need planning permission for a garden wall in Poole?
Often not, under the standard rule that a boundary wall stays under one metre next to a road or two metres elsewhere. What changes here is the conservation areas: BCP Council keeps a closer eye on boundary walls inside the Town Centre Heritage area around the Old Town and the Quay, and in Ashley Cross, Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs and Sandbanks. Check with the council if you are in one of those, and we will build to whatever they ask for.
What does being near the harbour do to brickwork?
Salt is the difference. Air off the harbour carries it, it soaks into a soft brick, and when that brick then freezes and thaws through the winter the face flakes off and the joints crumble. It is why exposed walls round the Quay, Baiter and Lower Hamworthy want a frost-resistant, low-salt brick rather than whatever matched on looks. Inland Poole is a gentler job, and we will tell you which you are dealing with once we have looked.
Can you match the brick on a Victorian house in Parkstone?
Usually close, and we will be honest about how close. A lot of the older brickwork in Poole and Parkstone was made from clay dug a mile or two away, and those brickworks closed a century ago, so an exact match is something you hunt for rather than order. We find the nearest brick we can and set it in so the repair does not announce itself.
Towns Either Side Of Poole
The neighbouring towns we are in regularly, closest to Poole first.
Broadstone
Just up the hill from Poole, and another post office board we advertise on.
Broadstone coverageBournemouth
The other side of the county border in all but name, and the other market town we work in most.
Bournemouth coverageWimborne
The address JFE Brickwork is registered to, north of Poole up the Stour.
Wimborne coverageFerndown
Sits on the same Branksome Sand that runs down through Parkstone.
Ferndown coverageChristchurch
East of Bournemouth, where the Avon and the Stour meet the sea.
Christchurch 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