Piles alone don't make a foundation. We deliver the complete package — piles, reinforced ground beams, ring beams and slabs — handed over level, certified and ready for the bricklayers.
What a piled foundation involves
Where the ground near the surface cannot carry a building, the loads are taken down to firm strata on piles. On top of the piles sits reinforced concrete: either a ground beam / ring beam following the line of the walls, or a full piled raft slab spanning the whole footprint. Get this interface right and everything above it — brickwork, frame, floors — goes up straight and stays that way.
One contractor, one responsibility
Splitting piles and beams between two contractors is where domestic projects go wrong: misaligned pile heads, disputed tolerances, delay. Taking the whole package, we:
- Install the piles — mini piles, driven or CFA to suit the ground.
- Crop and prepare pile heads to level, exposing reinforcement for the beam connection.
- Excavate and form beams — shutter or trench-form the ring beams and ground beams.
- Fix reinforcement to the engineer's schedule, with inspection before any pour.
- Pour and finish — beams and slabs poured, levelled and cured, ready for the superstructure.
Ring beams, ground beams and rafts — which one?
| Ring / ground beam | Reinforced beam along wall lines, spanning pile to pile. The standard for extensions and most new homes. |
|---|---|
| Piled raft slab | One reinforced slab over all piles. Suits garages, commercial floors and buildings with distributed loads. |
| Suspended beam & block | Precast floor spanning between ground beams — the fix where clay heave means the floor must not touch the ground. |
Heave protection and the details that matter
On shrinkable clays, ground that was dried out by trees can swell for years after their removal. Beams on such sites are cast on compressible void formers so the swelling ground cannot lift the structure. It is an easy detail to skip and a ruinous one to miss — our designs include it wherever the ground demands.
Timescales and cost
A typical extension package — piles, beams, ready to build — takes one to two weeks on site. Budget from around £5,000 for small single-storey extensions to £15,000+ for large or awkward footprints. Commercial packages are priced from drawings and the site investigation.
Where we work
Our teams cover the whole North West, with local crews in:
Frequently asked questions
What is a piled foundation?
Instead of shallow strip footings, the structure sits on piles driven or bored down to firm ground, tied together by reinforced concrete ground beams or a raft slab. The beams spread the building's loads onto the piles.
Do you supply the whole package or just the piles?
Either. Many clients want a single contractor for the lot - piles, excavation, reinforcement, ground beams and slab, handed over ready for bricklayers. Others just need the piles installed to an engineer's layout. Both work for us.
What is a ring beam?
A ring beam is a continuous reinforced concrete beam that runs around the footprint of the building on top of the piles, tying them together and carrying the walls. On piled extensions it does the job of a traditional strip footing.
How long does a piled foundation take?
A typical domestic extension is piled in one to three days, with beams formed and poured the same week. Concrete then needs time to gain strength before heavy loading - usually about a week before blockwork starts.