Old houses, opened up with care
Most of Cornwall lives in houses that are already standing: Victorian cottages, post-war bungalows, farmhouses, the odd hotel. Paint will carry a room for a long time. Eventually the structure, the roof or the plan of the house needs a builder who has done this before. We have been renovating houses for more than twenty years, and we are long-standing members of the Federation of Master Builders.
The work runs from a new kitchen wall to a full remodel. At Mays Cottage, Pendoggett, an old farmhouse gained a contemporary wing, a master balcony and a sunken sauna over eleven months. At Mordros in Trevone, a bungalow became a four-bedroom holiday home. At Southpark Road, Tywardreath, a loft that LABC had condemned was rebuilt, and the house was insulated and fitted with solar and air-source heating.
Listed buildings and the problems inside the walls
We have worked on Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings, including in conservation areas. A hotel we renovated was later upgraded to Grade II* because of the period fittings restored during that job. The standard is the same on a cottage: the work is finished when it is right, including when that takes longer than the programme first allowed.
Older buildings often hide the reason they failed. Dry rot, wet rot and mould have to be traced to the damp that caused them, or they return. Movement in the ground, or simply age, can need new structure. Those are specialist repairs, and they are part of the job rather than a surprise we walk away from.
Extensions, lofts, garages and the garden
An extension can be matched in brick or stone so it belongs to the original house, even when that house is two centuries old. It can also be a clearly new piece of building, which is sometimes the more honest design. Many of the enquiries we see are for a larger kitchen, either by taking down the wall to a dining room that nobody uses, or by extending into the garden.
The same team fits loft conversions, garages, home offices, bathrooms and paving. Clients have asked us back for a loft and then a garage after a new house, for an office and landscaping after a garage, and for a patio on its own. Bathrooms, roofing and kitchen fitting sit with the building work, so you are not collecting five contractors for one house.
