Patios and paving in Ashtead and Surrey
Sandstone and porcelain, laid level and laid to last. New patios, repairs and cleaning.
We design and lay patios across Ashtead, Leatherhead, Epsom, Fetcham, Great Bookham, Tadworth and the villages around them. Sandstone, porcelain and block paving, along with the steps, edges and retaining walls that go with them.
A patio is mostly the part you cannot see. The dig-out, the depth of the sub-base, the fall for the water to run off, and whether every slab is bedded properly rather than dabbed on five blobs of mortar. Get those wrong and the patio moves, holds water, and grows moss in the joints within a couple of years. Get them right and it stays flat and clean for twenty.
This is the work Finch takes on himself rather than passing to the team, because it is the part of the job he likes most. If you want to see the difference that makes, the photographs below are all real jobs, and the tricky ones are in there as well as the easy rectangles.
What we lay
- Indian sandstone patios, riven or sawn, in a single size or a random mix
- Porcelain paving, including the wide-format slabs that need a proper flat base
- Block paving and gravel, for paths, bin stores and side passages
- Steps, retaining walls and sleeper edging where the garden changes level
- Existing patios lifted and relaid where the base is still sound
- Pressure washing and re-pointing, to see whether yours needs replacing at all
- Drainage and falls set so water runs away from the house, not towards it
- The old patio and all the spoil taken away — we are a registered waste carrier
Patios we have laid
What customers said
Finch did an excellent job on our patio. He and his team were fast working and professional, checking in with us through the stages of work and keeping us updated. Highly recommend Finch's garden services.
We recently had Finch and his team construct in extreme heat a bespoke covered pergola in our garden, and we couldn't be happier with the result. Finch was professional, reliable, and paid incredible attention to detail.
Finch did a great job transforming our front and back gardens. He was very hard working, professional and polite. Thank you Finch. Highly recommend!
What it costs
Patios are priced per job. The size matters less than you would think — what moves the price is the material, how much has to come out before anything goes down, whether the ground needs levelling or retaining, and how easy it is to get a barrow from the road to the back garden.
We measure it, work out the dig-out and the materials, and give you a fixed price in writing that covers both. If we open up the ground and find something nobody could have known about, we stop and tell you before we carry on.
If you are weighing up replacing against cleaning, say so when we come. A patio that only looks tired is often worth washing and re-pointing for a fraction of the cost, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a new one.
Questions about patios
Most take between three days and a fortnight. Roughly a third of that is dig-out and base, which is the part that decides whether the patio lasts. A straightforward rectangle on level ground is quick; anything involving steps, retaining walls or a change of level takes longer. We give you the timescale with the quote.
Usually not. A patio laid at or near ground level in a back garden is normally permitted development. The exceptions worth knowing: hard surfacing of more than five square metres in a front garden has to be permeable or drain to a soakaway, and listed buildings and some conservation areas have their own rules. If yours might be affected, check with Mole Valley District Council — and we will flag it if we spot it when we quote.
Sandstone is natural, warmer in tone, varies slab to slab, and costs less. It is porous, so it weathers and will want cleaning every few years. Porcelain is man-made, almost non-porous, keeps its colour and stays clean with very little effort, but costs more and is less forgiving to lay — it needs a flatter base and a slurry primer on every slab. If you want it to look established, sandstone. If you want it to look the same in ten years as it does on day one, porcelain.
Often, yes. If the slabs are sound and the levels have not moved, a proper wash and fresh pointing can make a patio look years younger for a small fraction of the cost of a new one. If the base has gone and slabs are rocking or holding water, cleaning is only a delay. We will tell you honestly which one you have got.
Nearly always the base or the falls. Slabs laid on spot blobs of mortar rather than a full bed will rock and crack as the ground moves underneath. Too little fall, or a fall towards the house, leaves water standing where the moss and algae grow. Both are invisible on day one and obvious by year three, which is why we would rather spend the time on the part you never see.
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Based in Ashtead, covering Leatherhead, Epsom, Tadworth, Fetcham, Great Bookham and surrounding areas.