What we do
We lay paving as the foundation of everything else. Sandstone, porcelain and granite for terraces. Brick for edges and headers. Slate where the architecture asks for it. Mostly we work at terrace scale — gardens that need a place to sit, host, host again — and increasingly at full-garden scale where the whole rear plot becomes one resolved surface.
How we approach it
Every patio gets a written specification before a slab leaves the yard. Every slab is laid wet on a full mortar bed — no spot-bedding, no shortcuts that come back as movement in year three. Every joint is hand-cut at the perimeter, every cut is dry-run before it's pointed. Sub-base depth depends on substrate; we'd rather over-engineer than fix later.
No spot-bedding. No corners cut. No exceptions.
Materials
Mixed-size Indian sandstone in random course (Raj, Kandla grey, Mint, Modak), large-format porcelain in textured and smooth finishes, granite cobble setts for transitions, slate for shaded north-facing aspects. Brick edging in Ibstock multi or reclaimed, depending on what the surrounding architecture wants.
Pointing in mushroom-tone or charcoal jointing compound — never sand-and-cement scratched into the joints. Where the brief calls for it, we'll specify resin-bound for permeable surfaces.
In practice
See Three-tier garden, Fareham 2026 for Himalayan White porcelain on two levels, framed in dark brick, with a linear drain along the house and the access covers recessed and filled with porcelain. Or Decking to porcelain, Fareham 2026 for a beige porcelain rebuild with matching brick-faced steps. Or Full hardscape, Warsash 2025 for a two-zone large-format porcelain treatment with a picture-framed Astro insert.
The part that decides whether paving lasts is the part you never see: why mortar spec matters more than the slab on top. Planning a garden project? Read our guide on what to think through before you call anyone, or see what's actually in a hard-landscaping quote. Considering a contrasting edge or insert? when to picture-frame a feature covers where it earns its place. What that sub-base sits on varies street by street across Hampshire. See soils across the Solent for gravel, clay, chalk and made ground. Near the water, material choice changes again. Building for the salt cycle covers what we specify differently within a mile of the Solent. Thinking of building over the colder months? Can you lay a patio in winter? covers what the weather allows, and what it doesn't.
Where we build it
Most of our paving goes down within half an hour of the Warsash studio: patios in Fareham, courtyards and walled plots for hard landscaping in Portsmouth, terraces on heavy ground for hard landscaping in Southampton, and patios in Gosport built for the coast.