A base is only ever as good as the ground beneath it. We excavate, compact, shutter, reinforce and pour, so your garage, garden room, hot tub or hard standing sits on a slab that stays flat, sheds water and carries the load you put on it.
A concrete base is a reinforced slab laid over a dug and compacted formation so that a building, a vehicle or a stored load sits on something solid instead of sinking into the ground. A hard standing is the same principle at a larger scale: ground engineered to be parked on, stored on or driven over in all weather.
Both are groundworks jobs long before they are concrete jobs. The dig, the sub-base, the compaction, the reinforcement and the falls decide whether a slab stays flat. The pour is the last few hours of a job won or lost underneath.
That is why a base tilts, cracks or holds water two winters after it went down. Garages, garden rooms, sheds, hot tubs and agricultural hard standings each put a different load on a different piece of ground.
A garage slab carries a vehicle, so it is built like a small driveway with a building on top: dug to a formation that will take the load, laid over a compacted sub-base, and reinforced where the ground or the opening asks for it.
A garden room is heavier than most people expect and it stays where you put it. The slab goes in level over a damp proof membrane, finished flat enough for a factory-built unit to sit square, and detailed so rainwater runs away from the cladding.
Small bases fail for the same reasons big ones do: not enough dig, no compaction, no fall. Topsoil comes out, the sub-base goes in and is compacted, then the base is shuttered and poured so water sheds off instead of standing against timber.
A filled hot tub is a heavy, concentrated load in one spot. The slab is specified for that weight and position rather than poured to a standard, with levels set so water runs away from the tub and the house.
Hard standings for barns, stables, feed stores, machinery and muck bays take punishing loads on wet ground. Depth, drainage and falls are what keep them working through a Cornish winter.
Commercial hard standings are sized to the vehicle that uses them, with kerbing, edge restraint and surface water drainage designed in alongside the slab.
Most base work starts as something else: a garden being levelled, a garage going up, a yard churned into mud, a garden room ordered before anyone thought about what it stands on. Every photograph on this site is our own work, and we bring more to the site visit along with material samples.
Our Google reviews are public, and we would rather you read them yourself than take a line on our website for it.
Based on 4 Google reviews
Commenting as the owner of this property I can honestly say that Aaron was a pleasure to work with. Efficient, reliable, extremely hardworking, on schedule, amazing quality and just an all round lovely guy! Thank you Aaron! You can see the almost (steps leading up to the tub yet to be added as a finishing touch) finished project on the Boutique Retreats website: Kilter House, Coverack
Read more on GoogleWould definitely recommend. Our driveway was a mismatch of 3 different sections of gravel, some old concrete and a step. In two days he has completely overhauled it and it looks amazing. Very fast worker, polite and professional and reasonably priced as well. You won’t be disappointed by Michael’s team at all!
Read more on FacebookAaron laid us a wonderful patio for our back garden. From the start he was highly professional and courteous. He sat with us to discuss the best, most cost efficient options to get us exactly what we imagined. Aaron was very reliable and his after care has been exceptional ensuring he delivers the highest quality for his clients. Highly recommended!
Read more on GoogleMike and his son did a fantastic job on our sandstone patio. They provided a competitive quote and had expert knowledge. The job itself was completed to a very high standard. We are very happy with it. I highly recommend. Thank you again for the fantastic work.
Read more on FacebookReally happy with the work from Aaron Hunt Groundworks. Aaron and his team were super easy to deal with—friendly, reliable, and clearly know what they’re doing. They turned up on time, got stuck in, and made sure everything was done properly with a great finish. They kept the place tidy and checked in with us throughout the job to make sure we were happy. No fuss, no stress—just solid, professional work. Would definitely recommend them to anyone needing groundwork done. Top team!
Read more on GoogleWe had been waiting for along time for this small bit of garden to be finished…the original person we had booked just didn’t work out in the end. We booked Sunset Surfacing We are so pleased with the work and can’t wait for the summer to arrive. They were clean, tidy and professional…thank you
Read more on FacebookExtremely happy with my new patio. It wasn’t the most straight forward to lay but Aaron managed to get the finish I wanted and was completely flexible and accommodating to make it happen for our time lines. Would highly recommend.
Read more on GoogleIt stays flatA sub-base compacted in layers over a sound formation is what stops the settlement, the tilt and the dips that show up a couple of winters after the building goes on.
Your building lasts longerFalls set at the pour, and a damp proof membrane laid under the slab, keep water moving away from timber, cladding and door thresholds instead of sitting against them.
Doors and openings keep workingA slab that moves throws a garage door, a roller shutter or a garden room frame out of square, which is an expensive thing to chase later.
It takes the load you actually put on itThe slab is specified for the vehicle, the machinery or the filled tub that will sit on it, not for a generic garden building.
One firm from the dig to the finished slabWe break out, excavate, cart away, build the sub-base, set the shuttering and steel, and pour. Nothing waits on a second contractor.
Send the postcode, the rough size of the base and what will sit on it. A garden room, a garage and a horsebox are three different slabs.
Aaron or Mike walks the ground with you, checks levels and machine access, looks at where the water goes now, and takes in any manufacturer's requirements.
The dig depth, the sub-base build-up, the membrane, the reinforcement, the slab, the falls and anything that would change the price, all before you commit.
Topsoil and soft ground come out rather than get built over, and the sub-base goes in and is compacted in layers.
Steel is set and supported, the slab poured, levelled and finished, and the site left clean and ready for your building.
Where a base sits and how big it is are planning questions before they are concrete ones. The Planning Portal sets out that outbuildings in England are normally permitted development provided they are single storey and sit no further forward than the principal elevation of the house. It also sets out that a detached single-storey building under 15 square metres with no sleeping accommodation does not normally need building regulations approval, with that exemption extending to 30 square metres where the building sits at least a metre from a boundary or is built substantially of non-combustible material. We settle those limits on the site visit.
Groundworkers pouring their own base. The people setting the shuttering are the people who dug the hole and compacted what is under it.
Any size of machine, on any access. Between the two directors we hold CPCS 360 excavator tickets above and below 10 tonnes, plus dumper tickets.
HW Contractors is run by its two owner-directors, both on the tools. Aaron Hunt brings 10 years in the trade and holds a CPCS 360 Excavator Above 10 Tonnes ticket, a CSCS card, a Street Works Operative qualification and a dumper ticket. Mike Wherry brings 30 years and holds a CPCS 360 Excavator Below 10 Tonnes ticket, a CSCS card, a Street Works Supervisor qualification and a dumper ticket. Together that is 40 years of combined experience and a team of three.
Nobody ever looks at a base again once the building is on it, which is exactly why it has to be right the first time. Get the dig, the compaction and the falls right and the slab does its job quietly for the rest of its life.Aaron Hunt, co-owner of HW Contractors
We work from Porthleven, and our patch runs from the Lizard up to Newquay. Helston and Porthleven are on the doorstep, and we build bases and hard standings regularly across Camborne and Redruth, out to Mullion and the Lizard, and up through Penzance, Falmouth, Truro, St Ives and Newquay.
Farm and smallholding work takes us down the lanes as often as it takes us into towns, and machine access is part of what we look at on the visit.
We do not publish rates, because a base is priced on the ground it sits on and the load it carries. What you get instead is a free site visit with no obligation, and a written quote setting out:
If something in the ground changes what the base needs, you get the revised figure in writing before we carry on. Whatever is agreed is set out in the quote before any work starts.
The dig, the drainage and the site preparation that every base sits on, taken in sequence by one firm.
Groundworks
Trenches, footings and building control inspections for extensions and new builds.
Foundations and footings
The lawn that goes back around a new garden building once the base is in.
Turfing and artificial grassSend us the postcode, the rough size of the base and what is going on it, and one of us will come out, look at the ground and put a written quote in front of you. The visit is free and there is no obligation.
Call us on 07886 070245·Get a free quote online
Porthleven, Cornwall
Phone: 07886 070245
Email: info@hwcontractors.co.uk
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
Last updated: 22 September 2026