Builders for small jobs across South Devon.
The awkward middle ground: too structural for a handyman, too small for a builder to bother returning your call. Those jobs still need doing properly.
There is a well-known gap in the trade. A handyman will not knock through a wall. A large contractor will not price a two-day job. So the work sits on a list for years, and eventually gets done badly by whoever answered the phone.
We take on smaller building works alongside larger projects. Not because it is where the money is, but because a small job done properly is how a lot of our larger projects started — and because a wall that needs a lintel deserves a lintel whether the job takes two days or two months.
What counts as a small building job
Broadly: anything that touches structure, weathering or the building fabric but does not need a full project programme. A single opening formed, a chimney breast removed with proper support, a section of wall rebuilt, a rotten sill replaced, a doorway widened.
The common thread is that these jobs have a right way and a wrong way, and the wrong way is invisible for a couple of years.
- Internal openings, lintels and chimney breast removal
- Rebuilding damaged brickwork and repointing
- Rotten timber, sills, fascias and external joinery
- Small structural repairs and making good
- Doorways altered, blocked up or widened
- Plastering, floors and finishing after other trades
Why small jobs still need the same discipline
A two-day job in an occupied house needs the same dust protection, the same floor coverings and the same tidy-up as a two-month one. Arguably more, because you are working in the middle of somebody's living space rather than behind a sealed boundary.
It also needs the same honesty about structure. Removing a chimney breast without supporting what is above it is a genuinely dangerous shortcut that gets taken far too often because the job looked small.
Getting a straight answer quickly
For small works the most valuable thing is usually speed of answer rather than a lengthy quotation process. Send a photograph and a description and you will get a realistic reply about whether it is something we can do and roughly what is involved.
If it is genuinely not our work — a pure plumbing or electrical job, for example — we will say so rather than take it on and subcontract the whole thing back out.
Bundling jobs into one visit
The economics of small works improve dramatically when several are done together. Set-up, access and protection are a fixed cost regardless of whether we are there for one job or four.
If you have a list, send the whole list. It is almost always cheaper than calling us back three times.
Common questions
Is there a minimum job size?
No fixed minimum. Smaller jobs are easiest to justify when several are bundled into one visit, since set-up and access are a fixed cost.
Can you remove a chimney breast?
Yes, with correct support to whatever remains above it. This is exactly the kind of job that looks small and is not — it needs doing properly.
Will you actually call back about a small job?
Enquiries come to Anthony directly. If we cannot help, you will be told that rather than left waiting.
Do you do plumbing and electrical work?
We work with established local electricians and plumbers on projects, but a pure plumbing or electrical job is better placed directly with that trade.
Tell us about the job and we’ll come back with a clear next step.
Serving Paignton, Torbay & South Devon. Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00.