Plumbing Installation

New builds and extensions

When you're adding an extension or building from scratch, the plumbing needs to be designed into the project from the start, not bolted on at the end. We work alongside building work to run new supply and waste pipes, install soil stacks, connect to the main drainage run, and rough in everything that needs to be in the walls and floor before plastering.

Getting first-fix right matters. A soil stack in the wrong position, a waste run with insufficient fall, supply pipes that don't account for future fittings: these are the things that cause problems two years later. We think about the whole system before we start cutting.

Extensions in older Dorset and Devon properties often involve joining new copper or plastic pipework onto existing lead or iron runs that are decades old. That means assessing what's there and being straight about what's worth retaining and what needs replacing while we're in the walls.

Replumbing older properties

A lot of homes across Dorset, Devon and Somerset are carrying pipework that's at or past end of life. Lead pipe into the house from the street, old iron soil stacks, copper joints that have been leaking slowly for years. Sometimes you notice it; sometimes you find it during a renovation.

A full replumb is a significant job but it's also a clean slate. New supply pipework throughout, new waste runs, a properly sized cylinder if the property needs one, new heating circuits where they're being updated at the same time. We work through it in stages to keep the house habitable, usually starting from the incoming supply and working out.

If you're also having a bathroom installation or kitchen plumbing done, it's worth doing the larger pipework work at the same time. Less disruption overall, and everything is sized to match what the fittings actually need.

First-fix and second-fix

First-fix is everything that goes in before the plasterboard and floor finishes: flow and return pipes, waste runs, soil stack connections, cylinder connections, heating circuits. Second-fix is fitting the finished items once decoration is done: taps, radiators, valves, shower fittings, sanitary ware.

Both stages need to be done to the right standard. A poorly run first-fix will show through every second-fix job. We carry out both, and if there's a gap between the two stages (which is common on a new build), we'll return to complete it on the schedule that suits the build programme.

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