Groundworks and Drainage Bedfordshire

Everything a builder does sits on the groundwork, and when groundwork goes wrong, everything above it goes wrong too. Footings, drainage, service trenches and slabs are the least glamorous part of construction and the part where cutting corners costs the most.

JLS Building & Property Development provides groundworks and drainage services across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, both as the first phase of our own building projects and as standalone work for homeowners, landlords and commercial clients. Family-run, based in Biggleswade, with over 30 years of experience and SafeContractor accreditation.

 Foundations & Footings

Excavation and concrete foundations for extensions, garden rooms, garages, garden walls and conservatories, dug to building control's satisfaction and poured to specification. Local ground conditions vary from river-valley soils near the Ivel and Ouse to clay that demands deeper footings; we know the difference and price accordingly.

Drainage Installation

New foul and surface water drainage, connections to existing runs, inspection chambers, gullies and soakaways, designed and installed to building regulations Part H.

Drainage Repairs & Problem Solving

Collapsed or root-damaged drains, persistent blockages, overflowing gullies and waterlogged gardens, excavated, repaired and reinstated.

Site Preparation & Excavation

Site strip and levelling, reduced-level digs, trenching for services (water, power, data to outbuildings) and muck-away.

Concrete Slabs & Bases

Bases for garden rooms, sheds, garages and hot tubs, properly sub-based, membraned, insulated where needed, and power-floated where the finish matters.

External Levels & Retaining

Ground remodelling, terracing and retaining structures, usually delivered alongside our landscaping services.

 Because groundworks sit inside a full-service building firm, you don't need to hire a groundworker, then a builder, then someone to make good the garden. One team takes your project from the first bucket of soil to the last paving slab. See our patios and driveways for how the finishing layer gets done. For commercial clients, our groundworks capability supports car park repairs, drainage maintenance and external works through our facilities maintenance arm.

We carry out groundworks across the whole region, including for clients in Bedford, where extension footings and drainage upgrades in the town's older housing stock are regular jobs, and across the border for homeowners in St Neots, where newer developments often need garden drainage solutions the original build never provided.