Property Maintenance in Godstone (RH9)
Our office is at 27 High Street, in the middle of the village, so a survey here is a walk rather than a drive. Small repairs are the easiest thing on a house to put off, and they are the ones that grow into big ones.
The jobs that never quite justify a call-out
Every house has a running list: the gutter that overflows at one corner, the door that has dropped, the crack in the plaster above the stairs, the length of pointing that has gone, the loose paving by the back step. None of them on its own looks worth a visit, which is how a list like that grows until one item on it causes damage. The sensible approach is to keep the list and have it worked through in one go, in the order that matters — anything letting water in first, anything that is a nuisance second, anything cosmetic last. Priced item by item, you can see what each thing costs and decide there and then what gets done.
Repairs on the village's older buildings
Godstone has two conservation areas and a good number of listed and period cottages around the green, the pond and the church. On buildings like these even a routine repair is a decision. A modern material or detail put into old fabric usually causes a problem rather than solves one, and where a property is listed, consent can be needed for work that looks minor. The safe default is like for like — the same mortar, the same profile of joinery, the same breathable finishes — and a willingness to repair a component rather than replace it. Old timber and old brick take a great deal of repair before they are genuinely finished. We establish what applies to your property at the survey rather than partway through the work.
One firm, and who is actually on site
The building trades are ours: bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers and groundworkers on SG's own books since 2005.
Gas and heating, electrics, roofing and decorating are specialist trades, and we say so plainly — those we bring in, manage on site and stay answerable for. On a maintenance list that crosses several trades that is the difference between one written price and one point of contact, and four separate firms each waiting on another. It also means the making good actually gets done: the pipe runs chased in and buried, the boxing in built, the plaster brought back and the decoration seen through, rather than left behind as somebody else's problem once a specialist has driven off. If something needs looking at again afterwards, you ring the same number: 01883 337 700.
More in Godstone
Everything we do in Godstone is on the Godstone area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the building maintenance page.
Common questions
Q.01Is there a minimum job size?
No fixed minimum. Several small items booked as a single visit works better than a separate call-out for each, and with the office in the village that is easy to arrange.
Q.02Are you actually based in Godstone?
Yes, 27 High Street, in the middle of the village. It is our own doorstep, which is why surveys and coming back to check something afterwards are simple here.
Q.03My cottage is listed. Can you still carry out repairs?
Yes, with the position established first. Listed buildings can need consent for work that seems routine, and repairs should be like for like in material and detail. We check before starting rather than during.
Q.04Can you price a list of jobs rather than one?
That is usually the better way to do it. We walk round with you, write the list down, price it item by item, and you decide what happens now and what waits.
Thinking about building maintenance in Godstone?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.