🛠 Why Good Groundwork Isn’t Just Digging and Pouring

Inside the planning, science, and silent checks behind farm infrastructure that actually lasts

You ever stood on a job that looked finished — shiny new concrete, straight lines, machines gone — but by the first frost, it’s already cracking?

Yeah, we’ve been called out to fix plenty of those.

See, good groundwork isn’t about finishing fast or making it look decent for a drone shot. It’s about what’s beneath the surface. It’s about whether that new yard, lagoon, or access track will still hold up three winters from now — after the slurry’s rolled through, the tractors have hammered it, and the rain’s been relentless for weeks.

Let’s pull back the curtain on what real, professional groundwork takes — before the bucket hits the soil.

🔍 1. It Starts Before the Digger Arrives

Good groundwork starts with smart eyes — not heavy machines.

We walk the site.
We check the soil.
We measure the fall.
And we don’t move a thing until the water has somewhere to go.

Sometimes it’s as simple as adjusting the grade by 1%. Sometimes we’re looking at a full reprofile. But we always peg it out, laser-check the levels, and plan every turn of water before we quote.

Because if it doesn’t drain right, it doesn’t work. Full stop.

💷 2. We Build to Meet Grant Spec — Not “Close Enough”

There’s no use spending £20k on a new slurry lagoon or yard upgrade if you’re going to miss out on your grant because of a bodged measurement or missing bund height.

That’s why we reverse-engineer builds from grant compliance backwards.

• We know the volume rules.

• We know the concrete specs they want.

• We build bunds, access zones, drainage, and surface finishes that actually pass inspection.

Too many contractors guess it. We build it to match the spreadsheet before the form’s even sent in.

📊 3. We Track the Build While It’s Happening

Ever had a contractor shrug and say, “Yeah, it’s about 150mm thick”?
That doesn’t cut it when you’re spending serious money — or when you’ve got inspectors due.

We track everything:

• Laser-level readings

• Peg positions

• Depth and type of sub-base

• Number of compaction passes

• Drainage pipe runs and slopes

• Concrete mix spec, finish, jointing

Every step is recorded.
Every phase is photographed.
If you ever need to prove your lagoon volume, your fall grade, or your concrete depth — we’ve got it on file.

No guesswork. No forgetting. No "I think so."

🧱 4. Material Matters — So We Don’t Cut Corners

A job’s only as good as what goes into it.

We spec materials based on the job’s abuse rate — not just what’s available at the yard.

• Fibre-reinforced C40 concrete for high-load zones

• Geotextile membranes when soils demand it

• Clean 6F2 or Type 1 stone, compacted in layers — not builder’s rubble

• Perforated pipes with the right slope and outflow zones

• Drainage that moves water away from structures, not toward them

You’d be amazed how many jobs we fix where the fall is wrong, the stone is wrong, the concrete’s cracked, or there’s no proper outlet for drainage.

🧪 5. Post-Build Support and Performance Checks

Once the job’s done, we don’t vanish.

We walk the site with you.
Check how it performs.
Watch how water runs after a good storm.
Make sure joints, fall, and finishes are all doing their job.

Because we don’t build and bolt.
We build like we’ll be back next winter — and we often are, checking other jobs or building the next one.

⚠️ The Most Common Fix-Up Jobs We Get Called To

Here’s what we see all the time when someone else rushed a build:

• Concrete laid flat — no fall = pooling and frost cracks

• Cheap stone that’s sunk in 6 months

• No membrane — base’s washing out

• Drainage installed but with nowhere to run off

• Slurry lagoons undersized by 10k litres

• Gateways or shed entrances bogged by year two

Most of it comes from a lack of planning. No spec. No checks. Just dig, pour, get paid, and gone.

🛑 Before You Hire Any Contractor — Ask These Questions

• Do they laser-level the site before quoting?

• Will they design to grant spec, or just “wing it”?

• Do they track build data and materials?

• Are they still reachable if there’s a problem later?

If they don’t have good answers to all four — don’t hand them your farm.

👷 Final Thought

A yard that drains.
A lagoon that holds.
Concrete that survives Welsh winters.
That’s not luck — it’s planning, spec, and execution.

If you want it done right — built once, not twice — we’re here.

📍 Book a free site assessment
📥 Download the Groundworks Buyer’s Guide

PW Construction
Rural Groundworks | Built to Spec | Built for Farmers