Extensions · West Dorset & East Devon

Extensions tied properly into the house

Single storey, two storey, side, rear and wrap around extensions across West Dorset and East Devon. We take the extension from footings to finished room: structure, roof, windows and doors, the steel or lintels that open the old wall up, then plastering, rendering and second fix by our own team. Every other trade is booked by us, and the house stays liveable for as long as it can while the work goes on.

Call Us Get a Quote

Rendered single storey extension with a new window and flat roof detail, Chapman Building & Plastering Ltd

Whole projects, start to finishFootings, shell, roof, plastering and every trade in between

What is included

Every extension, covered

Single and two storey

Kitchen and dining extensions, garden rooms off the back, two storey side extensions with a bedroom over, and full wrap arounds. Built to your architect's drawings and the engineer's calculations.

Opening up the old wall

Steel beams and padstones fitted and the old external wall taken down in the right order, so the new space reads as one room with the existing house rather than a box bolted on.

Matching the existing house

Render, stone, brick or cladding chosen and finished to sit with what is already there. On older houses that often means lime render or local stone, and we do both in house.

Roofs, lanterns and glazing

Pitched roofs in slate or tile, flat roofs in single ply or GRP, roof lanterns and bifold or sliding doors ordered and fitted as part of the programme.

Plastering and rendering by us

The new walls are boarded and skimmed and the outside rendered by our own plasterers, so the finish matches inside and out and nothing waits on a separate contractor.

Kitchens and second fix

If the extension is a new kitchen, we fit it: units, worktops, flooring and second fix carpentry, with the electrics and plumbing brought in at the right stage.

Recent work

Extensions, on site and finished

Rendered cottage with clay tile roof and black timber gable, West Dorset — Rendered cottage, clay tiles and timber gable

Kitchen with island and rooflight, West Dorset — Kitchen island under a new rooflight

Larch-clad building with full-height corner glazing at dusk, West Dorset — Larch cladding and full-height glazing at dusk

Raised timber deck with balustrade and vertical cladding under construction — Deck, balustrade and cladding

Larch cladding wrapping a flat roof terrace — Cladding wraps the flat roof

Rendered extension with a new window and flat roof detail — Extension rendered and finished

Tap any photo to open it. The full set is on the homepage gallery.

Questions

Asked and answered

Do I need planning permission for an extension?

Not always. Many single storey rear extensions fall under permitted development, but in conservation areas, on listed buildings and within the Dorset and East Devon protected landscapes the rules are tighter. We will tell you honestly whether your extension is likely to need an application, and we can point you to an architect who works locally if you do not already have one.

How long will an extension take?

A straightforward single storey extension is usually eight to twelve weeks on site. Two storey and wrap around extensions run longer, typically three to five months, because of the roof and the extra structure. You get a written programme before we start.

Can we live in the house while the extension is built?

Almost always. We keep the existing external wall up for as long as possible and only open through once the new structure is weathertight. There will be dust and noise for a few weeks around the break through, and we tell you when that is coming.

Will the extension match the rest of the house?

That is the point of doing it properly. We match render texture and colour, source stone and brick to sit with the original, and set roof lines and window heights so the extension looks as though it belongs. Where the house is older, we use lime based materials so the walls can still breathe.

Do you do the plastering and rendering yourselves?

Yes. Chapman is a building and plastering firm, so the boarding, skimming, float finishes and external render are all done by our own team rather than subcontracted. It keeps the programme tight and the finish consistent.

Which areas do you build extensions in?

West Dorset and East Devon, with Bridport, Axminster, Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Beaminster and the surrounding villages all in our regular patch.

Where we work

Extensions across West Dorset and East Devon

Based between Axminster and Bridport, so both towns and everything between them is on the doorstep, and Lyme Regis, Beaminster, Seaton and Crewkerne are all a normal run. If your village is not on the list, ask anyway.

Bridport Axminster Lyme Regis Charmouth Marshwood Vale Beaminster Chideock Symondsbury West Bay Burton Bradstock Whitchurch Canonicorum Morcombelake Wootton Fitzpaine Broadwindsor Netherbury Powerstock Loders Bothenhampton Eype Uplyme Musbury Colyton Seaton Chard Crewkerne Dorchester

Also from Chapman