If you are planning an extension, garage or garden wall, footings are one of the first costs you will hit and one of the hardest to pin down in advance. Prices vary widely because so much depends on what is under your lawn. Here is an honest breakdown of what footings typically cost in the UK and why quotes differ so much.
For a standard strip footing for a single-storey extension, most homeowners in the UK pay somewhere between £100 and £250 per linear metre, dug, poured and inspected. That usually covers excavation to around 1 metre deep, muck away, concrete and labour. A typical single-storey extension might need 12 to 18 linear metres of footings, so a realistic budget is often £1,500 to £4,500 for the footings stage alone.
Trench fill footings, where the trench is filled with concrete almost to ground level, cost more in concrete but less in labour and blockwork below ground. They are common around Northampton because they suit deeper trenches. Concrete itself runs at roughly £100 to £140 per cubic metre delivered, and a deeper trench can swallow a surprising amount of it.
The biggest unknown is what the digger finds. Much of Northamptonshire sits on clay, and clay shrinks and swells with moisture, especially near trees. Building control can insist footings go deeper than the standard 1 metre, sometimes 1.5 metres or more near a mature tree, and every extra 300mm of depth means more digging, more muck away and more concrete.
Other surprises include old drains, buried concrete, made-up ground from previous building work, and high water tables. None of these are rare. A good groundworker will flag the risks when quoting, but no one can guarantee what is below the surface until the trench is open, which is why footings quotes often carry a provisional element for extra depth.
A proper quote should itemise excavation, disposal of spoil, concrete supply and pour, and attendance for the building control inspection before the pour. The inspector must see the open trench and approve it, so timing matters and a rushed pour before sign-off can be an expensive mistake.
Check whether the price includes setting out from your architect's drawings, protection or diversion of any drains in the trench line, and reinstatement of the area around the dig. If any of these are missing, ask. The cheapest quote on paper is often the one with the most left out.
Good access saves real money. If a mini digger and grab lorry can reach the trench line easily, the job is faster and cheaper. If everything has to be barrowed through the house or a narrow side passage, expect labour costs to rise noticeably.
Getting drawings and building control sorted before work starts also helps. Digging first and asking questions later usually ends with redigging, and it is far cheaper to establish the required depth on paper than in an open trench. Finally, agree in writing how extra depth will be priced, usually per cubic metre of additional dig and concrete, so there are no arguments if the ground turns out worse than hoped.
A common minimum is 1 metre for house extensions, but the real answer is whatever building control approves for your soil. On clay near trees, which is common around Northamptonshire, 1.5 metres or deeper is not unusual.
You can, but the trench still has to pass a building control inspection, and a collapsed or over-dug trench costs more concrete to fix than the labour saved. For anything beyond a shallow garden wall, hiring a groundworker is usually the safer and often cheaper option overall.
For a typical single-storey extension with reasonable access, expect two to five days from breaking ground to poured concrete, plus curing time before blockwork starts. Poor weather, difficult access or extra depth requirements can stretch that.
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