Websites for groundworks contractors that win the work.

Groundworks are mostly bought by people who know exactly what they want. Builders, developers and self-builders need footings dug, foundations poured, drainage laid, sites cleared and slabs cast, usually to a drawing and a programme. They choose on capacity - plant, people, and whether you can start when the job needs you - and on a track record of similar jobs. A delay in groundworks holds up every trade after you, so reliability is the whole purchase. Self-builders are the most research-heavy group: they are more likely to find a groundworker online, ask a lot of questions, and value a contractor who explains the process. Homeowners appear for smaller jobs - drainage problems, soakaways, extension footings, bases for garden rooms - and are often unsure what they actually need.

When demand peaks. Wet winters turn sites to mud and slow excavation, so work builds from late winter into a busy spring and summer. Self-builders plan through the winter to break ground in spring.

Groundworks websites usually undersell capacity. A contractor with a yard of diggers and dumpers and a regular gang presents as a phone number and a single photo of a trench, which gives a developer no way to judge scale. The projects that prove capability - a set of house foundations, a drainage run, a large slab - are rarely written up with what was involved. Contractors also forget the self-build and domestic market, which searches online far more than developers do and wants clear explanations of footings, drainage and building control inspections. And the site paperwork a main contractor checks - cards, risk assessments, waste carrier registration - goes unmentioned.