kwdConstruction can help transform aged paving and tired gardens into attractive and robust outdoor living spaces.

Welcome to kwdConstruction, a Bolton-based company offering groundwork services including block paving, natural stone flags ("Indian" stone), brickwork (garden walls, retaining walls, steps, garden features) and general landscaping such as decorative aggregates and turf and artificial installation. With decades of personal experience in groundworks, kwdConstruction can transform your property & enhance its value.

Whether it's a block paved driveway or a whole garden redesign, you will be impressed with the uncompromising level of workmanship and attention to detail that goes into our works. We use a vast array of materials sourced from around the world to allow us to implement our designs without restriction, including products from Tobermore, Kilseran, Marshalls, Plasmor, Charcon and Wyresdale, but don't pay to register on any "approved contractor" lists offered by any product manufacturers, so our integrity and genuine no-compromise attitude to design is guaranteed.

You can expect a free, no-obligation written quotation after your works have been assessed. You will be offered a clear idea of the expected time scale for your works to complete, and a start date window that is honest and achievable. The British weather is always a factor with these kinds of projects, but once you decide to use our services we will agree a start date & liaise closely to ensure satisfaction.

Services Offered

regular 200x100mm standard block paving - There's little to discern between brands as all regular blocks used are crafted to British Standards. The only meaningful differences are the colourways and price, Wyresdale and Tobermore offering great ranges and affordability.

smooth paving - Very large unit paviours with a sleek ultra-modern look, very low profile chamfers and tight joints, when the warmth and craft of individual unit paving is required but maintenence is to be kept to a minimum. Installed brick-bond in rows or offset 1/3 width; Tobermore, Kilseran and Wyresdale offer excellent examples of this style of block paving.

shot-blasted textured blocks - Silver/grey and black smooth textured finish blocks with a distinctive look and grippy tread. Kilseran and Tobermore produce very fine examples of this paving.

tegula paving - Tumbled-style blocks appropriate for when the client is looking for a country cottage cobbled street look and a long-term pristine finish isn't paramount: for when a more "lived in" appearance is sought. Best suited to period or period-style properties. All manufacturers offer a version of this paving, but cost varies considerably between brands. Large jointing gaps in each tumbled-off corner require regular simple maintenence.


riven natural stone paving - Installed in a true random layout, random in rows or brick-bond, incorporating units from ~300x300mm to 900x600mm. Available in over a dozen colourways, sourced globally. Natural products, hand crafted edges and with no two units alike. Ideal for any patio or outdoor garden space. Installed on a full mortar bed, welded to a non-woven geotextile and jointed with with a 3:1 mortar mix or resin-bound jointing compounds.

sawn-edge natural stone paving - As above but with a machine-cut edge to allow more precise, tighter joints, but retaining the rustic/authentic look of a hand-split product.

sawn/smoothed/honed natural stone paving - When only the look, feel and warmth of natural stone paving will do but an ultra-modern, sleek finish is required. This paving is machined on all 6 sides and honed providing a sleek surface and allowing for very precise and tight jointing for an effect that is more akin to tiling than regular outdoor groundworks. Notoriously difficult to lay to a consistent high standard, it's one of my personal favourite and most rewarding products to install. For some the premium price is worth it for the unparalleled result.

driveway natural stone paving - Up to twice the thickness of the calibrated and machined stone products, this product is suitable for driveway installation on a full 3" mortar bed welded to a non-woven geotextile over the usual MOT type 2 sub-base. Jointing with either an SBR-infused mortar or resin-based compound.

Walling

wyresdale abbey stone walling - Chosen by over 95% of clients for their garden walls and to face retaining walls. Complements natural stone paving perfectly and is highly versatile to keep the works consistent.

quarried stone walling - The perfect choice when a more random/authentic/rustic look is required, but can be expensive, labour-intensive and can often only be used to face a structiural wall.


Decorative Aggregates

gravels - From 10mm to 100mm in a range of colours.

bark - Chipped bark to tidy beds and keep weeds to a minimum.

play bark - Bark suitable for kids' play areas.6


Turf

lawn turf - Replace or create garden lawn to finish a project.

artificial turf - Installed similarly to patio paving - low maintenence with natural appeal.


hydraulic-pressed concrete flags - For driveways and patios, the standard "3x2" and "2x2" flags and natural, red and buff colours. With a block paving border and kerb edgings, these can look every bit as attractive as a block paved driveway or patio, with very tight joints and large unit size maintenence is low.

riven-effect patio flags - Available in 450x450mm in the usual solid colours and a number of 2-tone mixes, and 600x600mm in solid colours, wyresdale riven flags prove a great cost-effective option for patio paving.

wet-cast concrete flags - Not often used these days as their real natural stone counterparts are more cost-effective, but still available from a number of manufacturers.


resin-bound aggregates - Modern and "something a bit different". It's been around for a few decades, but has only recently become popular due to advances in the bonding technology and increased functional lifetime. These products are only as sound as the material they are applied to, and as some paving products such as block paving and tarmacadam are inherently flexible, it is not normally something we would offer as a tacked-on coat over existing paving. Installed from scratch over a thick, fibre-infused concrete base after adequate curing time and bordered with stone cobbles or sett block paving, it can look reasonably attractive, if a little more artificial than loose aggregates with its childrens-play-area aesthetics. It has highly specific, multi-step installation requirements that are often not adhered to by all installers, requiring mixing in forced-action mixers to ensure evenness (not a regular paddle or cememnt mixer, they can't offer this) and is highly dependent on weather conditions to ensure adhesion. It's also, due to its nature, not a product that can be lifted and replaced unlike individual unit block paviours and flags - so clients should be aware any access required to pipes and cables under their paving will necessarily involve destruction of the finished surface and remedial work that is unlikely to match evenly with the aaged/weathered surface. Cost is somewhat prohibitive for top quality products and it is not to be confused with resin-bonded surfacing which is effectively aggregate applied to a tack coat rather than wholly bond in an approx. 16mm deep layer with resin-bound. A much cheaper, more maintainable and less artificial-looking solution would be to use a plastic grid reinforcement system with larger, loose aggregates.


tarmacadam - A very tidy and understated surface, it however requires a lot of job-specific tools and a reliance on 3rd parties. When coupled with the low demand from clients, it makes offering macadam impractical. There are a small number of specialist macadam installers who should be contacted when that product and no other is required.

pattern imprinted concrete (PIC) - When this first appeared over here in the 80s, it was cost prohibitive and was always finished and protected by a very high-build, chemically-resistant but tricky to apply polyurethane sealant. These days, as companies compete in a spiraling race to the bottom, sealing with PU is almost never seen outside of commercial projects, instead installers opt for cheap acrylics for a fraction of the price - often requiring a reapplication within 12 months. With the surface of PIC being all-important, sealing is the most important component of all. This is why you now see, some years after the boom in PIC installation, many examples of peeling, faded, chipped, scuffed, cracked and crumbling PIC driveways. Often sold as a "maintenence-free" solution, it quickly earned a reputation as anything but. More recent wet-application PIC sealants fare even less well over time, but are often used due to allowing the installers to finish and get paid without delays. The boom in PIC installation is over, many installers went on to painting roof tiles with equally lacking sealants and re-sealing/re-colouring existing concrete driveways. I've never been convinced by any paving that cannot reasonably be lifted and replaced to access pipes and cables beneath, and therefore it's never been something I've looked to offer (despite the demand around a decade ago).

Why kwdConstruction?

History

kwdConstruction was formed in 2008 by myself, Kevin Dempsey B.Sc., and has been offering paving, landscaping and design services as a direct-to-customer private contractor ever since. A history in paving and landscaping goes back much further, though...

Experience : BIO

I'm passionate about my work and proud of how I arrived here. Prior to 2008, I was employed in the same trade by the family business, Dempsey Paving (William Dempsey Ltd.). Before this, from a tender age in the 1980s, all the way through into my early 20s, I would spend school and college holidays and occasional weekends out working with my Dad on private works and building sites. I've been around groundworks since my age was in single digits. It was never really my intention to make a career of it (more a Father's plan to teach a son how tough it was to make a living by hard work and to continue to do well in school), but after spending years at school and university studying Engineering Design, Computer Programming, Business Studies and Information Systems, and spending a few years working indoors sat at a desk, I knew I'd only truly be happy in myself if I was out grafting away in the work I genuinely enjoyed.

So I worked full time alongside my Dad, Bill, for a good number of years both in my youth and for over a decade in my 20s and 30s. We worked together on jobs of all sizes, from the smallest of garden paths, to contract stone reinstatement works for local councils, to multi-hundred-metre redevelopment works such as The Printworks in City Centre Manchester. During this time I attended nightschool twice a week for a number of years to gain formal qualifications in bricklaying. After a while it came time to set up and create soemthing of my own, so I formed kwdConstruction.

Job Satisfaction - the client's and my own

Working with a client to help realise their ideas to provide a functional and usable space that enchance their families lives and is highly rewarding. Whether it's simply a driveway that accomodates all the family's vehicles or a whole garden redesign offering opportunities for entertaining and warm Summer evenings relaxing, I take care and pride in everything I do.