One-off houses and small developments, taken from bare ground to handover by one family-run team. Third generation, 65 years in the trade, based in Worthing.
Whether it is one house on a plot behind an existing home or a handful of units, the process is the same. It is the scale that changes.
Rockshore Building Group is a family firm based at 51 Northbrook Road in Worthing. We are the third generation of builders in the family, with 65 years in the trade behind us and over 30 years of combined on-site experience in the current team. Joe runs the sites and is the person you deal with from first visit to handover.
We build one-off homes for private clients, replacement dwellings where an old bungalow comes down and a new house goes up, and small developments for local landowners and investors. Because we self-deliver groundwork, carpentry, electrics, plumbing and heating, rendering, roofing and flooring, a new build does not stall waiting for a subcontractor to become available.
A new build lives or dies on the information it is built from. We work to the architect’s drawings, the structural engineer’s calculations and the planning conditions attached to the consent, and we read all three before we start rather than halfway through.
Before anything is dug we go through the pack with you and flag the things that cost money later if they are missed: levels and finished floor heights, where the drainage can actually run, tree protection, site access for deliveries, and any pre-commencement conditions the council has attached to the permission. If something on the drawings will not build cleanly, we say so at the start.
Where the plot needs a warranty provider or an approved inspector as well as local-authority building control, we work to their inspection schedule too, and we book the visits so nothing is closed up before it has been seen.
A new house is won or lost in the ground, long before anyone sees a brick.
The stages of a new build, in the order they happen.
Hoarding, welfare, access and storage go in first so the site is safe and the neighbours are not living with a mess. Then we strip, set out to the drawings and dig. Foundation type follows the ground and the engineer’s design: trench fill, wide strip or piles and beams where the ground is poor or there are trees nearby.
Foul and surface water runs, manholes, soakaways or attenuation where the drainage strategy calls for it, and ducting for water, power and telecoms laid before the slab goes down. Getting the drainage right at this stage is the single biggest favour you can do the rest of the programme.
Blockwork and brickwork up from damp course, insulated cavity walls, beam and block or insulated slab floors, steels and lintels where the design needs them, then first floor joists and the internal structure. This is where a house starts to look like a house.
Roof timbers or trusses, felt, battens, tiles and leadwork, then windows and external doors. Once the shell is closed the inside work can run whatever the weather is doing off the Channel.
Electrics, plumbing and heating first fix, insulation, plasterboard and skim. Then screeds, carpentry, kitchens and bathrooms, sockets and switches, decorating and flooring.
Drives, paths, patios, turf, fencing and gates. Final building control and warranty inspections, snagging worked through properly rather than argued about, then the certificates and paperwork handed over with the keys.
Programmes on a new build depend on ground conditions, weather, material lead times and how quickly decisions are made. We will give you a realistic programme with your quote and keep you updated as it moves.
On a new build the difference between a tidy programme and a drifting one is management. We run the site directly: sequencing the trades, ordering materials to arrive when they are needed rather than sitting in the mud for a month, booking inspections in advance, and keeping deliveries off the neighbours’ driveways.
Sites are kept clean and secure, waste is managed, and health and safety is taken seriously. Our tradesmen train regularly on fire safety, insulation, air quality and health and safety. We carry comprehensive insurance as standard.
You get one point of contact for the whole build, and a straight answer when you ask where something is up to.
West Sussex has a bit of everything: flint and brick in the villages under the Downs, render and glass on the newer coastal plots, and plenty of streets where the planners will expect a new house to sit quietly next to its neighbours. We build to whatever the approved drawings call for, and we care about the details that give a new house some character: brick bonds and mortar colour, a proper apex gable, deep reveals, good rainwater goods rather than the cheapest on the shelf.
Inside, the finish matters just as much. We fit the kitchens and bathrooms ourselves, so what gets built matches what was drawn. See kitchens & bathrooms.
We are Worthing based and cover West Sussex, including Worthing, Goring, Findon and Storrington, and we take work further afield including London. If you have a plot with consent, or you are buying one and want a builder’s view before you commit, call 01903 411992 or 07949 172906 and we will come and look at it.
Quotes are free and there is no obligation. We price off the drawings so you can compare like for like, and we will tell you where we think the risk sits before you sign anything.
The same team, on the same site.
Both. We build single houses for private clients and replacement dwellings on existing plots, as well as small developments of a few units. The stages are the same either way, it is the scale and the site management that change.
To price a build properly we need drawings. If you already have planning consent and a full drawing pack, we can quote off that. If you are at an earlier stage we are still happy to come and look at the plot and give you a builder’s view before you spend money on design.
That is decided by the ground, not by preference. Trial holes and the structural engineer’s design determine whether it is trench fill, a wide strip or piles and ground beams. Clay, nearby trees and made-up ground are the usual reasons foundations go deeper, and building control inspects them before concrete is poured.
Yes. We work directly with local-authority building inspectors so the work meets UK building regulations, and where the plot has a warranty provider or an approved inspector we build to their inspection schedule and book the visits as the job progresses.
It depends on the size of the house, the ground conditions, the weather, material lead times and how quickly choices get made. We will give you a realistic programme with the quote and keep you updated as it moves. We would rather commit to a date we can hit.
Yes. Drives, paths, patios, turf, fencing and gates are all part of the job, done by the same team. It means the finished plot is handed over complete rather than left for you to arrange separately.