Builders of London Homes, Managed Properly

We are organised as one team rather than two. The people who design a project and the people who build it work for the same company, sit in the same meetings and are answerable to the same programme — which is why what gets drawn here is buildable, and what gets built matches the drawing. A dedicated project manager owns your job from the first survey to handover, and is the person you call.

Underneath that sits a settled group of trades: carpenters, plasterers, electricians, plumbers and decorators who work together across London homes week after week rather than being assembled per project. Continuity is what makes a finish consistent — the second bathroom in a house looks like the first because the same people built both.

How we run the commercial side is deliberately unglamorous. An itemised, fixed-scope quotation before anything starts, so you can see where the money goes. A written programme with decision dates, so you know when a choice is needed and what it holds up. Weekly reporting against that programme during the build. A formal snagging process against the specification, and certificates at handover. None of it is exciting, and all of it is why projects finish.

[Company facts to be supplied: the year Ashfenn was founded, the principals' backgrounds, how many people are employed directly, and which trades are long-standing subcontract teams.]