How do builders find more work?

Usually from people who find them directly: on Google Maps, on their own website and through recommendations. Make sure your Google listing is right and full of reviews, that your website shows the jobs you want more of, and that every enquiry gets a reply and every quote gets followed up. Lead sites can fill gaps, but the customer who found you directly isn't comparing five quotes.

Does an extension need planning permission?

Not always. In England, many single-storey rear extensions are allowed under permitted development: up to 3 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house (4 metres if detached) and no more than 4 metres high, with limits on materials and how much of the land is covered. Larger ones can go up to 6 or 8 metres with prior approval. The Planning Portal has the full rules, and the policy in Wales may differ.

Does a small extension need building regulations approval?

Usually, yes. The Planning Portal says most extensions of a property require approval under the building regulations, and that this is separate from planning permission. Some small buildings and extensions are exempt, so check the Planning Portal or with building control before you start.

Do I need to give a party wall notice for an extension?

If the work is on or at the boundary, on an existing party wall, or involves digging below and near the foundations of the neighbour's property, yes. GOV.UK says notice must be given between 2 months and a year before work starts, in England and Wales, and that party wall agreements are separate from planning permission and building regulations.

Is MyBuilder or Checkatrade worth it for builders?

It depends on how you pay and how many other builders get the same enquiry. We've compared the main sites from their own terms in our guide to Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder and Rated People. For bigger jobs, the customer who finds you directly and has read your website usually arrives already half sold.

How to get more building work and extension enquiries

Building work is the slowest decision a homeowner makes with a tradesperson. Someone planning an extension might spend months thinking about it and weeks choosing a builder. They’re about to spend a lot of money and live on a building site, so they don’t ring the first name they see. They read.

They open two or three builders, read the reviews, look at the photos, look for jobs like theirs, and try to work out who’ll turn up, keep it tidy and finish on time. Then they get in touch with the one or two who felt safest. Getting more building work means being the builder they can read about, and keeping in touch while they decide.

What we have seen

A.P. Berrystone is a family firm: Adrian Berrystone is Tyler’s dad. Building in Swindon since 1989, he was 2nd of 20 on Google’s list for “builders” in Swindon on 19 September 2026, with 4.9 from 101 Google reviews. 17 of his last 24 enquiries before 11 September 2026 came through his website forms. In the 60 days to 1 October 2026, 29 people got in touch: 24 through the form and 4 by phone. Read his case study.

That’s the point of this guide in one number. For a builder, the website isn’t a brochure people glance at. It’s where most of the enquiries now arrive, from people who’ve read it first.

How extension customers choose

Read the reviews on any good builder’s Google listing and the same things come up: turned up on time, kept the site tidy, explained everything, finished when they said. Here’s one of Adrian’s, word for word:

“Adrian set out exactly what was to be done, with a timeline and payments for each phase. Always punctual, polite and approachable, and very tidy, cleaning up at the end of each day.” Tina Bray, side extension, Swindon

Nobody says “cheapest”. They say clear, tidy and on time. Your job online is to show those things before you’ve met them.

1. Get your Google listing right

Plenty of people start with a search for “builders” or “extension builders near me” and look at the firms on the map first.

Your real trading name. Nothing added to it.
Your main trade as the primary category, and secondary categories only for work you actually want more of.
Every service listed in the customer’s words: single-storey extension, double-storey extension, kitchen extension, garage conversion, renovation.
Photos of finished jobs, plus a few in progress. People like seeing a site kept tidy.
Reviews from every job. Google says “more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking”. On a big job, ask at handover, when the customer is happiest.

Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and says “there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google”. Prominence includes “how many websites link to your business”, so a link from a trade body you belong to, or a supplier who lists you, counts for something too. The full method is in how to rank higher on Google Maps.

2. Build a website for people who read

This is the part a lot of builders get wrong. A one-page site with a few small photos and “no job too small” loses the comparison to a builder whose site answers the customer’s questions.

What a builder’s website needs:

A page for each type of job you want: extensions, kitchen extensions, loft or garage conversions, renovations, new builds. Each with real photos, what’s involved, and how long it usually takes.
Finished projects, written up briefly: what the customer wanted, where it was, how long it took, and the photos. “Single-storey kitchen extension, Old Town, 11 weeks” says more than any slogan.
How a job runs, step by step: first visit, drawings and planning, the quote, the build, sign-off and handover. People who’ve never had building work done are nervous about the unknown. Take it away.
Your reviews, with the job type next to each one.
Your memberships and insurance, if you have them (see below).
A form that asks the right questions, so you can see the serious enquiries straight away.

A good enquiry form for building work asks:

What’s the job? (extension, conversion, renovation, other)
Where is the property? (postcode)
Do you have drawings or planning permission yet?
When would you like to start?
Roughly what’s your budget?

The last two put off the small jobs you don’t want without you having to say no. Our guide to what should be on a trade website covers the rest.

3. Help with planning and the paperwork

Plenty of homeowners don’t know what needs permission, and it’s a real worry. A builder who can explain it clearly looks like the safe pair of hands. Three things come up again and again, and they are separate from each other:

	What it’s about	What the official guidance says
Planning permission	Whether the extension is allowed at all	In England, many single-storey rear extensions are permitted development: no more than 3 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house, or 4 metres if detached, and no more than 4 metres high. With prior approval, up to 6 metres, or 8 metres if detached. “Only half the area of land around the ‘original house’ can be covered by extensions or other buildings.” (Planning Portal)
Building regulations	Whether it’s built safely and properly	“Most extensions of a property require approval under the building regulations.” (Planning Portal)
Party wall notice	Work on or near the boundary with a neighbour	In England and Wales, notice must be given “between 2 months and a year” before work starts, for work on or at the boundary, on a party wall, or digging below and near the neighbour’s foundations. (GOV.UK)

Permitted development has more conditions than fit in a table, including on materials, which “must be of a similar appearance to those on the exterior of the existing house”, and different rules on designated land. The Planning Portal’s guidance is for England, and it says “the policy in Wales may differ”. So on your website, explain the basics, link to the Planning Portal, and say what you’ll handle for them: drawings, the planning application, building control and party wall notices, if you do.

4. Show you’re trustworthy, with proof

A homeowner spending tens of thousands of pounds wants reasons to trust you. Give them real ones:

Trade memberships, if you hold them. TrustMark calls itself “the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme” for home improvement work. The Federation of Master Builders says its “members are vetted and their work inspected”. Only show a badge you actually hold: customers can check.
Awards, if you’ve won any, with the year.
Insurance and guarantees, stated plainly.
How long you’ve been going. “Building in Swindon since 1989” does a lot of work in one line.
Your face and your name. Big jobs are bought from a person, not a logo.

5. Reply quickly, visit, quote, and keep in touch

Building enquiries are often the biggest jobs a trade quotes for, and among the easiest to let go cold. The phone rings on site, the quote goes out days later, and nobody follows it up while the customer thinks it over.

Reply the same day, even if it’s just to book a visit. “Thanks for getting in touch. I can come and look on Tuesday at 5pm or Thursday morning. Which suits?”
Quote within a week of the visit, in writing, broken into stages, with what’s included and what isn’t. Tina Bray’s review above praised exactly that: a timeline and payments for each phase.
Follow up every quote. A short message after 2 days, again after a week, and again after 3 weeks, until it’s a yes or a no. Extension decisions take weeks, so the builder who’s still in touch at week three often gets it.

A follow-up that doesn’t sound pushy:

“Hi Chris, it’s Mark at Hillside Building. Just checking you got the quote for the kitchen extension. Happy to go through any of it, or meet your architect if that helps.”

The full set of texts is in how to follow up a quote.

Some builders prefer to do all of this themselves, and that’s fine. Adrian chose no automatic follow-up: every form and call goes straight to him, and he rings them back himself. What matters is that it happens every time, not who sends it.

Where lead sites fit

Lead sites can fill a gap in the diary, but for big jobs the enquiry is often shared with other builders, and the customer is shopping on price. The customer who found you on Google and read your site is comparing you on trust. Our comparison of the main sites is in Checkatrade vs TrustATrader vs MyBuilder vs Rated People, and is MyBuilder worth it looks at the one many builders ask about.

How we did it for A.P. Berrystone

A website designed from scratch, not a template, that opens on an extension being built as you scroll, so the first thing a visitor sees is the kind of job he does.
A page for every job he takes on: single and double-storey extensions, kitchen extensions, renovations, new builds and garage conversions, each with a quote form.
Built for reading: his awards, how a job runs from start to finish, and real reviews.
Straight to Adrian: at his request, no automatic follow-up.

The numbers since: 17 of his last 24 enquiries before 11 September 2026 came through his website forms, and in the 60 days to 1 October 2026, 24 of 29 did.

How we do it, and why it works

For a builder, we’d do three things.

Found. Your Google listing set up properly and worked every week, a review asked for after every job, and a website built to be read and then called, with a page for each type of job and each town you cover.

Answered. Calls ring you, as they always have. Miss one from a mobile and the customer gets a text back in your name. Every form and message gets a reply in your name, anyone who goes quiet is followed up, and every quote is chased to a yes or a no. Or, like Adrian, everything comes straight to you.

Counted. After each enquiry, a text asks whether you won it and for how much. Once a month, one page: what came in, what you won, and what it was worth.

It works because building work is won before the first phone call. The builder with the clearest website and the most patient follow-up wins more of the enquiries they already get, without dropping their price. There’s more on how we work with builders.

You pay nothing until you’ve won £500 of work through us, which for a builder can be the first small job. Then it’s from £500 a month, no contract, 30 days’ notice, and any month the work you win through us comes to less than £500 is free. We do the Google work for one building firm per town. The free check shows the builders Google lists in your town, where you sit, and whether your town is still free.