The questions homeowners actually ask.

Nothing, and no. The visit and the written quote are free and carry no obligation — that's MHP's own standing offer. Matt comes out, looks at the property properly, talks through what you're trying to achieve, and gives you a scope and a price in writing so you can compare it with someone else's like for like.

Almost certainly not. Alongside extensions and conversions we do general building maintenance — repointing, a flat roof repair, plaster after a leak, doors, decorating. Two of our published reviews are about short-notice jobs, one of them a paint job. If it's genuinely not our trade, we'll say so rather than have a go.

We don't claim any, and you won't find a row of scheme logos on this site — we'd rather not put up badges we can't back. What you can check is the company: MHP Building Contractors Ltd, number 10994297, registered in England and Wales since October 2017, on Companies House. Our reviews are published on Checkatrade and MyBuilder, which are review directories rather than qualifications, and we describe them that way.

Yes — and we'll work alongside your architect, structural engineer, kitchen or bathroom supplier and building control officer where a project has them. If you haven't commissioned any of that yet, we'll tell you at the quote stage what your job actually needs and roughly in what order, so you're not paying for drawings you don't need.

Yes. That's the whole shape of the company: Matt prices the job, orders the materials, runs the site and hands it over, with a settled group of tradespeople around him. It's why the reviews use his first name — "Matt is great to deal with, an experienced, reliable builder who knows what he's doing."

Tradespeople Matt has worked with and scheduled before, rather than whoever is available that week. One client described them as "equally competent and very professional" — which is the only claim about the team we'll make, because it's the only one that's been published. Where a job needs a registered specialist — gas or certain electrical work, for instance — that part is done by someone qualified to certify it.

MHP Building Contractors Ltd was incorporated on 3 October 2017 and is still active — around eight years of trading. We won't round that up, and you can read the filed accounts yourself on Companies House.

You hear about it the same day, with options and a cost, before it's done. Older Kent houses hide plenty — a lintel that isn't there, a waste run in the wrong place, a floor that's dropped. The difference between a good job and a bad one is usually just whether you were told.

There will be mess — anyone who tells you otherwise is selling. What we control is how it's contained: dust protection where it matters, materials and tools off the floor at the end of the day, and the site cleared properly at handover. Clients name tidiness specifically, and that holds on a half-day job as much as on a build.

We walk it with you, write the snags down, and finish them. Any paperwork the work generates — building control sign-off, appliance documents, product guarantees from what we fitted — comes to you at handover rather than being chased afterwards.

It depends on the job and the property. Many single-storey extensions and garden studios fall under permitted development rights, but those rights are reduced or removed on flats, in conservation areas, on listed buildings and where a previous owner has already used them up. Garage conversions often need no planning permission at all. We'll tell you at the quote stage which camp your job is likely to be in — and if it's borderline, the local authority's own pre-application or lawful development certificate route is the safe way to find out.

Planning permission is about whether you're allowed to build the thing — size, siting, appearance, impact on neighbours. Building regulations are about whether what you build is safe and sound — structure, insulation, fire escape, ventilation, drainage, electrics. They're separate approvals from separate departments, and plenty of jobs need the second without the first. Garage and cellar conversions are the classic example.

We do, on site. You can go through the local authority's own building control service or an approved inspector; either way, the work gets inspected at set stages — foundations before they're covered, drainage before backfilling, insulation before it's boarded over — so the schedule has to leave room for those visits. We book them and meet them, and the completion certificate comes to you.

We're based in Pembury and work across Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Paddock Wood, Wadhurst, Frant, Sevenoaks, Cranbrook, Goudhurst, Crowborough, Ticehurst, Staplehurst and the surrounding Kent and Sussex villages. If you're a little outside that, ask — we'd rather tell you honestly that it's too far to run properly than take the job and let it drift.

Ring Matt on 07530 816630 or email contact@mhpbuilding.co.uk and describe the job. We're reachable Monday to Saturday, 9am to 8pm, and closed on Sundays. Lead time depends entirely on what's already booked in, and we'd rather give you a real date on the phone than a reassuring one on a website.