Piling is an absolutely vital element of any building. Essentially, piling is a type of vertical foundation – typically concrete, steel or wood components that are inserted deeply into the ground, where they’ll serve as a sturdy base for your construction project. You don’t need to be an expert to know that building foundations are critical for ensuring the integrity of the overall structure, and if piling is installed poorly, or using substandard materials, it can have highly risky consequences for the building.

That’s one of the main reasons why it’s so crucial to choose the right piling contractor for your construction project, whether it’s for a domestic home or a commercial building. It’s not always an easy decision, and there are various factors to consider – so here are some of the main ones we’d recommend thinking about first!

Experience

Installing piling might sound straightforward in principle, but it’s often a surprisingly complex job, and one that requires a lot of expertise and the proper tools to ensure it’s done well. So, ideally you’ll want to consider the more experienced companies first.

It’s a good idea to start by looking at specialist piling contractors, rather than general construction firms that offer piling as a supplementary service. Companies who have all the in-house expertise and equipment they need, and who offer piling as a core service, are more likely to be able to get the job done more efficiently and to a higher general standard.

Here at Vxcel Piling, we have around 15 years of experience to our name, and we take pride in having delivered exceptional results for our customers throughout well over a decade of operation.

Qualifications

Closely following on from experience, it’s worth making sure that a mini piling contractor has the qualifications to back it up. Now, we should be clear here – this is not to say a company without the necessary qualifications is automatically engaging in unscrupulous practices. Often, it may simply mean that while they’re able to get some parts of the job done in-house, they may have to hire in a third party to get the project done completely – and if that happens, they may end up passing these extra costs on to you.

Here at Vxcel Piling, we hold CHAS, Construction Line, Safe Contractor and SMAS accreditation, and all of our work is insured to the highest levels. What’s more, all of our staff are either trained to NVQ level, or undergoing the final stages of training – so you can always have total peace of mind in a fully qualified and fully insured team.

Guarantees and warranties

This is perhaps one of the most crucial indicators of the trust and authority of any company – which makes it a particularly important metric when it comes to mini piling contractors. A solid guarantee indicates that a company has a decent level of confidence in the quality its own work, and the ability of its staff to deliver it to the required standard. A five year guarantee is generally agreed to be the minimum standard in the industry – personally here at Vxcel Piling, we offer a 10-year guarantee, so you can rest assured of a job well done.

Reviews and references

Reviews and testimonials provide another time-honoured way of vetting the credentials and ability of any company, whatever its industry. There’s no better way to get a sense of the ability of a company than through listening to the feedback of its past customers – especially when it comes to mini piling contractors. If you need a bit of extra reassurance, you can always ask the company directly for references from its previous clients. If they’re unwilling or unable to give them, a quick check of their Google or Trustpilot reviews can help provide that useful insight.

(We’ve completed projects on a national scale here at Vxcel Piling, and our previous customers include household names like Volvo, Burger King, and Blackpool FC!)

Price

This is, of course, a major factor in any decision you make as a customer, and it’s one that you definitely won’t need reminding about (people rarely do!). However, it’s worth bearing in mind that while price is a key consideration, it’s not necessarily the be-all and end-all – it needs to be carefully considered in tandem with all the other factors we’ve mentioned above. Excessively cheap quotes aren’t necessarily going to get you the best standard of service – but significantly inflated prices aren’t necessarily an indicator of quality either.

Ultimately, you’ll want to find a mini piling contractor that strikes the right balance between the best prices, and a reliable standard of service. And as it happens, that’s exactly what we strive to provide.

We have around 15 years of experience behind us at Vxcel Piling, we have a long history of delivering exceptional results for customers across a range of sectors, including domestic projects, commercial properties, and industrial warehouses. To find out what we’ve achieved for previous customers, feel free to take a look through our case studies. Alternatively, if you’re ready to get started – if you’ve got any questions – don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01254 314010, and we’ll be happy to see how we can help!