About – HH&M

We are Horley-based builders, gardeners and handymen who can help you with tasks around your home and garden. We typically charge £35 per hour and £200 for a full day (seven hours). We are more than happy to consider price work too.

How we work

Once we get your job request, we will promptly get back to you
Contact details are below, all quotes are clear, comprehensive and, free of charge
If we are unable to take on your job, we will suggest other handyman service providers
We take payment after the job has been completed and you are satisfied that it has been done to a high standard
We only ever ask for money in advance to purchase materials if you would like us to source and supply these for you
If we are able to quote for your job, we’ll provide a priced-up estimate (cost breakdown, time to complete and provisional start date)
We do not do quick-fix bodge jobs, and see ourselves as tortoises rather than hares; foxes mostly, but with the hedgehog’s good traits [↓].

Planing takes time

The first thing to do is to transfer your dreams into more concrete ideas and, with pencil and paper, set out a draft plan. Think for a bit, then revisit and revise the plan.

After a day or so, with fresh eyes, consider all angles, implications and practicalities such as

access, disruption, procurement, time, trade/s required, costs with contingencies
the temporary relocating and storage of belongings

At some point in the process you will want to consider costs, feasibility, required permissions and structural matters.

Planing invariably requires trade-offs [↓]

When your plans are pretty much set in stone, run them by a building contractor (such as us!) and be prepared to have rather a lot taken back to the drawing board.

Time permits fine-tuning

Good things come to those who plan/prepare.

Preparation is key

The cost of locating and rerouting utilities is an often costly factor that tends to be overlooked.

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of, blades, drill bits, discs and fixings; days lost to weather, skip hire and waste removal.

Wise words

Good plans require preparation, of that, there’s no doubt. The question is, how much effort, resources and time should go into one’s planed extension, or home refurbishment project? There are trade-offs relating to speed over time and rigidity over flexibility. Such questions are not new, in ways they are captured in the tales of The tortoise vs. The hare and, The fox vs. The hedgehog. According to historians, both originate with Aesop, a storyteller (who happened also to be a slave) who lived in Ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE, and, alongside many other tales can today be found in Aesop’s Fables.

Aesop’s Fables

Like many things good, trace back to Ancient Greece.

The Tortoise & Hare

The tortoise vs. hare fable is about a quick-footed hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise. Tired of the hare’s taunts, the tortoise suggests a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise way behind in the race and becomes so confident of winning decides to take a nap just shy of the final furlong. When the hare awakes, it is surprised to see that the tortoise, ambling along methodically, has just crossed the finish line and has won the race.

Telling Tales

The Fox & Hedgehog

The title of Isaiah Berlin’s philosophical essay, The Hedgehog and The Fox, is based on a reference to a fragment of text attributed to the Ancient Greek poet Archilochus, “a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing.” Berlin uses the fox vs. the hedgehog dichotomy describes two contrasting ways of viewing the world.

Hedgehogs are said to be big idea people and more stubbornly decisive, while the foxes are more accepting of nuance and are willing to use different approaches for different problems.

Isaiah Berlin’s Essay

“I have always been prone to coloured descriptions of unimportant phenomena”
— Intro. to *Five Essays on Liberty* (1969).

Psychologists and some philosophers contend that if you adopt fox-like thinking you’ll rely on various pieces of information to form your view on an issue and think about it from different angles. And also, you’re also willing to admit when you’re uncertain. But if you have more of a hedgehog mindset, you develop your world views and predictions with a central, overarching principle in mind and talk about your views with more certainty and confidence.

Regarding the tale from Aesop’s perspective, the hedgehog (which back then happened to be a cat) and a fox discuss how many tricks of the trade they each have. The fox boasts that it has many; the hedgehog confesses to having only one. When hunters arrive with their dogs, the ‘hedgehog’ climbs a tree, but the fox stays still thinking of various ways of escape but without acting on any of them and, is caught by the hounds. We wonder though, was the fox savaged and eaten or, did it still have a cunning plan to outsmart the hunter’s lapdogs and live unscathed to see another day?

Planing Trade-offs

Isaiah Berlin wrote, long ago now: “the need to choose, to sacrifice some ultimate values to others, turns out to be a permanent characteristic of the human predicament.” It says to us today in the building trade that a willingness to compromise is sometimes key. Sometimes compromise is unavoidable, especially in relation to local authority planing permission and building regulations.

Dreams vs. reality
Planning permission, when required
Building regulations, relating to planning permission, common sense and health & safety
Cost/Benefit analyses that lead to alterations
Damp issues, space may need to be forfeited to facilitate dampproof courses and measures
Dealing with multiple tradespeople
Drainage, required falls and connection points to mains will impact on where bathroom and kitchen items can be located
Finances (post-Brexit the cost of extensions/loft-conversions has gone up rather a lot)
Insulation, the thicker the better but PIR wall, floor and ceiling boards of 100mm+, will and do eat up internal usable space
Natural light: do your plans allow enough in?
Neighbours, ideally you don’t want to annoy and inconvenience them too much
Roof pitches e.g., flat roofs and too many gullies aren’t ideal in terms of leaks
Structural engineering calculations that lead to alterations
Timescales, how long are you prepared to wait, how long can you afford for it to take?
Future proofing e.g., regulations likely to be put in place relating to the UK’s net-zero ambitions; is the space created by a new extension easily adaptable to convert it from one function to another … … …

It is important to note that nowadays any building work undertaken (or in cases not undertaken) may mean the property in question cannot be legally sold (by way of mortgage) and/or cannot be legally rented out.

To realise some dreams people will seek to move mountains, others will accept alterations and skirt safely around the mountains.

Project Management

Project management is one area that many homeowners consider taking on themselves. It will definitely safe money, but only if you have lots of free time.

To manage extensions, loft conversions and outbuilding repurposing, you pretty much need to give fulltime attention. There’s procurement, liaising with planing control, structural engineers, building contractors and tradespeople, logistics of storage, accounting, budgeting etc. etc. etc.

HH&M are willing to take on the roll of project management on your behalf, but are just as happy to carry out elements of a project that you decide to manage yourselves.

Contact HH&M

info@horleyhandymen.com

07473 279 978

HH&M’s services

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Horley by area

Although Horley does not have named-on-road-sign neighbourhoods—like Crawley does—the following areas are commonly referred to:

01. Hookwood/Povey Cross

Hookwood/Povey Cross →
Hookwood and Povey Cross are on the western outskirts of Horley. Many international hotels are situated here as is Tesco Hookwood. Several large housing developments are planned here. Hookwood and Povey Cross are directly beside the airport.

02. Gardens Estate

Gardens Estate →
Gardens Estate is very close to Gatwick airport and those working at LGW can easily access the terminal building via footpaths from the recreational area, Riverside Garden Park via the underpass of Gatwick airport station.

03. Haroldslea

Haroldslea →
This area comprises: The Balcombe Road (B2036) and the roads leading from it between Oakwood School and the A23/M23 link road flyover. For example, Limes Avenue which was originally laid out in 1936 and still retains some of the Lime trees planted at that time.

04. Court Lodge

Court Lodge →
This neighbourhood was set out in the 1950s and 1960s. It has a mixture of flats and houses. It is home to Horley leisure centre, several airport hotels and a couple of places of worship.

05. Horley Central

Horley Central →
This area includes the town centre which has quite a lot of purpose built residential flats and roads such as Church Road, Massetts Road, Pine Gardens, Ringley Avenue and, Russells Crescent.

06. Langshott

Langshott →
This area of Horley stretches eastward towards Smallfield. Immediately to its north is the new estate called The Acres. This area is home to Langshott Manor, which was built in 1580; it is now a luxury hotel.

07. Meath Green

Meath Green →
Once upon a time this area was called Moy Grene, and it has some of Horley’s oldest homes. Today, the vast majority of the homes in this area where built from the late 1950s onwards.

08. The Acres

The Acres →
This new neighbourhood of over 700 homes is in the north east of Horley and Langshott. The development was built mostly by Barratt and Bovis Homes between 2010 and 2016.

09. West Vale Park

West Vale Park →
This new neighbourhood is to the north west of Horley and joins onto Meath Green. To date, around 1,600 new homes have been constructed:
• Crest Nicholson brochure →
• Fabrica brochure →
• Taylor Wimpey brochure →

10. Gatwick

Explore Gatwick→
Gatwick airport is included as an area of Horley because historically it was part of Horley and, it remains adjacent to this day. Gatwick, before becoming a major international airport, was a famous horse racetrack which hosted the Grand National on several occasions.