Turnkey new builds, house extensions and renovations across west Cornwall, built to the architect's drawings and the engineer's design. Matt Richards is a mason by trade, so the structure is priced by the person who has laid it.
New build contractors, sometimes listed as building contractors, are the main contractor on a project, responsible for taking it from the foundation dig through to a finished, watertight and habitable building. On a house or a small commercial project that covers groundworks and foundations, the structure in masonry or timber frame, drainage, floors, roof and the fit out behind them.
Extensions, renovations and structural alterations belong to the same discipline: the same building control inspections, the same load paths, and the same need for the ground and the structure to be right before anything is made to look finished.
Matt Richards is a mason by trade, and he delivered new builds and renovations for other companies as a working foreman and site manager. The build is not a service bolted on beside the groundworks. It is the trade he came from.
Turnkey construction puts the whole project under one contract: site clearance and groundworks, foundations, drainage, the structure, then the trades that follow, through to a finished building.
Single and two storey house extensions, with foundations designed against the existing structure, openings formed, steel beams set and propping installed where a load bearing wall is coming out.
As renovation contractors we take the structural half of a refurbishment as well as the finishes: propping, rebuilt and opened up walls, steels, and the making good behind them.
Timber frame erected on our own slab or foundations and carried through to completion. The design, the site and the programme decide between frame and traditional masonry.
Blockwork, brickwork and stone, including repointing older Cornish buildings where the original mortar has gone. Masonry is Matt's own trade, so it is self delivered by the person who priced it.
Agricultural barns, workshops, garden rooms and summer houses, taken from the base up, on a slab poured to a designed depth and bearing.
Six routes into the same discipline.
Engineered foundations, in situ stairs and reinforced retaining structures are poured by our own structural concrete side.
One contractor, one point of responsibility.Strip out, groundworks, structure and finish sit under a single contract, so there is no gap between trades for the programme to fall into.
The ground is priced by the people digging it.Foundation depth, bearing strata and drainage are worked out by the contractor who will be building on top of them.
Your architect's detail survives to the finished building.Drawings are read as a build sequence, and a detail changed mid project is resolved with the design team rather than absorbed quietly on site.
Structural work is carried out, not coordinated.Propping, steel beams, foundations and reinforced concrete are self delivered, so the structural stages are not waiting on a third party's diary.
A finished building, not a shell and a list.The contract runs through to handover, with the making good, external works and drainage connections finished rather than left behind.
A build is judged on its structure long before anyone looks at the finish. Under the Building Regulations 2010, structural work on a new build, an extension or a load bearing alteration has to satisfy Approved Document A, and building control must be notified so it can be inspected at set stages, foundation excavation among them. Where a foundation falls outside the narrow conditions Approved Document A allows for a plain concrete strip footing, it is designed, and BS 8004, the code of practice for foundations, is what that design works to.
Matt is a mason by trade with 23 years in construction, and he ran new builds and renovations as a working foreman and site manager before running them as a director.
The company carries £5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres, an extension most public liability policies leave out.
Specialist trades come from a network built over 15 years, brought in by name for the part of the job they do best.
Matt Richards owns and runs Cornwall Civils & Construction from Newlyn. He started in construction at 17 and has 23 years behind him: a mason first, then a working foreman, then site manager across groundworks and demolition, before founding the company, now going into its third year.
That is why the build and the ground beneath it are quoted together.
I came up as a mason, so I have laid the blockwork and set the steels on builds I later ran for somebody else. When I open a set of drawings I read the groundworks, the structure and the masonry as one job, not three quotes.Matt Richards, director
Mason by trade, 23 years in construction
Working foreman and site manager before founding the company
New builds and renovations delivered for previous contractors
£5m public liability, including groundworks and demolition up to 15 metres
We work as new build contractors, extension builders and renovation contractors across west Cornwall, from the Penwith peninsula through to Falmouth. The company works from Newlyn, minutes from Penzance harbour. St Ives and Falmouth both carry delivered projects, and Marazion, Hayle, St Just, Camborne, Redruth and Helston sit inside the regular working area. Sites further east are taken on their merits.
The St Ives project carried a 45 metre reinforced retaining wall and cast in situ steps up to a new build and renovated property. A cliffside restoration was rebuilt on 65 piles, with ground beams, columns and a soffit slab carrying integrated drainage.
We do not publish rates, because no two builds carry the same ground, access or specification. What you get is a written quote before anything starts, setting out:
If something on site changes what the build needs, the price goes to you in writing before that work starts. What moves a build price here is depth to bearing strata, access, the structural design and the specification set by you and your architect.
Our reviews sit on our Google Business Profile, public and unedited, so you can read them yourself.
Based on 5 Google reviews
Great company to work with. Professional, reliable and well organised from start to finish. Communication is always clear, sites are well run & the team are a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them and look forward to working together again!
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils have been working on a complex external works package for our project in St Ives. Their works have included an extensive concrete retaining wall, in-situ concrete stairs and an in-ground modular drainage system.
Read more on GoogleCornwall Civils handled a tricky concrete shuttering, steel work, and pour for us on an emergency job. They stepped in at very short notice and worked through nights and weekends to get it done. The quality of their work was excellent, and their commitment was outstanding.
Read more on GoogleI recently had the pleasure of working with Matry at Cornwall Civils and Construction, and I couldn’t be more impressed with the service provided.
Read more on GoogleOne further five-star rating was left on Google without a written review.
Send us the drawings, the postcode and the stage the project is at, and Matt will come and look at the site himself. Turnkey builds, house extensions, renovations and structural work across west Cornwall.
Call Matt Richards on 07958 102538 · Get a free quote online
14 The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5HN
Phone: 07958 102538
Email: info@cornwallcivilsandconstruction.co.uk
Hours: Mon to Fri 07:00 to 17:00 · Sat 08:00 to 12:00
Sunday: emergency call out only
Last updated: 22 September 2026
