No groundworker listed in Skelmorlie yet.

A groundworker handles the unseen work that supports a building - excavation, foundations, drainage runs, sub-bases, site clearance and grading - everything below ground level before the bricklayers and joiners arrive.

Get a soil and ground-conditions check on any site you don't already know - clay, made-up ground or peat each call for different foundation strategies and ignoring this is the most expensive mistake on a build.

Make sure any drainage work is signed off in writing - groundworks that fail building control later are a nightmare to retrofit once a slab has been poured.

Skelmorlie is a coastal village at the southern tip of Inverclyde, strung along the shore road with views across the Firth of Clyde to the Isle of Bute.

The village developed as a Victorian seaside resort and retains its quiet, genteel character with large houses set on the hillside above the water.

Properties include grand Victorian villas, traditional stone cottages and some modern homes, many with impressive sea views from elevated positions.

Skelmorlie has a quiet residential character with a village shop and a hydropathic hotel, with Largs and Wemyss Bay nearby for wider services.

(opens in new tab)

Inverclyde is a council area on the south bank of the Firth of Clyde, stretching from the shipbuilding heritage of Port Glasgow and Greenock westward through Gourock to the coastal villages of Inverkip and Wemyss Bay.

Greenock is the largest town and the historic heart of the area - birthplace of James Watt, the engineer whose improvements to the steam engine helped power the Industrial Revolution. Port Glasgow, originally established as Glasgow's deep-water harbour, and Gourock, the traditional ferry point for Dunoon and the Cowal peninsula, sit on either side of Greenock along the waterfront.

Shipbuilding and marine engineering defined Inverclyde for generations. The yards at Port Glasgow and Greenock launched hundreds of vessels and the area's sugar refining industry - built on trade with the Caribbean - made it one of the wealthiest parts of Scotland in the 19th century. That industrial heritage is still visible in the grand civic buildings and waterfront architecture of Greenock.

Wemyss Bay and Kilmacolm offer a different character. Wemyss Bay is the ferry terminal for Rothesay on Bute, with a beautifully restored Victorian railway station, while Kilmacolm is an attractive residential village in the hills above the Clyde with a reputation for its schools and community life.

Transport links run along the coast, with the Inverclyde railway line connecting Port Glasgow, Greenock and Gourock to Glasgow Central in under an hour and the A8 and A78 providing road access east toward Glasgow and south toward Largs and Ayrshire. The Gourock-Dunoon ferry links Inverclyde to Argyll and Bute across the water.