D.C.U Services Ltd home
Finished gloss kitchen with a quartz island, marble splashback and herringbone floor

Barnsley · South and West Yorkshire

From the first dig to the last worktop

Most of what goes wrong on a building job is under the floor, not on top of it. We dig our own foundations and lay our own drainage, so when the kitchen goes in there is nobody left to blame.

10/10Rated on Checkatrade6 reviews, all scores 10

Checked, not just recommended

Two accreditations that decide what we are allowed to do

  • CHAS Accredited Contractor

    We are allowed on commercial sites

    CHAS is the health and safety assessment main contractors and commercial clients screen for before they let a contract. Very few domestic builders hold it.

  • NRSWA accredited, New Roads and Street Works Act

    We are allowed to work on the road itself

    NRSWA is the New Roads and Street Works Act qualification. It is what makes a dropped kerb legal, and it is why we can do one when most builders cannot.

  • £1,000 Checkatrade guarantee
  • Free estimates
  • Domestic and commercial

The half nobody photographs

A job is only as good as what is under it

This is the order it actually happens in. The first two are the ones that decide whether the last one lasts.

01 · The dig

Everything starts in the clay. Get the depth and the width wrong here and you pay for it for twenty years.

Deep foundation trenches cut into red clay on a house plot
02 · Base and drains

Hardcore, membrane, drainage runs, then concrete. This is the part you will never see again once it is covered.

Concrete being poured into a shuttered base
03 · Structure

Walls out, openings formed, steels in. The stage where a house looks worse than when we started.

Interior stripped back to brick with a new structural opening formed
04 · Surface

Block paving, resin, tarmac or stone. Laid on a base we put in ourselves, which is why it stays flat.

Finished resin bound driveway across the front of a house
05 · The finish

And then the part you actually wanted. Same firm, same lads, no handover in the middle.

Finished kitchen with a marble effect splashback and integrated ovens

Most builders subcontract the bottom two. That is where the delays come from.

Before and after

The same job, twice

Only the first one slides, because it is the only pair we shot from the same spot. The rest are side by side. We would rather show you that than line up two photos that do not match.

The same garden with turf laid over the levelled ground, the same sleeper beds and fence behind.
A bare rear garden levelled to soil, new sleeper retaining beds and a new close-board fence.
BeforeAfter

Rear garden rebuild

Levelled, sleeper beds built and edged, then turfed. Drag the handle across.

A through lounge stripped back to bare plaster, an archway formed and tools on the floor.
Before
The same room finished, with a built-in media wall, inset fire and shelving.
After

Through lounge and media wall

Opened up, plastered, then the media wall and alcove joinery built in. Same room, camera facing the other way.

A block paved driveway part laid, blocks stacked loose and the feature border set out.
Before
The same driveway finished, with a cut feature diamond and a contrasting border.
After

Block paved drive with a feature border

Dug out, base laid, then blocks cut round the diamond. The border is set out before the field is filled in.

A kitchen with the units hung and the worktop on, but no appliances, sink or splashback.
Before
The same kitchen finished, with the hob, oven, extractor, sink and splashback all in.
After

Kitchen fit-out

Units and worktop first, then the electrics, the plumbing and the appliances.

How we work

What happens, and what it costs you

Nobody enjoys the part where a builder goes quiet. So here is the order of it, and how the money works, before you have to ask.

  1. Step 01

    We come and look

    Free, and no obligation. Some jobs we can price on the day. Bigger ones take a few days to put together properly.

  2. Step 02

    You get a written price

    Itemised, so you can see what the materials cost and what the labour costs. If something is an estimate rather than a fixed price, we say so.

  3. Step 03

    We agree a start date

    And we tell you how long it will take. If the weather or a supplier moves it, you hear that from us, not from an empty driveway.

  4. Step 04

    The work

    We turn up when we said. We clear up at the end of every day, not just at the end of the job.

  5. Step 05

    You pay in stages

    Tied to work you can actually see. No large deposit up front, and the final payment comes after you have looked at it and you are happy.

What moves the price

We do not publish a price list, because a driveway on a flat front garden and a driveway on a slope with a drain in the middle are not the same job. What changes it: access for machinery, what is under the existing surface, ground conditions, materials you choose, and whether the council needs to be involved.

  • Free estimate, no obligation.
  • Staged payments, tied to visible progress.
  • Itemised quotes, so you can see what you are paying for.

Three things you can hold us to

  • You are told when we are coming.
  • You are told if that changes.
  • You get your invoice.

Reviews

What people say afterwards

20 verified reviews across Checkatrade and MyBuilder. These are their words, not ours.

Read the reviews on Checkatrade
“Jealous neighbours, you can't ask for anything more!!”
Customer in S71Wall and composite fencingVerified on Checkatrade
“Turned up on time, explained the whole process from start to finish.”
Customer in S73Builder
Checkatrade
“Excellent workmanship, very tidy, very reliable and competitive with prices.”
Customer in S63Fitted bedroom
Checkatrade
“Nothing was too much trouble. Liam was really experienced in advising what would look the best.”
Customer in S70Garden landscaping
Checkatrade
“Good job, good price, came when they said, in and away in one day.”
Peter, GooleGarage base
MyBuilder
“Cleaned up after daily, worked hard in the heat, came daily from when I was promised.”
Veena, HeckmondwikeDropped kerb, fencing and tarmac drive
MyBuilder
“Liam accepted the job and attended within 2 hours, sourced and replaced new manhole.”
Lauren, HalifaxCommercial, urgent call out
MyBuilder
Liam Dyke, founder of D.C.U Services
Liam DykeFounder, D.C.U Services Ltd · 17 years in the trade

Who you are dealing with

I am Liam, and it is my name on the job

I have been in this industry 17 years. I started on the tools, spent years on groundworks and highways, and I still price and run every job myself.

I got tired of watching good jobs stall because the groundworker finished on a Friday and the joiner could not start until a fortnight on Monday.

That is why we do the digging and the finishing. When it is all our own lads, that gap does not exist.

We work across Barnsley, Sheffield, Wakefield and most of West Yorkshire, on everything from a single dropped kerb to a full renovation. Give me a ring and I will come and look at it.

Newly surfaced estate road with kerbing, line marking and plant on site

Commercial

Car parks, estate roads and site groundworks

The same team that fits a kitchen also puts in foundations, drainage, kerbing and surfacing on commercial sites. CHAS accredited and NRSWA accredited, and used to working to a programme around other trades on a live site.

  • Foundations, footings, drainage runs and concrete bases
  • Kerbing, edging, setts, retaining walls and adopted highway works
  • Car parks and estate roads, surfaced and line marked
  • Palisade and security fencing to industrial units
  • Site clearance and muck away

Where we work

Barnsley based, and out across two counties

These are places we have actually finished jobs, not a circle drawn on a map.

Home patch

Barnsley and around

  • Barnsley
  • Athersley
  • Smithies
  • Wombwell
  • Darfield
  • Goldthorpe
  • Thurnscoe

South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire

  • Sheffield
  • Rotherham
  • Chesterfield

Wakefield district

  • Wakefield
  • Pontefract
  • Ossett
  • Goole

Calderdale and Kirklees

  • Halifax
  • Dewsbury
  • Heckmondwike
  • Keighley

Not on the list? Ring us anyway. If it is too far we will tell you straight.

Tell us what you are thinking of

It takes about a minute, and you do not need drawings or a budget worked out. We will come and look, and you will get a written price.

Free estimate, no obligation.

Finished rear garden with a porcelain patio and a new lawn