Hey, imagine you want to add an extension to your house or you’re dreaming of a new-build home in a quiet suburb. Who actually puts up those walls? Often it’s not the giant developers you see on TV adverts—it’s small outfits like Timvil Ltd. Today we’re going to walk through everything the public record tells us about this company, step by step, so you can picture exactly how these little building firms live and, in this case, eventually wind down.
When and why Timvil Ltd started
Timvil officially came into being on 26 October 2009. Like thousands of other UK companies that year, it registered as a private limited company (Ltd) with Companies House. The single share capital of £1 is super common for one-person or family-run builders—it keeps things simple and cheap to set up.
Right from the start the company ticked the box for SIC code 41202 – Construction of domestic buildings. That’s the official government label for firms that build or renovate houses, flats, and other homes for everyday people. You can read more about how the UK classifies these trades on the Companies House SIC guidance page.
The day-to-day reality of a micro builder
From the accounts that were filed, Timvil Ltd always used the “micro-entity” or “small company” exemption. That tells us two things: • Turnover was low enough that full audited accounts weren’t required. • The owners probably ran things themselves without a big office or huge staff.
Many readers will recognise this pattern—your local builder who does a couple of extensions a year, maybe one new house every so often, and keeps overheads tiny. It’s flexible, but it also means cash flow can get tight when work slows down.
A timeline of key moments you can actually check
Here’s a clear table pulled straight from the official filing history so you can see exactly what happened when:
| Date | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 26 Oct 2009 | Company incorporated with Vilius Timukas as first director |
| 2012–2015 | Regular “total exemption small company accounts” filed each year |
| 3 Oct 2016 | Micro accounts filed + first confirmation statement |
| 26 Jan 2017 | Petras Ciaponis (Lithuanian) appointed director; office moved to London |
| 15 May 2017 | Vilius Timukas briefly returns as director; office moves back to Peterborough |
| 31 May 2017 | Office moves again to Kingston Road, London |
| 3 Oct 2017 | Vilius Timukas steps down as director and person with significant control |
| 13 Jan 2018 | Mark Franklin (Irish) appointed as new director |
| 2 Oct 2018 | First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off |
| 18 Dec 2018 | Company officially dissolved via compulsory strike-off |
You can verify every line yourself on the Companies House page for Timvil Ltd.
Who was in charge?
The directors list reads like a short story of changing hands: • Vilius Timukas (born May 1970, Lithuanian) was the original force and held majority control until October 2017. • Petras Ciaponis (born May 1975, Lithuanian) stepped in for a few months in 2017. • Mark Franklin (born July 1972, Irish) took over in early 2018, right before the final notices arrived.
This pattern isn’t unusual in small construction firms—people move, projects finish, or life changes and someone else steps in. The registered office bounced between Peterborough and different London addresses, which often happens when a builder works on sites across different regions and uses virtual or serviced offices to keep costs down.
What led to the end?
In October 2018 Companies House published the first notice that Timvil Ltd might be struck off. No accounts had been filed for the period after 31 October 2016, and the final confirmation statement came in late 2017. When a company misses deadlines like that, the registrar can start compulsory strike-off proceedings. On 18 December 2018 the company was officially dissolved.
Dissolution doesn’t always mean failure. Sometimes the owner simply retires, moves abroad, or decides the paperwork isn’t worth continuing a low-volume operation. Without any court cases, debts, or dramatic news stories showing up in public records, the most straightforward explanation is that the business quietly reached its natural end.
How Timvil Ltd fits into the bigger UK construction picture
Small residential builders make up a huge chunk of the homes built in Britain every year. According to government data, thousands of micro-firms like this one handle extensions, loft conversions, and infill developments that big house-builders often skip. Yet they also face the same pressures you read about in the papers—rising material costs, tighter building regulations, and the constant need to chase the next job.
For anyone thinking of starting their own building company, Timvil Ltd’s story quietly highlights two practical lessons:
- Stay on top of the annual filings—confirmation statements and accounts must be sent even if the year was quiet.
- Plan an exit or succession early; many solo operators simply let the company go dormant rather than sell or hand it on.
Wrapping it all up
Timvil Ltd was never going to make headlines or build thousands of houses. It was one of the thousands of quiet, hardworking little companies that help turn bricks and mortar into actual homes for families across the UK. From its birth in 2009 through director changes, office moves, and a low-key nine-year run, it did exactly what its registration papers said—construct domestic buildings—until it reached the end of the road in 2018.
If you’re researching a particular builder, thinking about starting in the trade, or just love peeking behind the scenes of everyday businesses, stories like this one are gold. They remind us that behind every “Ltd” on a van or a site board is a real person making real decisions, filing real paperwork, and eventually deciding when the chapter is closed.
The next time you walk past a new extension or a row of neat houses, remember there’s a good chance a small firm very much like Timvil Ltd helped make it happen—and that every company, big or small, has its own story written in the public register.
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