Kitchen worktops in Eastbrookend

Yes. Housing on the eastern edge backing onto the country park, with later infill development mixed into the inter-war stock, so a decent proportion of kitchens are already open-plan from build and only need a surface upgrade. In the older houses the pattern is the usual rear extension to gain a metre and a half and a repositioned sink. A drive that shelves towards the house needs the van chocked and the trolley controlled, since a loaded A-frame gathers speed quickly on a slope. A replacement is a two-way job, with old tops going out and new stone coming in, so the van needs to stay put across the whole day. The waste run is planned, not improvised.

1930s estate house, post-war semi, 1980s-2000s infill and modern estate house. Access is a question about the plot rather than the house: a narrow frontage between older buildings with nowhere obvious to stand a van. The room itself is the easy part: walls are plumb, corners are square and the floor is flat, so scribes are minimal and joins can be tight. Units kept, surface changed, one day.

Quieter edge-of-borough streets with off-street parking, cul-de-sacs and no through traffic, so the van sits outside the house without causing problems. The van gets close to the door and the stone comes off the tail lift onto a trolley, which is about the shortest carry we ever get. With no room to turn, the old top gets cut up in the kitchen instead, which is dusty work and needs the room emptied first. It sets what the day actually looks like.

Worktop installation, worktop replacement and worktop design & quotation, in that order. Extension kitchens are usually specified long before they are buildable, so the run lengths on the drawing and the run lengths in the room are different numbers. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. The prep list is not optional. Newer houses out here have long shallow kitchen-diners, so the practical decision is where to put the single joint on a run that can exceed four metres.

The catch with a galley is that both runs are seen end-on from the doorway, so any difference in overhang between the two reads immediately. Each run is priced on its own line against the supply rate, with the join count and the reason for each join stated. The join count is stated with its reason. Where a partition has been built off the floor screed rather than off the slab, it moves, and a mitre bonded across that corner is the first thing to open. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. Dry-lay, mark, cut, then bond. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

A street with houses in single occupation next to the same houses cut into flats produces two completely different jobs from the same elevation. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.