Kitchen worktops in Fortune Green

Yes. More whole houses than the streets nearer the station, so kitchens sit at the rear of the ground floor and are often already extended into a small rear infill giving an L of about 3.5m plus a return. Islands only appear where two rooms have been knocked together, otherwise a peninsula against the old chimney breast. Permit hours are what matters, not the permit itself, because a bay that frees up at six in the evening is no use for a template at ten. 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. It is a full day at the kerb, not a delivery.

Edwardian terrace, 1930s semi, purpose-built block and post-war infill. An infill house is built to modern standards on an old plot, so the room is square even though the site around it is not. Housings set out for a 38mm laminate change clearance when you drop to 20mm or 30mm stone, and that is checked before cutting. What is under the old top is the real question.

Quiet residential streets with permit parking and better van access than most of NW6, though the climb up from Fortune Green Road is a real factor on the carry. Front doors open into a porch and then a hall with a right turn at the stairs, which is the pinch point on almost every house. Everything comes through the front door and down the hall, so the tightest point on the route is usually the newel post at the foot of the stairs. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. It sets what the day actually looks like.

Worktop templating, worktop installation and worktop replacement, in that order. Housings and integrated appliances are set out for a 38mm laminate top, so dropping to 20mm or 30mm stone changes the clearances and needs checking before anything is cut. Two to three hours on site, with the sink, tap and hob physically present. The room as it is, not as it was drawn. Edwardian rear walls here are usually rendered and bowed, so expect to scribe the back edge and pack the units before setting anything down.

An L can be mitred at the corner for a continuous look or butt-jointed over the gable, and the two are different money and different risk. Old laminate has often been holding a run square for years, and taking it off shows what the units were really doing. The units stay, the surface changes. Walls that bow along their length are the normal condition rather than the exception, and a straight-cut back edge will show a shadow gap at one end and touch at the other. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. It is the slow part of the day and it should be. 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.

Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. A template booked hopefully around another trade is the commonest cause of a wasted visit. Fitted, fixed and level, then we come. 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.