Kitchen worktops in Gallions Reach

Yes. New-build houses here have a kitchen-diner across the rear with a 3m run plus a 1.5m island, generally already square and level, which makes the templating straightforward. Apartments have small single-wall kitchens with the washing machine inside the run. 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. The fitting slot is set around it, which is why we ask about it when the date is booked and not before we leave the yard. It is why the arrival time is what it is.

2000s new-build house, recent apartment block and 1990s estate housing. Estate roads are narrow with parking courts behind the blocks, so the carry crosses open ground rather than a pavement. If the diagonal is short we either split the run with a planned join or, on lower floors, carry up the stairwell, which needs the half-landing turn checking as well. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted.

Wide modern roads, retail park loading and driveways on most houses mean a full-size van can park at the door with no permit issues. Newer blocks have modern lifts of a usable size, but gated parking courts need a resident to let the van in. Where the parking court sits behind the block the carry crosses open ground and gets boarded, because loaded trolleys and block paving do not agree. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop installation, worktop templating and worktop design & quotation, 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. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. One visit, done properly. Modern square rooms make this the closest thing to a drawing-office job in the borough, though the island's overhang still needs proper brackets, not just adhesive.

Galley runs are usually short enough to come out of a single slab, so the material band you choose does more to the total than the room shape does. 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. A lightweight stud partition will not carry a breakfast bar or a peninsula end, and stone finds that out faster than laminate ever did. One measurement never describes it, which is why a tape reading taken before the visit rarely matches the template. Measured at worktop height, nowhere else. 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.

Consent for the work sits with the freeholder or the managing body, and getting it in writing first avoids a crew arriving to a locked door. A half-day of access is not a fitting day, and it is better to say so at booking than to find out at eleven. 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.