Worktop design and quotation in Hayes

Yes. Hayes is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are BR2. It is worked on our south east London run, along with the rest of Bromley. A front drive is the best thing that can happen to a fitting day, because the tail lift comes down within a few metres of the door and nothing is on a clock. Where a bay suspension or a permit is needed, that is a real cost and it goes on the quote instead of appearing later. It is one line among the others, and it is honest. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.

Post-war terraces have a short straight hall to the kitchen, which is a good deal kinder than the houses they replaced. With little area to spread them over, the cut-outs and the fixed lines carry the quote, so each is listed on its own. That is what the itemised lines are for. The square rooms here mean four separate pieces with three joints, so joint placement away from the hob cut-out matters more than in a galley.

Straightforward for the most part: driveways, dropped kerbs and side gates wide enough to take a slab round the back without going through the house. Rear access usually lets us fit longer pieces whole, so the join count ends up decided by the slab rather than by the building. That is why the fitting line on a quote reflects manpower and time rather than square metres. It appears as its own line rather than buried in a rate.

Yes. On the research for this patch it is the first of the three jobs listed, ahead of worktop installation and worktop replacement. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. That changes what the quote should be compared against, because the shape of the job is not the same as a single family kitchen. Itemised, so it can be compared honestly. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Everything is itemised: material, template, fabrication, fitting, each cut-out and each metre of upstand. Nothing payable until we template.

With three walls in play the chance of one of them being out of square is high, and the template has to carry all three angles. It is the shape rather than the square metreage that moves the number, which is why two kitchens the same size quote differently. Shape first, area second. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.

A low sill over the sink run is what decides between an upstand and stone dying into a window board, and there is often less clearance than an upstand is tall. It is fabrication time rather than material, so it appears on the fabrication line and not in the square metre figure. Priced as fabrication, not as area. Tell us whether there is side or rear access to the kitchen from outside, and send the run lengths with a photo of the window and boiler positions. The householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. Nothing is payable until we template, so a quote can sit while consents and decisions catch up. Written to be read by whoever is paying.