Kitchen worktops in Heston

Yes. Extensively extended semis and detached houses with large open kitchens, a big island, two sinks and frequently a separate rear prep kitchen kept for heavy cooking so the main kitchen stays presentable. Off-street parking means the van stays put all day, so tools, packers and the offcut we would rather have than not are all within reach. A van that has to move mid-fit costs the best part of an hour and takes a man off the tools to do it. The day is built around that window.

1930s semi, postwar detached, heavily extended family house and recent detached infill. Solid brick with a render coat is firm to work against and out of plumb, so the scribe at worktop height is different from the one at plinth level. These are typically two runs and a return, often into a rear extension, and the return piece is the awkward one, short, wide and rarely nesting well against the long pieces on the slab, so slab yield rather than total area is what pushes the material line up. Priced from the building, not from a rate card.

Wide roads, driveways almost universal, and the A4 with M4 Junction 3 on the doorstep. The only obstacle is that the drives are usually full of cars. A short hard approach with no steps means a full-length piece can be walked in flat by two people rather than turned up on edge. 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.

Worktop design & quotation, worktop installation and worktop fabrication, in that order. Extended households run kitchens hard, and that pushes the specification towards granite or sintered stone rather than a light quartz. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly. The second prep kitchen is a genuine spec here, so price two templates and expect two different materials rather than one continuous order.

If the island is a few hundred millimetres longer than the usable length of a slab, a second slab gets bought to gain that overhang, and the whole slab is paid for rather than the part used. 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. The returns into a breast recess are the tightest scribes in the room, and they are eased in rather than forced. 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. 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.

An owner living in the house makes the decisions and lives with them, so the specification tends to go towards the material rather than towards the lowest total. 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. Protection goes down first. 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.