Worktop installation in Imperial Wharf

Yes. Imperial Wharf is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are SW6. It is run from the New Malden side, covering South West London & Surrey. Underground loading has a height restriction, and a van with an A-frame on it is taller than the driver remembers. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. The day is built around that window. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.

A riverside block is a managed building with a booked goods lift, a loading bay and a concierge, and all three have to line up on the same day. The lift is measured before the piece is loaded, and once inside the flat the fitting is quick by comparison. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted. Sintered stone and thin porcelain are the usual upgrade here, and those need a rigid transport frame and a full set of suction lifters - they do not forgive being flexed on a long corridor carry.

Gated estate with a security barrier, contractor registration, a designated loading bay and a goods lift that must be booked and lined before use, plus estate rules on working hours. From the lift lobby the route to the flat is a long carpeted corridor across a podium, so floor protection is mandatory and the trolley run is significant. Estate roads are often too tight for a long-wheelbase van to turn, so the carry starts a good deal further from the door than a map suggests. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted. Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it.

It is one of the three we do most here, behind worktop replacement. Same template visit, same workshop, same installers either way. Upgrading a builder-finish kitchen is mostly a swap, so the cost sits in the material choice rather than in the shape of the room. 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. 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. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly.

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. A layout that has been packed and levelled run by run instead of to one datum shows as a step where two pieces meet. The join is the last thing finished. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.

Boxing is rarely the same depth at worktop height as it is at floor level, so measuring it low down is the usual reason a top will not sit back. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. Eased in, never forced. Book the service lift and loading bay with the building manager for the whole fitting window, and have the fob or key for lift override ready. Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. 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.