Kitchen worktops in Neasden

Yes. Large interwar family houses with heavily used kitchens, and a distinct local pattern of a main fitted kitchen plus a separate hard-working prep or spice kitchen in an outhouse or extension. That second space wants a hardwearing, easy-wipe top and full-height splashback more than it wants a showpiece finish. Gravel and block paving both look like hard standing and neither takes a loaded trolley, so the run from tail lift to door gets boarded. Panels come off the van in one trip where possible, since a tall piece handled repeatedly is a piece asking to be chipped. Handling is where these pieces get damaged.

1930s semi, 1930s terrace and post-war estate housing. There is usually a shared rear alley, and whether the gate onto it is unlocked decides whether long pieces come in from the back. The ragged band left when old tiles and laminate come off together is what usually decides upstand over full height. The wall makes that decision, not the brochure.

Wide 1930s roads, front drives on much of the stock, and reasonable side access, but the North Circular slip roads and the industrial traffic around Neasden Lane make arrival times unpredictable. The side passage is the measurement that matters, because a piece has to be carried flat down it and then turned in at the back door, and the turn is always tighter than the passage. It is usually the full-height panels rather than the tops that will not make the turn, and that only shows up when they arrive. It decides panel size before anything is cut.

Worktop installation, worktop replacement and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. Extension kitchens are usually specified long before they are buildable, so the run lengths on the drawing and the run lengths in the room are different numbers. The carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. A day, not a project. When there are two kitchens, quote them as two jobs with different specs; the outside prep kitchen sees direct heat and needs upstands rather than a tiled edge.

Two parallel runs with a walkway between them is the most efficient shape there is on a slab, because both pieces nest as straight lengths with almost no waste. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Dry-lay first, always. A chimney breast left in place splits a wall into two alcoves, and the two are rarely the same width and rarely parallel to each other. A tall panel that fits at the worktop will stand off the wall at the top unless the wall is dubbed out or the panel is scribed. Make the wall good first, or accept the detail. 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.

A street with houses in single occupation next to the same houses cut into flats produces two completely different jobs from the same elevation. 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. 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.