Kitchen worktops in Norbury

Yes. Edwardian terraces near the station with rear-addition kitchens, and 1930s semis climbing the hill towards Norbury Park with larger square kitchens that take a proper island. Shop-top flats have minimal kitchens of 2m or less along one wall. 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. Upstands travel in a crate and can wait on the van, which gives some flexibility a full-height panel does not. One trip is always better than three.

Edwardian terrace, 1930s semi, flats above London Road shops and 1960s block. Where the side return has been filled in, the old external wall is now an internal one and still carries its render, its gutter line and its old fixings. The day is planned backwards from the hall, and the scribing takes longer than the carry. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted.

London Road has red route restrictions through the day, so timing matters; the residential roads climbing east are steep with parking on both sides and short driveways. Where the van stands level with the front of the house a piece gets handled twice instead of five times, and stone breaks on handling rather than on the road. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop replacement, worktop splashbacks & upstands and worktop installation, in that order. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A day, not a project. Anything on the London Road frontage has to be unloaded outside restricted hours, so we book those fits first thing rather than mid-morning.

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. A layout that has been packed and levelled run by run instead of to one datum shows as a step where two pieces meet. Nothing is bonded until the whole run sits flat. Walls that bow along their length are the normal condition rather than the exception, and a straight-cut back edge will show a shadow gap at one end and touch at the other. This is the commonest reason a replacement turns out to need more than a straight swap. It is the usual surprise, and it is a known one. 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. A replacement keeps the units and changes the surface, which is the least disruptive way to do this in an occupied property. Plumber either side of us. 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.