Kitchen worktops in Old Oak and College Park

Yes. The College Park terraces are modest railway housing with rear kitchens of 2.2-2.8m, often still with the original back addition and a step down to the garden door. Newer flats on the redeveloped land follow the standard developer plan with a 3m run plus a small breakfast bar, and the finishes are being upgraded from builder-grade composite as first owners move in. Streets near a ground or a venue have restrictions that come and go with the fixture list rather than with the time of day. Waste is the part people forget: the old laminate or tired granite has to be walked back to the van and it does not get lighter. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

late Victorian railway terrace, interwar terrace, postwar low-rise flats and new development on former railway land. The rear wall is usually a single brick thick and has been rendered, patched and re-rendered, so it bows in and out along the length of the run. Alcoves either side of the breast are rarely the same width and rarely parallel, so each one is templated as its own piece with its own scribe. No stone is ever cut from a plan.

The area is boxed in by railway lines, the canal and the A40, so there are only a handful of ways in and construction traffic for the wider regeneration regularly reroutes them - check the route the morning of, not the week before. On the older terraces the streets are narrow with parking both sides and no loading bays at all. Door width, hall width and the diagonal at the turn are three separate measurements, and it is the diagonal that catches people out. Door widths, turn diagonals and any change of level are recorded on the drawing alongside the run dimensions. The laser records it along with everything else.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. 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. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A day, not a project. Access here fails on the approach rather than the property, so confirm the road is open before the van leaves the yard.

The free end is what needs deciding early: square edge, mitred apron down the end, or a full waterfall to the floor, and a waterfall is cut in sequence off the same part of the slab. The template records every angle in that shape as it actually is rather than as the plan drew it. One datum for the whole room. Level has to hold across the whole room rather than along one wall, or a floor that falls end to end shows as a step where two pieces meet. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. Dry-lay, mark, cut, then bond. 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.

Mixed ownership means the decision-maker is not always the person who lets us in, so it is worth being clear early about who signs the quote off. 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.