Kitchen worktops in Rayners Lane

Yes. Interwar semis with the original galley kitchen and a side door, and a strong pattern of garage conversion turning the side space into either a utility or an extension of the kitchen run. That gives a long single wall of 4m or more with the sink under the old window and the laundry hidden at the far end. 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. 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.

1930s semi, Art Deco parade flat and 1930s short terrace. Inter-war purpose-built blocks have curved external walls and steel windows, so a run along an outside wall is following a genuine curve rather than a bow. A full stone piece is several times the weight of the laminate coming out, and there is rarely room to turn it on a half-landing. What is under the old top is the real question.

Straight suburban roads with drives, though a converted garage removes the parking space and pushes the van to the kerb. Flats over the Art Deco parades are reached by a communal stair from the rear service yard. 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. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. That is agreed before a plumber is booked.

Worktop installation, worktop replacement and worktop templating, in that order. Landlord work is scheduled around void periods, so the whole thing is a fixed window and the template date matters as much as the fitting date. The template visit is booked once the units are genuinely in, not when they are nearly in. Units fitted, fixed and level first. Garage-conversion runs cross an old wall line and a change in floor construction, so check for a step in the base unit heights before templating a continuous top.

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. Going from a 38mm laminate to 20mm or 30mm stone drops the surface, which shows against tiles, a window board and any freestanding appliance. The units stay, the surface changes. The stone carries the scribe because the wall cannot be persuaded, so back edges are cut oversize and eased in rather than dropped straight down. The laser plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. That is why the visit takes two or three hours. 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. The template happens when the units are in, fixed and level, whoever is fitting them. Fitted, fixed and level, then we come. 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.