Kitchen worktops in Rosehill

Yes. A boundary area between private inter-war semis and the edge of the St Helier estate, so you get two kitchen types on the same street: a 3m private-semi kitchen extended into the dining room, and the estate's original narrow galley with a pantry recess. Unrestricted kerbside is straightforward as long as the space in front of the property is actually clear when the van arrives. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. We would rather ask than guess.

1930s semi, St Helier estate housing, post-war flats and 1960s maisonette. Walls are dense block or in-situ concrete with a bonded plaster, so the bottom course of tiles brings plaster with it when the old top comes off. The carry is the constraint. That is the shape of the day.

The roundabout and the arterial roads either side are busy with no stopping, but the residential roads behind have verges, driveways and unrestricted parking. The van gets close to the door and the stone comes off the tail lift onto a trolley, which is about the shortest carry we ever get. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation 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. No stone is ever cut from a plan, which is inconvenient exactly when a programme is tight. Units fitted, fixed and level first. On the estate-type houses the original pantry recess is usually kept, so the run steps back 300mm partway along and that step has to be a mitred internal corner rather than a butt joint.

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. The join is the last thing finished. Alcove pieces get cut oversize on both scribe edges, with the true wall angles carried on the template drawing rather than assumed. This is the commonest reason a replacement turns out to need more than a straight swap. The laminate has been covering it up. 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.

Consent for the work sits with the freeholder or the managing body, and getting it in writing first avoids a crew arriving to a locked door. 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.