Worktop installation in South Acton

Yes. South Acton is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are W3. It is worked on our west London run, along with the rest of Ealing. Where the van can pull up level with the gate the pieces are handled the fewest times, which is what actually protects them. The fitting slot is set around it, which is why we ask about it when the date is booked and not before we leave the yard. The clock on the bay runs whether the lift is free or not. You never have to visit anything or collect anything: we template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen.

The first kitchen was fitted by the authority to a standard layout, so the waste, the gas point and the sockets are all still where that layout put them. Deck access or a single narrow staircase with tight half-landings means long pieces get walked up on edge, and the landing turn is checked before we commit. A floor that falls twenty millimetres is packed out first. Anything that has to stay accessible, a stopcock, a gas meter, a riser panel, is marked on the template so the stone is cut around it instead of over it. Rushing that is what leaves a gap you look at every morning for fifteen years. The gap closes on the grinder, not in the sealant gun.

Handrails, mirrors and a sloping ceiling panel all eat into the usable diagonal, and none of them appear on a lift specification sheet. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. That is what the morning is planned around. Unrestricted does not mean empty, and a street that is clear at seven is usually full by nine. A van that has to move mid-fit costs the best part of an hour and takes a man off the tools to do it. Slack in the day gets spent on the street or on the fit.

It is one of the three we do most here, behind worktop replacement. Whichever it is, the template and the fitters do not change. Handover-spec kitchens are square, plumb and predictable, which means the join count is honest and driven by run length rather than by the building. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. The prep list is not optional. A specification repeated across several plots has to be repeatable, which quietly rules out the natural stones where no two slabs match. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. Sealed before we leave.

An aisle under a metre stops being a working space the moment two people are in it, and the depth of the tops either side is what decides whether that happens. A layout that has been packed and levelled run by run instead of to one datum shows as a step where two pieces meet. A corner that will not close is never forced. Supply-only material is £110 to £550 per square metre, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted separately rather than rolled in.

A notch around a boxed stack is machined with a radius at the internal corner, because a square inside corner there is exactly where a top will crack. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. Level is checked across the room, not along one wall. Reserve a space as close to the block entrance as possible and clear the landing and stairs of prams, bikes and stored items. 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. The room cleared before the crew arrives.

The alternative stands on the surface, so the choice is losing worktop permanently or only while you are draining. Which side of the bowl they go is about how you stand at the sink, and it is settled before cutting. Communal heating pipework rises through the flat and is boxed in at floor and at ceiling, and none of it moves for a kitchen. The fitting day is planned backwards from all of it, before the first piece comes off the van. Access, floor and wall in that order, then stone.

Old laminate is light and awkward rather than heavy, so it is usually the easier half of the day. Take the old tops off yourself if you would rather, and the quote simply carries one line fewer. If you want the old top kept for a garage or a utility, say so and it stays on site. A skip, a delivery lorry or a run of scaffolding takes the frontage the van needed, so the street is worth a look the day before rather than on the morning. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. The parking dictates the sequence, not the kitchen.

Door frames and the stair route are protected too, since most contact happens on the way in. Stone cannot be filled and made good the way laminate can, so a damaged piece is remade rather than patched. Most breakages happen on the carry, which is why the route is walked and measured before anything comes off the van. A lift out of service for the day turns a straightforward install into a stair carry, so the slot gets confirmed with whoever manages the building rather than against a calendar. 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.

If it is a decision for later, say so at the template: the match is a question about the batch. The joint between splashback and worktop is siliconed, never grouted, so it can move a little without cracking. A full-height piece shows a wall that is out more than an upstand does, over the extra height. A number of these blocks have had the gas taken out altogether, which turns a change of hob into an electrical question rather than a plumbing one. The stairwell half-landing is usually the tightest point on the whole route and it dictates the maximum piece. The building moved decades ago and the fit allows for it.