Kitchen worktops in South Norwood

Yes. A mix of small terraced kitchens and much larger Victorian semis where the ground floor has been opened right through to the garden, giving a 4m run and a full island. The estate flats at the other end are 2.4m galleys with limited cabinet depth. Without a bay the van ends up on a single yellow with a crew member watching it, which takes a pair of hands off the carry. 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. The day is built around that window.

Victorian terrace, large Victorian semi, 1960s estate flats and modern infill. Floors are suspended timber over a shallow void and have moved, so the units are packed and levelled before anything is set on them. The day is planned backwards from the hall. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted.

The high street is narrow with buses and loading bans, side streets are permit-controlled, and the ground rises steeply towards Upper Norwood so several roads have stepped front paths. Carrying through the house means protecting the whole route first: floor boarded, banister padded, and the front door held open on a wedge rather than by hand. Finding it out on the morning costs the whole slot, because there is no second route to fall back on. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop installation, worktop templating and worktop replacement, in that order. Extension kitchens are usually specified long before they are buildable, so the run lengths on the drawing and the run lengths in the room are different numbers. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly. The big Victorian semis often have suspended timber floors that flex under a heavy island, so the island carcass needs noggins or a bearer plate before stone goes on it.

If the island is a few hundred millimetres longer than the usable length of a slab, a second slab gets bought to gain that overhang, and the whole slab is paid for rather than the part used. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. The units stay, the surface changes. Legs bottoming out on hard concrete or an uneven screed mean the tops of the carcasses are not one plane, and that is picked up at template rather than on fitting day. 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.

Where a landlord or housing provider is involved there is a specification to meet and a process to follow, and both are settled before a date is offered. A half-day of access is not a fitting day, and it is better to say so at booking than to find out at eleven. Protection goes down first. 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.