Kitchen worktops in Sydenham

Yes. A long high street with Victorian terraces behind it, mostly back-addition kitchens converted into kitchen-diners, plus a good number of flat conversions with compact runs. On streets with longer gardens the extensions give a 3.5m run and a peninsula. A dedicated loading bay or service yard is the easiest arrangement in a managed building, provided the slot is booked and someone has the key to the shutter. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. It is why the arrival time is what it is.

Victorian terrace, Victorian semi-detached villa, 1930s semi and postwar estate. The flat entrance door and the internal doorways are usually tighter than the communal stairs, which is the opposite of what most people assume. The day is planned backwards from the hall, and the scribing takes longer than the carry. That is the shape of the day.

The main road is busy with buses and loading restrictions, the residential streets climb steeply toward Sydenham Hill, and almost none of the terraces have off-street parking. A walk-up with winders at every half-landing means the piece is rested and re-gripped on the way, so the crew size goes up before the piece size comes down. Finding it out on the morning costs the whole slot, because there is no second route to fall back on. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. In a converted house the flat entrance and the internal doorway are usually tighter than the communal stairs, and that is easy to overlook. The units stay and only the surface changes, so the whole job is one day rather than a kitchen refit. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. Flat conversions above the shops are the awkward ones — a narrow stair straight off the street and no rear access at all.

Peninsulas frequently land on a lightweight partition or on units that were never fixed down, and stone needs proper support under it before it goes on. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. One datum for the whole room. Walls that bow along their length are the normal condition rather than the exception, and a straight-cut back edge will show a shadow gap at one end and touch at the other. We would rather find it at template than on the morning, which is why the templater looks behind the units. 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.

Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. 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.