Kitchen worktops in West Ealing

Yes. Heavy on two-flat conversions: the ground floor gets the rear-return kitchen, the upper flat gets a galley in what was a bedroom. Runs of 2.2m to 3m with the sink under an existing window. A red route means no stopping, and no stopping means exactly that, so the stone comes in from a side street or from a bay behind the property. A templater circling for a space arrives late into a slot that was already tight, and the drawing is what suffers. Two hours is the realistic figure.

Victorian terrace, Edwardian terrace, two-flat conversion and Elizabeth line new-build. Cornice, picture rails and deep skirting survive in converted rooms, so the run stands off the wall and the back edge follows the units rather than the plaster. Alcoves either side of the breast are rarely the same width and rarely parallel, so each one is templated as its own piece with its own scribe. No stone is ever cut from a plan.

The Broadway and Uxbridge Road are red route with bus lanes, the side streets are permit-controlled, and the new blocks near the station have loading bays that must be booked in advance. Communal stairs get boarded and the handrail padded, and we walk the route with a tape before the first piece leaves the van. The templater measures that route on the same visit, so the drawing leaves site already knowing the maximum piece. It goes on the drawing with the run dimensions.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, 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 carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. Upper-flat kitchens sit on timber joists in a former bedroom, so a stone island is usually off the table and the client needs telling early.

On a heavily veined stone the island and the run behind it are nested off the same area of slab so the movement relates across the room. The template records every angle in that shape as it actually is rather than as the plan drew it. The drawing leaves site complete. Floors settle, and once base units are packed and levelled properly the stone sits true while everything else in the room admits it is not. It is recorded on the drawing with the run dimensions so the workshop is not guessing. 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.

The same building type can arrive as a careful one-off kitchen or as a fast turnaround, and the honest answer is that they are priced differently. A template booked hopefully around another trade is the commonest cause of a wasted visit. No stone is cut from a plan. 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.