Worktop installation in West Ham

Yes. West Ham is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are E15, E13. It is worked on our east London run, along with the rest of Newham. A controlled parking zone means either a visitor permit sorted in advance or a suspended bay, and a suspension is applied for days ahead rather than on the morning. 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 day is built around that window. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.

The bay at the front and the back addition at the rear were built to different standards, and the kitchen is nearly always in the weaker of the two. The day is planned backwards from the hall, and the scribing takes longer than the carry. The slow parts are slow for a reason. The interwar semis have side access down the alley, so a long piece can go straight to the back door without touching the hallway.

Residential roads are permit-controlled with a mix of parallel bays and a few driveways on the semis, which makes the semis a much easier unload than the terraces. Rail and tube lines cut through the area, so several streets are dead ends against embankments and need approaching from a specific direction. A side gate and a back door mean the stone never goes through the house at all, which keeps the dust and most of the risk outside. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Yes. On the research for this patch it is the first of the three jobs listed, ahead of worktop templating and worktop replacement. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. Sealed before we leave. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly.

With three walls in play the chance of one of them being out of square is high, and the template has to carry all three angles. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Dry-lay first, always. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.

A run can measure dead right at both ends and still belly out in the middle, which only appears once the template plots the intermediate points. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. Dry-lay, mark, cut, then bond. Clear the full hall and stairs route of furniture, bikes, coats and stair-gates, and keep the front door propped and unobstructed for the carry. 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. 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.