Kitchen worktops in Harold Hill

Yes. A large post-war London County Council estate laid out in repeating blocks, where original kitchens were small service rooms with a separate larder and back lobby. The standard job is knocking the lobby and larder into the kitchen to gain a metre of run, or extending shallowly at the rear; most owners keep it practical with a straight run plus a return rather than an island. A free-parking street with cars both sides can still leave the van forty metres away, and that distance is carry, not driving. It is noted on the job sheet at template so the fitting crew inherit the answer rather than rediscovering it. It goes on the job sheet for the fitting crew.

late-1940s to 1950s LCC out-county estate, ex-council terrace, ex-council semi and later infill. An ex-council house is solidly built to a standard plan, with the kitchen at the rear and a back door next to it. The carry is the constraint. That is the shape of the day.

Open estate roads with verges, front gardens and generally unrestricted parking, plus rear pathways between blocks, so unloading is rarely the problem here. A narrow entrance hall with a turn into the back of the house caps the longest piece we can physically get in, whatever the run itself measures. 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.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. The prep list is not optional. Original walls on this estate are rarely straight or true, so the scribe allowance goes up and we never cut a return to a nominal dimension.

Galley runs are usually short enough to come out of a single slab, so the material band you choose does more to the total than the room shape does. Join positions and vein direction are marked on the template drawing before it leaves site. One datum for the whole room. Where a corner is a couple of degrees off, a mitre cut to a theoretical ninety degrees opens on the wall side and there is no closing it afterwards. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. It is the slow part of the day and it should be. 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.

Consent for the work sits with the freeholder or the managing body, and getting it in writing first avoids a crew arriving to a locked door. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. One visit, our own installers. 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.