Kitchen worktops in Harold Wood

Yes. Inter-war semis around the station taking the usual knock-through into the dining room, alongside a substantial modern development on the old hospital grounds where the houses and flats arrived with builder-standard kitchens now coming up for their first upgrade. The new-build kitchens are well-proportioned but the units are shallow, so the top overhang has to be set carefully. A front drive is the best thing that can happen to a fitting day, because the tail lift comes down within a few metres of the door and nothing is on a clock. Waste is the part people forget: the old laminate or tired granite has to be walked back to the van and it does not get lighter. The waste run is planned, not improvised.

1930s semi, Edwardian terrace, post-war semi and 2010s new-build on the former hospital site. A side alley and a back door mean most pieces go in whole, and it is the alley width rather than the front door that decides it. What catches people out is the junction between the old floor and the extension floor, which is rarely at the same level, so a run carrying across it needs the units packed before stone goes on. Sound carcasses are the one condition.

Older streets have drives and dropped kerbs; the new development has narrow shared-surface roads, allocated bays and parking enforcement, so we book a slot rather than assume a space. The van gets close to the door and the stone comes off the tail lift onto a trolley, which is about the shortest carry we ever get. We plan the strip-out and the carry as one movement so the kitchen is only out of use for a single day. It sets what the day actually looks like.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. The prep list is not optional. New-build carcasses on the modern estates are often lightweight and not designed for stone, so we brace and level them before loading a 20mm slab onto them.

The catch with a galley is that both runs are seen end-on from the doorway, so any difference in overhang between the two reads immediately. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. Carcasses have to be sound first. The returns into a breast recess are the tightest scribes in the room, and they are eased in rather than forced. Rushing that is what leaves a gap you look at every morning for fifteen years. Eased in, never forced. 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 householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. 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. 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.