Kitchen worktops in Shad Thames

Yes. Almost entirely converted warehouse apartments - split-level or double-height, with the kitchen run pinned along one wall between structural brick piers and cast-iron columns, so runs get broken into 1.8m to 2.4m sections rather than one continuous sweep, and breakfast bars replace full islands where the floor plate is narrow. On a street with no restrictions the constraint is other residents rather than a warden, so it is worth putting a cone or a car out early. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. We would rather ask than guess.

1880s tea and spice warehouse, 1980s Butlers Wharf conversion and 1990s riverside block. Original brickwork is uneven by ten millimetres or more across a bay, so the back edge is scribed to the actual face rather than to a line. The goods lift is often industrial and generous, but the flat entrance and any internal turn into a mezzanine or split level can be tighter than anything in the building, so we walk the full route with a tape before unloading. The slow parts are slow for a reason.

The street itself is cobbled and shaded by the overhead gantry bridges with no room to park a van beside the door; lifts are small original goods lifts or tight passenger cars, so oversized pieces have to be planned to fit the car diagonally or go up the stairs on edge. The lift has to be booked and blanketed before anything moves, and that booking needs to cover the old tops coming out as well as the new stone going in. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop templating, worktop fabrication 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. Pieces are dry-assembled and checked on the bench before anything is loaded. Same slab run, or it is not a match. Measure the lift and the stair turn before you cut anything - a slab that fits the kitchen but not the lift is a wasted day here.

A galley puts the sink on one side and the hob on the other, which spreads the cut-outs across two pieces instead of weakening one. Join positions and vein direction are marked on the template drawing before it leaves site. The drawing leaves site complete. Level has to hold across the whole room rather than along one wall, or a floor that falls end to end shows as a step where two pieces meet. The laser plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. Plotted, not estimated. 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.

A let property is specified for durability and for a fixed window, and both of those are legitimate reasons to choose differently. Changing an appliance after the nest is set means recutting the piece, not adjusting it. Changes cost a piece, not a tweak. 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.