Here at JW McDonald Kitchens & Bathrooms Ltd the goal for us as a company is deliver kitchen installation & renovations competitive costs in South London & Kent.
We have just moved from central London to serviced offices in Chislehurst, Kent BR7, we can still cover all south London customers and cover our clients Beckenham, Langley Park, Hayes, Shortlands BR2 & Bromley BR3 areas as well.
We can supply and install Howdens kitchens and Benchmarks kitchens to all our customers. They both have the free design aspect to them so you will get 3D drawings and detailed installation drawing.
We often get asked we always get asked on every job we potentially are going to start, “how long will the job take?” This guide may help give you an outline of how we think do things when it comes to any kitchen refurbishment and installation project. I will break down what we do into typical days and how long these elements should take to complete. We hope this will help you understand why some companies will charge more than others and give you an idea of how long a job could take.
This will also give you an idea about the cost of the job because you can figure out the typical day rate you are paying for tradesman who are doing the different jobs to complete the kitchen project.
WEEK (1)
We start all of our jobs by putting down floor protection, this could be something called correx or an off the roll stick down protection or both.
This will normally take most of the morning and will help to stop any damage to the floor when we start to remove the kitchen.
There will be a lot of walking done through the property or communal areas with rubbish and new materials for the job.
There is also the great British weather to contend with so wet feet with mud can ruin the floors but with good protection this can be removed easily.
We know some companies use dustsheets, which create more dust that has been dragged from previous jobs into your property. Most dustsheets are not waterproof and will not cover all the high traffic areas so damage can occur.
The second part of the day is spent removing the kitchen, tiled splash back and flooring then turning off the water to the property. This can be done by the main stopcock tap or in the street where each property should have its own water supply. Before removing the kitchen sink anything. Always check that the water supply is switched off completely then remove the sink tap, washing machine or dish washer feeds.
We always switch off the gas supply to the hob, this can found behind the units or inside one the base units near the hob. If the isolator valve for the gas hob cannot be found we will switch off the gas supply at the gas meter and cut the gas pipe to remove the hob and install a new isolator valve.
This is when we start to install all the new pipe work in their new locations for new waste connections, washing machines, and dishwasher.
The timescale can vary on these works depending on if the pipe work for the water stopcock must move to a new location.
If the new hob is a gas hob this will need to be altered at a later time when the worktop is cut out for the new hob installation. We will move this if its going in a new location, but it will still need to be altered again for the final installation.
We always stress all new pipe work should be left on test for leaks for at least 24hrs because most leaks accrue as the pressure is continues. The other thing to look for which is common can be that the original copper pipe work in the property could be a fraction smaller than the new copper and fittings you are installing now so this can cause slow leaks under pressure.
The rest of the day is used to start removing the old kitchen ring circuit and only leave you with the 6mm oven feed. In most cases if the consumer unit is easily accessible, we will install a new ring circuit to the consumer unit. If this is not possible, we will use part of the original kitchen ring circuit.
It is always best to renew as much of the old kitchen ring circuit as possible to eliminate any old wiring connections that can be hidden. Installing a new kitchen ring circuit is always our first choice.
We will use the rest of the day drawing where everything should be installed on the walls
This will then set up for the new plug socket, isolator switches for integrated appliances, hob, extractor and oven feed, we will also look at installing any new under cupboard lighting feeds.
We will always consult the client to ask if there will be any more electrical points to be installed. This will cover things like microwave, toaster, charging points and spare points in general.
When this has all been covered, we will start chase out the walls for the back boxes and cables that will be hidden in the walls
We will then chase out the walls for the individual points and cables to be installed in the walls. To save time we will keep the lower part of the kitchen ring circuit cables that will not be seen in plastic trucking behind the kitchen base units. This is to save time needed for us to complete the plastering and kitchen as quickly as possible.
When we have checked all the pipe work for leaks, we will close up the floor temporarily and back fill all the of the chases in the walls and plaster the walls to a good finish. When you get to the point of plastering, we like to have the plastering completed over the weekend, so it has time to dry off the plaster. When the plastering is completed this when you must check to see if our kitchen measurements are sill correct and everything will fit.
We find that some installation plans will need to be changed because we have plastered all the walls in the kitchen. This can add up to 3-5mm of plaster to each wall that will take away the wall space in the kitchen needed for the units to fit.
WEEK (2)
We will start to install the base units for the kitchen as a loose fit to determine if the kitchen will fit with drawings given by the kitchen company.
We can also modify the sink base unit for the kitchen sink waste and all the new supplies for the appliances. We also get a chance to check that all the end panels, doors, hinges e.c.t are present and correct. We also get a chance to check for any damages so if anything needs to be ordered it will not slow the job down.
When you buy a new kitchen some of them come flat pack, this will take more time to assemble, this is all based on a pre-assembled kitchen, which comes from Howdens or Benchmarks.
We will now start to install the new kitchen base units to the walls using brackets and screws. The appliances will be installed in place as a loose fit as well at this point and we make sure that the height of the units are set out for the plinth and flooring finish. This also saves space in property and we get to remove the packaging so we can check for any damage to the new appliances.
When the base units are installed, we can start to install the wall units, doors and end panels. This will also gives use a chance to install the extractor fan as a loose fit. When the wall units are finished, we can install the worktops and cut out the worktops for the hob and sink.
The next stage is to measuring out for tiling so there are minimal cuts and tile waste. We also start setting up any tile trims, this will make sure that your splash back areas should line up with any specifically tiled areas.
This is also the time when the gas supply will be finished off and gas hob and sink will be installed. We also do the final waste and water connections; this will take up a lot of space under the sink so most shelving will need to be removed.
We then remove the loose appliances and second fix all the electrical points; all the points will be tested to make sure there are no faults. We will then proceed install all the appliances which will be the extractor, oven, washing machine. If there is any under cupboard lighting, we will install them so everything can be tested.
WEEK (3)
This is when the tiled splash back areas will be sized up to make sure that we are eliminating any tile cuts that will make tile cutting of our tiles harder to complete to give you the best finish.
We normally setup for the manual tile cutter and wet wheel cutter and install some of the tiles around the splash back areas. This should also be the time to check under the floor for the last time for any leaks. We then fix in place all the loose floorboards and install the 9mm WPB ply boards on the floor using 25mm screws, but we make sure to pencil out where all the pipework is below just in case.
There should not be any problems because a standard floorboard is 18mm and the ply boards are 9mm. This means that the total depth of timber is 27mm and we use 25mm screws so this should eliminate any chance of any pierced pipes with our screws.
We will tile the floor complete using rapid flexible floor adhesive which normally take around 3-4 to set enough for light traffic use just in case you have to finish off any final tile cuts.
This when we use decorating plastic sheeting to sheet out over the kitchen units and anything that could get paint on it and over the floor with correx floor protection.
We normally start to decorate the ceiling wall with a watered-down emulsion paint with x2 coats to seal the plaster. Then we put on x1 coat of the kitchen and bathroom paint for the ceiling and walls. This will help us to see any filling that could be needed before putting on any final coats of paint. We will also rub down and undercoat the woodwork, which includes the door, door frames and skirting board if any.
We normally rub down any filler and touch up the wood, work, ceiling and walls with kitchen and bathroom paint. In-between drying time this gives us a chance to install the kitchen lights. Then we give the ceiling the final coat of paint.
We normally give the walls and woodwork a final coat of paint, grout the walls first and then start to install the kitchen handles. We will also have to take off the original door before tiling then cut it down and reinstall it. The final part of the day is to clean everything and silicon around the worktop, sink and hob areas.
This will be carried in conjunction with use checking to make the consumer was up to date before starting the job. We will also conduct a gas test to make sure the gas hob is installed correctly from the gas meter. This is when the gas hob can be tested.
We will normally ask the client to use the kitchen on this morning the day before we leave the job, which gives everything the real-life test and get any feed back about the kitchen and any other fittings we have installed. If there are any final changes, we normally ask the client to give use a list of what needs to be changed. We will then start to remove all the plastic covers from the kitchen units the fittings and floors.
The NIC certification testing is carried out to ensure that everything installed to regulation standard. Any rubbish that’s on the job will be removed by having a skip on site or we take it away by van to another job we have that already has a skip we have hired.
We always make sure the job is left clean and tidy and ask the client to check for any snagging on the job. This will be were the client has the opportunity to check over everything that maybe missed in any previous checks before.
We normally give the client another 48 hours to check everything over and we keep the keys to property over that time for convenience.
For a free no obligation estimate email us on jwmcdonaldkb@icloud.com or use the contact us form on the website.