The gap in the middle of every stone worktop job
The base units go in on Monday. The fitters are ready to hand over to the templater, but nobody booked them, because the office was waiting to hear the carcasses were done. The worktop company's next templating slot is the following week, and fabrication takes its own time after that. Meanwhile the customer has a kitchen with no worktops, a sink that is not plumbed and a hob sitting in a box.
Then the templater arrives and finds a unit that is not level, or the sink model has changed since the design, and the templating is delayed again.
What is really holding it up
Worktop companies are not usually the bottleneck. The problem is the handoff. The fitting team knows when units are ready. The office holds the relationship with the worktop company. The design holds the details: sink and hob cut-outs, upstands, splashbacks, drainer grooves, edge profile. Those three things rarely meet in one place at the right time.
| Handoff | Where it usually fails |
|---|---|
| Units ready for templating | Fitter tells the office verbally, or not at all |
| Booking the template visit | Made after the units are in, not planned in advance |
| Cut-out details | Sink and hob models changed but the worktop order was not updated |
| Fabricator's fit date | Given by phone and written on a diary page |
| Customer updates | Customer rings to ask what is happening |
What the waiting costs you
Each day between base units and worktops is a day the customer lives without a usable kitchen, and a day your fitters are either idle on that job or have to be shuffled to another one and brought back. Plumbing and electrical second fix have to be rebooked around the worktop date. If the templater finds the units are not ready, you pay for the visit and lose the slot.
How we connect the fitters, the office and the worktop company
- Each job with a stone or quartz worktop carries a templating stage in its plan, with a target date worked out from the unit fit.
- A readiness checklist on the fitter's phone confirms what the templater needs: units fixed and level, sink and hob on site or confirmed, appliance housings final.
- When the checklist is complete, a templating request goes to the worktop company by email or their booking form, with the design drawing and cut-out details attached.
- Their confirmed template and fit dates are recorded on the job, and dependent trades such as plumbing and electrical second fix are flagged for rebooking.
- If sink, hob or tap details change after templating is requested, the office is warned before the stone is cut.
- The customer receives plain updates at each step, sent by email or text through a service like Twilio.
If your worktop company has an ordering portal or accepts structured orders, we send the request in that form. If they prefer email, we send a clear email with everything attached.
What changes on the job
The templating slot is requested on the day the units are ready, not days later. Cut-out details match the appliances actually on site. Second fix trades are booked around a real worktop date. The customer knows what is happening without having to ring.
Is this happening on your jobs?
- Worktop templating is booked after the fitters report back, not before.
- Templaters have turned up to units that were not ready.
- A sink or hob change has reached the worktop company too late.
- Customers ring to ask when their worktops are coming.
- Plumbers are rebooked more than once on the same kitchen.