Find Anything Kitchen Related Fitters in the Aberdeen Area
In this article, we outline what to look for before hiring the best kitchen fitter in your area.
01/04/2020
Choosing the right kitchen fitters for your kitchen can sometimes be an overwhelming task. After all, kitchens are often regarded as the most important part of your home, where most activities take place. Your day may even start in the kitchen to drink a cup of coffee or eat breakfast to begin your day.
Besides, you prepare food for your family and perhaps eat your meals in your kitchen. For these reasons, it’s important to hire the right kitchen fitters to fix or update your kitchen so that it maintains its accommodating standards. But finding the best kitchen fitter can sometimes be difficult. This article will discuss what to look for before hiring the best kitchen fitter in the Aberdeen area.
Look out for experienced kitchen fitters
Kitchen fitting is not as simple as it appears. Most of the basics of kitchen fitting seem similar, such as installing cabinets, fitting a cooker, or plumbing a sink, but these tasks differ from job to job. But there are big differences when it comes to installing a few new kitchen units and renovating a pretty large kitchen that has more work units.
This is the reason why you have various kitchen fitters unique work experiences. You can find some kitchen fitters who will work with you from the beginning of the project like designing your new kitchen, installation, and decoration. On the other hand, others are considered general carpenters and builders who are capable of removing and fitting a kitchen but they outsource other specialized tasks, such as electrical and plumbing.
While both types of these kitchen fitters have their advantages, hiring a specialized and experienced company makes sense. This is because they might deliver an outcome that is of a higher standard than that of a generalist. Therefore, before you hire a kitchen fitter, make sure that they have done similar jobs to the one you expect them to do in your kitchen. The best way you can do this is by checking their previous work samples which they may have as part of their portfolio. Alternatively, you can arrange with them to see their previous works.
Hire someone you are comfortable with
Aside from checking if the kitchen fitter has the required experience to perform the job, you should see if you’re comfortable to hire them. The first contact can help you to know if you feel at ease having the fitter work for your kitchen. This means you need to check if they are polite while speaking to them on the phone. Best of all, the ideal ones come to the scheduled meetings at the right time and ask a lot of questions on the expected project goals.
There is no short when doing kitchen fittings. This means it might take a couple of days to complete the project depending on its size. If you can’t use your kitchen while the fitter is working on it, you might need to find alternative accommodation. This is because most of the kitchen appliances will be out of action. Therefore, having good communication with the kitchen fitter throughout the project is important. Professional relationships will help both parties to speak comfortably about any concerns or issues that may arise.
Get the detailed quotes
If you have a large kitchen project, it’s highly recommended to get at least three quotations from three different kitchen fitters. The best thing about these quotations is you can see the details and scale of the kitchen fitting process. The quotations should include the materials to be used, labor, and any subcontracting jobs the kitchen fitter might decide to do. Importantly, find out if they are going to dispose of the removed kitchen items. As a result, comparing the quotations can give you a better picture of the project.
The rule of the thumb is to go for a quotation that seems to be fair rather than the unreasonably low one. Some kitchen fitters might try to win the project by reducing some expenses, but they still include some extra costs while building the kitchen features.
In the end, the cost of kitchen fitting will depend on the scope of the project. Therefore, if you're looking for a kitchen fitter to design and fit a new kitchen, perhaps it may be considerably more than just doing the installation work. In addition to this, the cost may also depend on whether you will be buying the kitchen features yourself from the internet, brick-and-mortar store, or the kitchen fitter will buy the items after hiring them.
Hiring the kitchen fitters can sometimes work to your advantage because they have great relationships with suppliers and approved installers. It means they can buy these kitchen items at a cheaper price, leading to a lower quote. This also reduces the risks of buying low-quality kitchen features or the ones that don’t fit in your kitchen space.
However, if you decide to buy the kitchen features yourself, you should get in touch with your kitchen fitter to make sure that you’re buying the right ones. You should also ensure that the delivery for the kitchen features should be in time so prevent any fitting delays.
Create a payment plan
You should establish a payment plan that you’re comfortable with after agreeing on the final price. You may be wondering why this is important. Well, a written quotation and contract is the right way to go to make sure you both agree on the terms of the project. This can also prevent future misunderstandings should they arise.
Reputable kitchen fitters might sometimes not expect you to pay them the entire money for an expensive kitchen fitting upfront. But they request you to make a small deposit before they start working on your kitchen. For other large kitchen fitting companies, they might purchase the kitchen materials from their suppliers on account, meaning they may not require you to pay upfront to cover the expenses for these materials. This is different from smaller companies who are working on a larger project as they might require you to pay a larger deposit to cover for these costs.
In most cases, the payment is done until the kitchen fitting process is complete. The payment can be done in cash, bank transfer, or a cheque. Regardless of the method of transaction, it’s important to keep the records for future reference.
Building regulations
Many kitchen fitters are guilty of installing new kitchen features without following the building regulations. Here is the deal, your kitchen may involve doing some electrical work, such as changing lighting, gas work for gas cooker, or installing an extractor fan and electric oven. If your kitchen project involves electrical work, a qualified electrician should do it. Much of the electrical work done in your home should be carried out by following the legal standards for easier approval.
Apart from ensuring that the electrical work is safe for your home, it also prevents putting you and your family from danger. Any substandard work can be costly because your local authority might insist on the project to be redone. Even worse, you can experience problems when you try to sell your home if you don’t have the right electrical safety certificates to indicate that the electrical wiring was done correctly.
For electrical wiring, you want to make sure that nothing goes wrong in your home. Hence, someone doing the kitchen fitting project should assure you that the installation has been done perfectly. It’s a welcoming development to see that the local authorities demand electricians to follow the electrical wiring standard regulations. This is the best way to ensure that you are safe and your home property is not at risk from electrical damages.
Therefore, you should look for The best kitchen fitters in the Aberdeen area to do the electrical and all other kitchen fittings for you. If the fitter is not qualified to perform such electrical tasks, you should request them to subcontract someone who has the proper electrical certificates to do the job. Qualified electricians are there to protect you and your property from electrical faults.
The kitchen is the most important space in your home where children and other people can relax. For this reason, you want to make sure that all electrical components are placed properly so that you can have peace of mind. In the same vein, the person doing the gas work should be registered with the appropriate local authority.
After-sales-service
There is a good chance that the kitchen fitting can have some complications over time. Often, some of the issues arise after the project is considered complete, and the kitchen fitter is doing other projects. After-sales-service is very important when you purchase valuable things. If this is the case, it’s advisable to hire a kitchen fitter who is willing to come back and correct anything that might not be working properly as expected.
While most kitchen fitters include this part of follow-ups in their contracts, others prefer to have an informal agreement. The good news is that reputable kitchen fitters include warranties in their contracts, meaning you should always check if there is any clause to that effect.