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Yes Reg they are very good but I can't afford them.
When we took over the Yew Tree in early 2002 the kitchen needed a complete back-to-brick renovation. Quotes from builders and commercial kitchen fitters ranged between £20k and £28k and they all reckoned 4-6 weeks for the job. By managing the project myself, planning, sourcing equipment, materials and tradesmen carefully, and keeping on their backs mercilessly, we got the job done in eleven working days for about £12,800, including all the new cooking equipment. Planning and engaging workers took about nine weeks. The work involved removing a wall, stripping off walls and ceiling, rewiring, replumbing, installation of a new ducted stainless steel extractor system, new flooring, replastering, tiling plus stainless steel wall cladding, gas plumbing, new boiler, and installation and commissioning of all the new kit.
We still had unexpected problems. Day 1, the old cooker wouldn't go out through the door as it had been assembled in situ and wouldn't come apart. Solution: hire an industrial angle grinder and cut it into 4 pieces! The hire cost of £80 was the only unbudgeted item in the whole process and it didn't set the project back time wise. Owing to the flexibility of some of the tradesmen, we finished ahead of schedule.
At times we were tearing our hair out but in the end it was well worth the hassle, both in terms of the money saved and the quality of the job.
