how we work
Initial contact
Step One
After your initial enquiry, we will give you a call to discuss your project and establish that we’re the right company for you. The key factors are location, timescale, style and budget. Our kitchens range from around £12,000 - £65,000 with our average kitchen at £30,000 including cabinetry, worktops, appliances, sink, tap, hardware, installation & VAT. We will work with you to achieve your budget.
If we are a good match and you would like to progress... we will either drop a brochure pack out to you or save the trees and send this over email.
It is a good idea to have a look through our portfolio, check out our brochures and look on Instagram or Pintrest to identify your style. It’s always helpful if you can save these photos to show our designers
First meeting
Step Two
The next step is to meet with one of our professional designers Sarah or Alice to discuss your requirements. This first meeting will usually take around an hour and we will talk through what does/doesn’t work for you in your current kitchen, any features you would like to incorporate in the new design & how you plan to use the space. We will take note of everything you would like to include and then it is our job to make your kitchen dreams a reality!
We will also establish whether or not you require our installation/building services and if so, we can discuss this aspect of your project too.
This meeting will usually take place at your property so we can survey the space and take detailed measurements. If your project is a new build/major remodeling and we are working to architects’ drawings, we will invite you into our showroom for this initial consultation.
Initial design & quotation
Step Three
Once we have gathered your wish list and the room dimensions, behind the scenes we will start to put together ideas for layouts. We produce our designs using our Computer Aided Design program and will put together a presentation showing 3D visuals to help you to understand our designs clearly.
Together with a detailed quotation and a supporting letter explaining our thoughts we will put around 8 hours of work into this stage of the process. We plan to respond within two weeks of meeting although this sometimes takes a little longer as our incoming workload is unpredictable.
We will email the initial design, quotation and covering letter over for you to look through at your convenience. We really appreciate it if you can acknowledge receipt of this & give us your initial feedback on what we have proposed.
Feedback
Step Four
We intend that by this stage you are excited by our design and you are keen to move forward. Viewing the design will often trigger ideas, questions, thoughts and tweaks. We will then invite you into our showroom in Wellow for another meeting where we can discuss the design & quote in more detail and look at the materials and products we have proposed. This meeting usually takes around 2 hours and we hope that by the end of it you feel confident that you would like to work with Herbert William and we have a design and product to your taste and budget.
At this stage, we ask for a commitment in the form of a £500 deposit. This deposit is deductible against the purchase of a full kitchen and just allows us to spend the time working with you to tweak the design and quote until you are completely happy. The most expensive commodity of our industry is design time so we are very careful to work with clients that wish to work with us and not spend these costly hours designing for individuals that perhaps do not need our level of expertise. (This also means we can keep overheads low and our prices competitive)
Design Development
Step Five
With your commitment we will now work to update the design and quotation. We will have further communication and meetings whilst we work towards a completed design. There is no time pressure from us and we will tweak the design until it is perfect!
Check measure
Step Six
Once we have finalised the design, a member of the team will visit your property to carry out the all important check measure. They will run a tape measure around and mark out where each unit will sit to ensure everything fits and works in reality as well as principle!
As soon as everything is confirmed we can provide plans, elevations and electrical/plumbing connection specification sheets for our/your contractor to assist with their areas of the project.
Order
Step Seven
Now we are ready to press the button! We will ask for deposit of 50% of the value of the kitchen (minus the £500 you have already paid) in order to secure your slot in the diary and get everything underway. You will receive an order confirmation via email.
Our kitchens are usually on a 4 week lead time however our Austrian kitchens take 8-10 weeks as they are so bespoke and then of course, have to get here!
If Herbert William are project managing your installation, Lee will provide you with a detailed schedule of works and will book this in with the individual trades.
Installation
Step Eight
The kitchen will be delivered and one of our trusted fitters will begin installing it. Kitchen installation usually takes between 2-4 weeks depending on your choice of worktop. You will have been given a schedule of works back at the point of order so you will be aware of how long this should take.
The period of time that you are without a working kitchen is always testing to say the least.. but we do our very best to make this as painless as possible. Our fitters can set you up with a little make shift kitchen and we can provide you with storage boxes to pack everything away, a freestanding hob and even a temporary kitchen sink if need be!
Finishing
Step Nine
We try to avoid snags as much as possible but a kitchen is made up of hundreds of moving components, so it is not unusual for us to have to pop back to adjust a door or change a hinge. We will address this as soon as the problem arises and we are always on the end of the phone if anything needs adjusting.
Handover
Step Ten
Your designer will be keen to pop round to see the finished kitchen. While they are there they will check you are comfortable using your new appliances and can show you how to make best use of them. They will talk you through how to care & maintain your new kitchen so you can enjoy it for years to come.