Specifying stone for a self-build, a new build or a multi-unit development is a different exercise from choosing a worktop for your own kitchen. 
The aesthetic decision is the easy part. The difficult parts are consistency across units, fitting into a construction programme, and holding a specification when the budget gets squeezed.
Milton Keynes and the surrounding area has a lot of this work. Here is how it runs when it runs well.
Why quartz suits development work
For repeated units, quartz has a specific advantage over natural stone: it is consistent.
A natural stone slab is unique, which is a virtue in a private kitchen and a problem across twelve apartments. If plot 3 gets a slab with strong veining and plot 9 gets a quieter one, you have a conversation on your hands at handover.
Quartz is manufactured to a controlled recipe. Batch variation exists and matters, but the variation is far smaller than in natural stone, and a manufacturer can supply from a single batch if it is planned.
The same argument applies to sintered stone, with the added benefit of UV stability where a scheme has large glazed areas.
Batch control, and why it matters
This is the practical detail that trips up development projects.
Quartz is produced in batches, and there can be a perceptible colour or pattern difference between batches of the same product. Within a single kitchen this rarely shows. Across a phased development delivered over eighteen months, it can.
The controls:
Order the whole requirement from one batch where the programme allows. This means committing to material early and storing it, which has a cost, but it eliminates the problem.
Reserve batch allocation with the supplier so later phases draw from the same production run.
Accept and document a tolerance where a single batch is not achievable, and make sure the client or the buyer knows.
Hold attic stock. Two or three spare slabs from the original batch cover damage during fit-out and warranty claims later. This is cheap insurance and it is regularly omitted.
Fitting into a construction programme
The stone worktop sits near the end of the fit-out sequence and it has a fixed lead time that cannot be compressed. Understanding that prevents most programme disputes.
The sequence:
- Kitchen units delivered and fitted, levelled and secured
- Templating, on site, once units are fixed
- Fabrication, typically ten to fourteen working days
- Installation
- Sink and appliance connection, after the worktop is in
The critical point is that templating cannot happen before the units are fitted, and fabrication cannot start before templating. On a multi-unit scheme this means the stone programme is entirely driven by the kitchen fitting programme, and any slip in the latter moves the former day for day.
Practical measures:
- Template in batches that match the fit-out sequence, so fabrication runs continuously
- Confirm sinks, hobs and taps early, since cut-outs are model specific and a late change means a remake
- Agree access, storage and lift arrangements before delivery on apartment schemes
- Build in a snagging allowance, since damage during subsequent trades is common
Getting the specification right at design stage
Decisions that are cheap on a drawing and expensive on site.
Thickness. Twenty millimetre is standard on volume work. Thirty reads as higher specification. A mitred edge to 60mm or more transforms the perception of a kitchen and costs fabrication time rather than material.
Slab dimensions against layout. Quartz slabs are typically around 3050 by 1440mm. If an island exceeds that, there is a joint. Designing the island to slab dimensions avoids it. This is a five minute check at design stage.
Splashbacks. A full-height stone splashback behind the hob removes a tiled area and its grout, which is a maintenance win for a landlord or a management company and a visible upgrade for a buyer.
Cut-outs. Confirm sink and hob models early. Undermount sinks need a polished internal edge, which is a fabrication line item.
Overhangs. Anything beyond 250 to 300mm needs support designed in, either steel within the carcass or a corbel. This has to be coordinated with the kitchen supplier, not resolved on installation day.
Tolerances. New build walls are generally straighter than period ones but they are not perfect. Digital templating handles it.
Value engineering without wrecking the specification
When the budget gets cut, there are sensible places to take money out and unwise ones.
Sensible:
- A less expensive quartz decor in a similar colour family. The visual difference between a premium and a mid-range white quartz is smaller than the price difference.
- A simpler edge profile on secondary areas such as utility rooms while keeping the upgraded detail on the main kitchen and island.
- Standard rather than bespoke splashback heights.
- Stone on the kitchen and a different specification in the utility.
Unwise:
- Reducing thickness below what the layout supports.
- Removing support from an overhang.
- Dropping the full-height splashback and reverting to tiling, which usually costs more in labour than it saves in material.
- Switching to an unproven supplier late in the programme, which is where quality and programme problems concentrate.
Our quartz stone range sets out the brands we carry across price positions, including our own M&G Quartz range, which lets us hold consistent stock on the colours specified most often on development work.
Working with the wider team
On a development, the stone supplier needs to talk to the kitchen supplier, the main contractor and often the architect or interior designer directly.
The information flow that keeps things clean: kitchen layouts and elevations at design stage, confirmed sink and appliance schedules before ordering, a fit-out programme with plot-by-plot dates, and a single point of contact for variations.
Marble & Granite Ltd has delivered residential and commercial projects since 2006, including apartment schemes, hotels and restaurants, with CSCS carded operatives and CHAS accreditation for site work.
Discussing a project
If you are specifying marble, granite and quartz for a project in Milton Keynes, Bedford, Sandy or Biggleswade, the most useful conversation happens at design stage rather than at fit-out, because that is when the slab dimensions, edge details and programme can still be shaped.
Marble & Granite Ltd, 136-138 Great North Road, Birchwood Industrial Estate, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 5JN. Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm for showroom visits, on 01992 535 038.