The quote’s accepted, the flooring’s ordered, the date’s in the diary. Now you’re wondering what actually happens when we knock on the door.
Fair enough — you’re letting a team of strangers and power tools into your home. Here’s the honest reality of a fitting day with us, plus how to prepare so it all runs smoothly.
Most of it applies whoever you hire. Some of it is just how we do things.
Before we arrive: the week leading in
If we’re supplying your flooring, it may need to arrive ahead of us. Wood and laminate should acclimatise in the room where they’ll be fitted — typically for 48 hours or more — so the boards adjust to your home’s temperature and humidity before they’re locked into position.
We’ll arrange delivery and tell you where to stack the boxes: flat, in the room, out of sunlight.
You’ll also have confirmation of the start date, expected duration and what’s included. If anything’s changed since the quote — new furniture, a discovered problem, a change of heart on beading — the week before is the time to tell us, not fitting morning.
8:00am: arrival and the walkthrough
Our usual working day runs roughly 8am to 4:30pm. We’ll confirm exact timings when we book you in, and if a day needs to run differently we’ll tell you — we won’t just go quiet.
First job on arrival isn’t tools. It’s a walkthrough. We confirm the plan room by room, agree the direction of the boards, check door clearances, agree where beading and thresholds go, and answer anything you’ve thought of overnight.
Ten minutes here prevents every ‘I assumed…’ conversation later.
Then you’re free to stay, go to work, or leave us a key. Plenty of customers do all three across a job — and one memorably went on holiday and came home to finished floors.
The morning: clearing, uplifting and preparation
The early hours of a fitting day are demolition and preparation. Furniture out (we’ll have agreed in advance who’s moving what), old flooring up, gripper rods and staples out, subfloor swept, inspected and levelled where needed.
This is the noisy, dusty phase. It’s also the most important part of the entire job — what’s under your floor decides how the floor looks, feels and sounds for the next twenty years.
If we uncover something unexpected under the old floor — damp, damaged boards, a previous fitter’s shortcuts — we stop and talk to you before doing anything that costs money. No surprise invoices.
- Noise: expect saw and drill noise in bursts through the day. In flats, we do as much cutting indoors as possible and keep stairwell noise down. It’s worth giving your neighbours a friendly heads-up the day before.
- Dust: we sheet doorways, use extraction on the big tools and clean as we go. There will still be some dust — it’s a building site for a day or two, just a tidy one.
- Access: we’ll need parking as close as possible (flooring is heavy) and a clear route through. In tenements, everything comes up the stair by hand — it’s built into our timings.
The afternoon: the floor goes down
Once the subfloor’s right, the pace changes and the satisfying part begins. Underlay down, setting-out lines struck, and boards clicking or bonding into place.
Setting-out is the quiet skill of the trade — deciding where the first board goes so the last board isn’t a sliver, the pattern is centred, and the floor meets the doorway properly.
It’s also when herringbone earns its premium. Pattern floors go down block by block off a centre line, and a day’s plank area can be two days of pattern.
Along the way we’re trimming door bottoms where the new floor sits higher, fitting thresholds between rooms, and cutting boards around pipes, hearths and the wobbly walls every Edinburgh home hides.
Expansion gaps are left at every edge — your floor needs room to breathe with the seasons — and those gaps disappear under beading or skirting at the finish.
How long does it all take?
- A single straightforward room in laminate or click LVT: usually a day, including prep.
- A couple of rooms, or one room in engineered wood: one to two days.
- A hall-and-living-space run, or anywhere needing serious levelling: two to three days.
- Herringbone and pattern work: roughly double the equivalent plank time.
- Staircases: always quoted separately. Stairs are slow, precise work, and rushing them shows forever.
We’d rather quote you an honest duration than a flattering one. When a fitter promises your whole flat in a day, the time is coming out of the preparation — and the preparation is the job.
End of day: the handover walkthrough
We don’t leave a finished job without walking it with you.
Together we check every room: transitions, beading, silicone lines in wet areas, door swings, and the floor itself in raking light — the fitter’s trick, because low light across a floor shows what overhead light hides.
We’ll hand over spare boards for the cupboard, care instructions for your specific finish, and the balance invoice only once you’re happy.
Then the important bit: furniture goes back gently (felt pads first), rugs wait a few days on a freshly finished floor, and you spend an evening just admiring it. Everyone does.
Ready to get a date in the diary?
That’s a fitting day with Rocks — no mysteries, no surprise invoices, no vanishing acts.
If you’d like your own, send us your room sizes and a couple of photos for a free, no-obligation quote, or call us on 0131 285 6435. We’ll tell you honestly how long your job needs and when we can start.
Related questions
See our flooring installation service or get an estimate.
We install floors across Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.
