1st Fix Carpentry and Joinery across Norfolk and Suffolk

First fix is the timber work that goes in before plastering and is hidden afterwards: joists, stud walls, roof timbers and door linings. Second fix is the visible joinery fitted after plastering: doors, skirting, architrave and staircase parts. V&M carry out both, which keeps one team responsible from structure through to finish.

Yes. We take on first fix carpentry as part of a wider build run by someone else, and we also carry out whole projects ourselves. If you are a builder needing carpentry to a programme, tell us the dates and the scope and we will tell you honestly whether we can hold them.

Yes, this is work we carry out. Forming a structural opening involves propping, installing the supporting beam and making good around it. The beam is specified by a structural engineer and the work is signed off through building control, which is the correct route for any load bearing alteration.

Yes, and it is worth telling us early what is going on the walls. Televisions, wall hung basins, radiators, handrails and wall units all need solid fixing. Putting a noggin in at first fix costs minutes. Finding there is not one behind a plastered wall costs a great deal more.

Yes. Roof carpentry, trimming openings and structural timber work on extensions and alterations are part of what we do. Where a roof is being altered structurally the design is confirmed with the engineer before we start cutting.

The structure it fixes to, and the drawings it is built from. That usually means the shell is up, the openings are formed, and the engineer's details and any structural calculations are on site. If we are working behind other trades we need their programme, because first fix carpentry is the thing everything else hangs off.

Either. It runs more smoothly when we supply it, because the sizes and grades then match what the drawings call for and there is nobody to blame if something is wrong. If you have already bought it, we will check it against the design before it goes in.

That is the point of first fix. Studwork plumb and at the right centres, noggins in for whatever is being fixed later, linings set square, and nothing left for the next trade to pack out or scribe around. If boarding is part of what you have asked for, we board it.

Usually. It happens where pipework or cabling has gone through a joist in the wrong place or too deep. The repair depends on where the notch is along the span. Where it is structural we will say so and work to the engineer's remedy rather than guess at one.

Send the drawings and the programme dates through the enquiry form, or call and talk it through. For contract work we will want to see the plans before pricing. Quotes are free.