Christian McArdle wrote:

Whilst it would have been nice of them to tell me *before*
starting the work, I can't see any particular reason to
object to this. Should I?

I wouldn't. It's nice having a new stopcock, however incompetent the
installer is at informing you. Personally, I'd just be grateful that they
were doing it for free.

Yes, I'm inclined to think along similar lines. In that case, I shall
consider myself fortunate and restrict my interference to checking that
they don't nick the old York Stone paving...

Ben.