Site handover checklist for an interior project
A site handover checklist and snag list for an interior project, room by room: what to check, who fixes each snag by when, and what to hand over with the keys.
The client walks into the new kitchen on handover day, opens the top shutter and it hangs a little crooked. Then the bedroom light does not come on from the switch near the door. The work is ninety days old and nearly perfect, but the client now remembers the two things that were not. Both could have been found a week earlier, by somebody walking the site with a list.
A handover checklist is that list: one row for every thing to check, room by room. When a row fails, it becomes a snag with one person and one date. Handover happens when no row is left open.
Site handover checklist: the twelve columns
| Column | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Room or area | Kitchen, master bedroom, living room, common area | The walk goes room by room |
| Item | Shutters, false ceiling, switches, taps | One row per thing a client will touch |
| What to check | What "done" looks like, in plain words | Two people check the same thing the same way |
| Trade | Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting, civil, false ceiling, glass and hardware, cleaning | Snags can be sent to the right person in one go |
| Status | Not checked, OK, snag or fixed | The row is open until it says OK or fixed |
| Snag found | What is wrong, in one line, with a photo kept | The person who fixes it knows what to look for |
| Person | One name who will fix it | A snag without a name stays a snag |
| Fix by | The date it will be fixed | Handover can be planned |
| Fixed on | The date it was fixed | Closes the row |
| Days left | Fills itself in the Excel file, for open snags | Shows a snag that is slipping |
| Client checked | Yes, when the client accepts it on the final walk | The client's yes is written, not remembered |
| Remarks | A part on order, a shade code, a warranty | What the next person must know |
The file has example rows for a kitchen, a bedroom and a living room. Copy them for every room of the site and change the items to what you actually built.
What to check, room by room
Start with what a client touches and sees every day:
- Carpentry: every shutter and drawer opens, closes and lines up; soft-close works; locks have keys; no chip or scratch on the laminate or edge band.
- Electrical: every point works from its own switch; plates are straight; fans run without noise; the distribution board is labelled.
- Plumbing: no leak under any sink; hot and cold are on the right side; drains clear; the flush fills and stops.
- False ceiling and painting: no crack at the joints or near grilles; no patch, drip or uneven shade on walls seen in daylight.
- Glass and hardware: mirrors and glass fixed firmly; handles, towel rails and hooks tight.
- Cleaning: no dust inside drawers, no paint on glass or floor, no leftover material on site.
Three rules for the handover walk
- Walk the site a week before handover, without the client. The firm finds its own snags first, with time to fix them.
- Every snag gets a person and a date on the spot. Written in the sheet, not "we will see".
- Walk again with the client, row by row. The client marks "Yes" in "Client checked". A row the client does not accept goes back to "Snag".
How to read it every evening before handover
- Red rows first. A snag past its date, or one with no person or no date yet. Call the person tonight.
- Then amber rows. Items not checked yet, and snags still within their date.
- Count what is left. Handover is on the day the count of "Snag" and "Not checked" is zero, not on the day promised in the quotation.
What to hand over with the keys
The second sheet of the file is the handover pack: keys counted and labelled, warranty cards and bills, appliance manuals, paint and laminate codes, photos of the wiring and plumbing taken before the walls were closed, spare tiles and touch-up paint. A client who gets all of this in one folder remembers the folder, not the crooked shutter.
Sheet or system?
A sheet is enough for a firm with two or three sites at a time, where one supervisor walks each site and the owner reads the sheet before the handover meeting. It builds the habit that saves the relationship: the firm finds the snag before the client does.
The sheet starts to fail when five sites run at once, when snags come in as WhatsApp photos to different people, and when a payment linked to handover is asked for late. At that stage we set up an Interior Project Tracker on your own sites, in which a snag is a task with a person and a date, a site cannot be marked handed over while a snag is open, and each client gets a weekly update. You can try the live demo without signing up.
Take the format with you:Interior handover checklist and snag list (Excel, 44 KB)
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