How to read a drawing and specification
Published
In short: the drawing and the specification are not paperwork, they are the only thing the board will be cut from. Everything agreed in conversation has to appear on paper as a number; what is not there will not appear in the workshop. Five things are worth checking: dimensions and what they are measured from, which way every door opens, appliance openings and services, material with its edging, and the hardware list. It takes about ten minutes, and they are the cheapest ten minutes in the whole order.
What these two documents are
The drawing is your furniture set out: front elevation, plan view, sometimes sections. It carries the size of every carcase, heights, depths, appliance openings, the way doors swing. The drawing shows HOW the furniture will look and exactly where it stands.
The specification is the list of what it is made from: carcase and door material, the decor and its code, edging thickness and colour, hardware by item, the number of shelves and drawers. The specification shows WHAT the furniture is made of.
Together these two documents are the order. Messages, voice notes and what was agreed out loud at the survey do not travel to the workshop: the workshop works from the drawing and the specification. So the rule is simple — if something matters, it has to be on paper rather than in a conversation.
What to check first
Four groups of numbers, where nearly all misunderstandings happen.
Dimensions and datum points
Not only the width and height of each carcase, but what they are measured from: the left-hand wall, the corner, the window. Check the overall length of the run separately: it should match the wall length less the gaps. If a filler or packing strip sits between the last unit and the wall, it belongs on the drawing as its own item rather than being "allowed for somewhere".
Which way doors open
Every door shows its swing, by an arrow or by diagonal lines. Check the tight spots: corners, a door reveal, beside the fridge. A door that opens into a wall or fouls its neighbour takes half a minute to spot on paper, and on installation day is fixed by rehanging or remaking the front.
Appliance openings and services
Each appliance belongs on the drawing as the size of its opening, not as the word "oven". Beside it, the sockets and water connections. If the appliance has not been bought yet, the drawing should state the dimensions the opening was built for: that is the size you will then be shopping to.
Material, edging, hardware
The specification carries carcase and door material with the decor code, edging thickness on visible edges, and in the hardware list the hinges, runners, soft-close dampers and handles with quantities. "Standard hardware" without a list is the place where expectations later part company.
A ten-minute check
Add up the widths
Add the widths of every carcase in a run and compare with the overall figure on the drawing. The difference should equal the planned gaps and fillers, not come as a surprise.
Walk the doors
Look at every door and picture opening it while standing in the room. The corner ones and the ones near a walkway especially.
Check the heights against yourself
Worktop height, the height of the wall units above it, the height of the topmost shelf. This is what you will use every day, and it is worth measuring against yourself rather than an average.
Count drawers and shelves
The number of drawers and shelves on the drawing has to match the specification. A shelf agreed verbally at the survey sometimes reaches neither document, and then it simply will not exist.
Ask about anything you cannot read
Any symbol you do not understand is a question for the maker, not a detail. A signature means "I have checked this", and after that a change is a separate piece of work.
What a drawing will not show
The exact shade. The decor is given as a code, and a colour on screen or on paper does not match what you will see in the room. Shades are judged on a sample, in your own light, ideally next to the floor and wall.
Texture and sheen. A matt and a gloss front of the same code look identical on a drawing and behave differently in a room: gloss throws reflections and shows fingerprints, matt does not.
How it sounds and moves. The glide of a drawer, the softness of a damper, the weight of a door: those are tried by hand on an assembled sample, and the drawing says nothing about them.
And one more thing: a drawing does not replace a survey. A drawing made from dimensions you sent yourself is only as accurate as those dimensions. For manufacture, the measurements are taken on site.
The short answers
Can anything be changed after the drawing is signed?
It depends how far the order has gone. While the board is uncut a small change is usually possible; once it is cut, the part exists at that size. So changes are raised straight away rather than "when you get to it".
The drawing shows an appliance opening but I have not bought the appliance. Is that all right?
It is, provided the drawing states the dimensions the opening was built for. You then buy to that size. Without those figures the opening was built "for a usual one", and there is nothing to check it against.
The specification says "standard hardware". Is that enough?
No. Ask for the list by item: hinges, runners, dampers, handles. The word "standard" means different things in different workshops, and installation day is too late to find out which.
Who is responsible if the drawing has a mistake and I signed it?
The better question is how to keep it from happening: the maker checks their drawing, the customer checks their own requirements. That is exactly why the drawing is walked through together, out loud, carcase by carcase, before anyone signs.
More articles
Caring for furniture
Furniture is not ruined by use, but by water left standing in a joint and by abrasives on a front.
Preparing for installation
Fitters install furniture, they do not finish walls: the room has to be complete before they arrive.
Balcony wardrobe
The real question is not about the wardrobe but about the balcony: glazed and heated, or cold and open.
Where to start
If something on the drawing is unclear, write or bring it to the meeting: we will go through every carcase together before the signature rather than after it.
Contacts
Call us or leave a request for a quote — we will call you back, clarify the details and arrange the measurements.
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- MEBLI DIM KUZMENKO
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