A set of Oak Solid Wood Wardrobes can serve a bedroom well for decades, or it can arrive on site and sit in crates while the openings are measured again, the finishes are questioned and the trades are booked elsewhere. The difference is rarely the cabinetry itself. It is the installation plan that sits between the purchase order and the finished room. For custom, made-to-measure joinery, the plan is where most problems are solved before a single panel is shipped.

Solid wood moves with the room. Panels, doors and frames respond to changes in humidity and temperature in ways that board-based products simply do not, so the sequence of trades, the site conditions and the wall preparation all affect how the unit lands on the floor and stays true. A wardrobe installation plan is therefore not paperwork added after the sale; it is the coordination document that keeps design, production and site work aligned.

1. Site measurements taken after the finishes are decided

Made-to-measure wardrobes are only as accurate as the dimensions they are built to. Before production is released, the plan should record who measures, when, and against which construction stage. A wall that is yet to be plastered, a floor that is yet to be levelled, or a skirting that has not been fixed will all change the working dimensions. Confirming dimensions against the final finished surfaces, not the substrate, prevents the common situation where the unit is built to one set of numbers and the opening presents another.

The plan should also note floor level and wall plumb. Where floors are out of level, the solution is decided in the design stage: packing and scribing at installation, or adjusted carcass heights from production. Deciding late transfers the problem to the installers on the day.

2. A written specification of materials and finish

The plan is the place where the approved specification is written down and signed off: the species and cut of the timber, the door style, the interior layout, the finish, the hardware and the handles. Our product range covers oak and other solid timber in several door styles, so the plan should match the specification on the quotation, the drawings and the delivered goods. The Oak Solid Wood Wardrobes line is produced with made-to-measure sizing, material and finish options and a layout tailored to each project, which is exactly why the written specification matters: every item is project-specific, and nothing is substituted by default.

Finishes should be recorded with a reference sample. Photographs of a screen are not a colour standard. Agreeing a physical or named finish reference, retained on both sides, avoids disputes once the unit is in a lit bedroom rather than a warehouse.

3. Interior layout agreed before production

Hanging heights, drawer stacks, shelf spacing, shoe storage, ironing positions and lighting provision are all cheaper to change on a drawing than on a finished cabinet. The installation plan should carry the interior layout drawing with dimensions, so that anyone on site can see what is fixed and what may be adjusted. For projects where the wardrobe is one element of a wider fit-out, coordinating this drawing with bedside clearances, door swings and skirting lines prevents the wardrobe from dictating the rest of the room too late.

4. Site readiness and trade sequencing

The plan states what must be complete before delivery: flooring laid and protected, walls painted or wallpapered behind the unit where required, electrical points for interior lighting located and tested, and clear access from the delivery point to the room. It also states what must wait: final touch-up paint, door furniture, and floor coverings in front of the unit.

Sequencing matters more with solid timber than with many other products. The unit should reach a room that has been made watertight and, where possible, heated or conditioned, so the timber is not exposed to construction moisture. A plan that schedules installation into a wet, unsealed room creates avoidable movement and finish problems later.

5. Delivery logistics and access

Wardrobe components arrive as panels, doors and hardware in packaging sized to the unit. The plan records the delivery window, the vehicle size, the unloading point, and the route to the room, including lift dimensions, stair widths and corridor turns where the unit travels through a completed property. Where a full-size assembly will not pass a stair or doorway, that decision belongs in the plan before the truck is loaded, not at the front gate.

For projects abroad, the delivery section of the plan covers freight arrangements, packaging protection and the inspection of goods on arrival. Any transit damage should be photographed and recorded on the day of delivery, while it is still attributable, rather than after installation has begun.

6. The installation method statement

Even a straightforward built-in benefits from a simple written method: how the carcasses are levelled and fixed, how they are joined, how doors are hung and adjusted, how scribing to walls and floors is handled, and what protection is applied to the finished unit while other trades clear the site. Our installation and after-sales service includes on-site fitting and snag inspection, and the plan should make clear which party supplies the fitters, who supplies the fixings to the wall build-up, and who is responsible for making good around the unit.

The plan should also set the tolerance philosophy in plain words: gaps, door alignment and drawer runners are inspected against an agreed standard. When that standard is written before the work, inspection is a checklist rather than a negotiation.

7. Inspection, snag list and handover

The last section of the plan is the completion process: a joint inspection with the client or site manager, a snag list with dates, and the record of what has been handed over. Hardware spares, finish references and the approved drawings belong in the handover pack. For a fitted wardrobe that will be used daily for years, this pack is the document future maintenance work refers back to.

A plan the supplier builds with you

SANTERSON has operated as a furniture and building materials manufacturer since 2008, and wardrobe work is one part of a wider fit-out that may also include furniture, building materials and interior fixtures for the same project. Working from consultation through design and planning, production, logistics, installation and after-sales means the installation plan is prepared alongside the product, not attached to it at the end.

If you are specifying solid wood wardrobes for a home or a project, start with the plan rather than the catalogue. Send the drawings and the site conditions, and the measurement, sequencing and handover sections above can be built into the package before production begins.