A classic wooden hinged wardrobe looks simple on a drawing: two or three panelled doors on hinges, a timber carcass, a hanging rail inside. That apparent simplicity is exactly why procurement teams under-document them. Door swing clearances, finish schedules, internal layouts and hardware loads all travel from one trade to the next in email threads, and each handover loses a little detail. By the time the unit reaches site, the discrepancies show up as doors that foul a skirting board, finishes that do not match the joinery package, and interiors that were never agreed.

The records below are the ones we ask for on our own residential wardrobe projects, where each classic wooden hinged wardrobe is built to project-specific dimensions, finish and layout. They are written for the buyer, specifier and site team who need a paper trail rather than a sales pitch.

1. The opening and the clearance envelope

Hinged doors need room to move. Before anything else is specified, record the clear opening width and height of the recess or alcove, the wall depth available, and the arc each door sweeps when it opens to its full angle. Note what sits inside that arc: a bed corner, a bedside table, a door handle on the opposite wall, a curtain return, a light switch.

Two details cause most site problems and are cheap to settle on paper. First, skirting and architrave: measure their projection, because a wardrobe carcass built flush to a plastered wall will sit proud of the floor trim unless the cut is drawn. Second, out-of-square walls. Record whether the unit is ordered to fit the drawing dimensions or to a site survey of the actual room, and who carries that survey. A made-to-measure order only helps if the measurement it is built from is the real one.

2. Carcass, door construction and panel profile

Specify what the doors actually are, not just what they are called. Within our hinged-door range the same carcass logic carries different door styles — paneled hinged wardrobes with a routed frame and field, and flat panel hinged wardrobes for plainer schemes. Panel profile changes the reveal between doors, the shadow line at the top, and how much dust collects on a routed edge, so it belongs in the written record.

For each door type, document the door thickness, the frame and panel construction, the edge treatment, and whether the panels are fixed or floating to allow for movement. Where a project mixes styles — paneled doors in the bedrooms, flat fronts in a hallway store — list them as separate line items with their own schedules rather than one combined wardrobe item.

3. Finish schedule and grain direction

A finish name alone is not a specification. Record the substrate, the finish system, the sheen level, the colour or stain reference, and — for anything with a visible grain — the direction the grain runs on doors, drawer fronts and returns. This is where projects quietly go wrong: two units in the same house can be built correctly and still read as mismatched because one door was grained vertically and the other horizontally.

Ask for a physical sample of the finish on the actual door profile, not a flat swatch, since routed edges catch light differently from a flat panel. Keep the signed sample with the purchase order and reference its number on the shop drawing. Where timber species or veneer figures are offered as options, note which option was selected and when, because availability of specific boards moves between production batches.

4. Internal layout and how it will be used

The inside is where the wardrobe earns its place. Document hanging heights — short-hang sections for shirts and folded items, long-hang for dresses and coats — shelf depths, drawer counts, and any dedicated provisions for luggage, an ironing bay, a safe or lighting. Record who decided each of these: the client, the designer, or the contractor filling gaps.

For apartment and villa projects that order several bedrooms at once, note whether layouts are identical across rooms or deliberately varied per room, and mark the variation on a room-by-room schedule. Identical carcasses with different internals are easy to mislabel in a container and hard to sort out after handover.

5. Hardware, hinges and door loads

Hinges carry the whole argument about longevity. Document the hinge type and quantity per door, the load rating against the actual door weight, whether soft-close is included, and who supplies the hardware — the wardrobe manufacturer or the local ironmongery supplier. Tall doors are the usual failure point: a door taken to full ceiling height needs either more hinges, a higher rating, or a documented decision that it will sag over time.

Record handles and knobs with their fixings, plus any integrated options such as edge pulls or routed finger pulls, since these change the door profile and must be decided before the doors are machined. Keep spare hinges and catches in the handover pack; replacing a discontinued hinge on site is far slower than fitting a spare.

6. Tolerance, packing and delivery records

Built-in wardrobes are fitted against other trades' work, so record the tolerance each party expects. State which dimensions are fixed by others — floor level, ceiling height, adjacent tiling — and what adjustment the wardrobe carries: scribed fillers, a toe-kick cut on site, or a set-back from the finished wall face.

For international shipments this documentation has to survive freight. Each unit should arrive labelled with its room reference, its position in that room, and a packing list matched to the room schedule rather than to a generic item count. Panel edges, glazed or mirrored components if any, and pre-hung doors are the parts most often damaged, so note the protective packing specified for them. Our logistics and door-to-door delivery service covers freight forwarding, packaging and container loading, customs paperwork and shipment tracking — but the labels and schedules that make unloading orderly still come from the agreed room-by-room list.

7. Approval trail before production starts

One page should carry everything agreed: shop drawings with dimensions, the finish schedule with sample references, the internal layout for each unit, the hardware list, and the delivery sequence. Date it and have the same people sign it who will be on site later.

Where a project goes through custom and OEM work — bespoke sizes, altered panel profiles, non-standard finishes or branding on interior components — record what was prototyped or mocked up before full production, and what was accepted without a mock-up. That distinction protects everyone when a deviation is queried at handover.

8. Handover and aftercare records

Close the file with what a facilities team or homeowner will actually need: the finish system used for touch-up repairs, hinge and runner references, adjustment instructions for doors that shift after a season of use, cleaning guidance for the selected surface, and the contact route for spare parts. Warranty terms and response arrangements vary by project and region, so record the specific terms agreed for this project rather than repeating general marketing claims.

None of this documentation slows a project down. It moves the decisions to a stage where changing them costs a pencil mark instead of a return journey. If you are specifying classic wooden hinged wardrobes for a villa or residential development, send us the room schedule and we will return shop drawings that carry each of these items — dimensions, finish references, internal layout and hardware — for your sign-off before production begins.