A tall mirror cabinet rarely stalls a project because of the unit itself. It stalls because the wrong stakeholders sign off at the wrong time. The Santerson Tall Mirror Cabinet is made to measure for each bathroom, which means its dimensions, layout, finish and hardware are fixed by the approval record rather than by a catalogue code. This guide sets out which stakeholder should approve what, in what order, so the specification closes once and production follows without rework.

Start with a named stakeholder approver for every line of the specification

Before anything else, decide which stakeholder owns each decision, and write that name against each line of the specification sheet. A bathroom fit-out usually has more than one stakeholder with a claim on the same decision: the interior designer sets the look, the builder controls the wall build-up, the plumber or electrician controls the services, and the client or asset owner controls budget. When the same question has two possible answerers, the answer arrives late or twice, in different forms.

For the Tall Mirror Cabinet, split the specification into lines that can be approved independently: overall height, width and projection; door type and opening direction; internal layout, that is shelving, hanging space, drawers or a mirrored back panel; cabinet material and finish; mirror glass quality and edge treatment; hardware; and, where lighting is involved, the electrical connection. A single approver on every line creates a bottleneck. A single approver per line, with a stated reply date, does not.

Sequence the approvals around the site reality

Made-to-measure joinery cannot be approved in the abstract. Set the approval sequence to follow the physical decisions on site, so each approval rests on information that is already true.

Two habits make this sequence safe. First, approvals are dated and issued in writing, with a reference number that matches the order, so a later "yes" from a phone call does not overwrite an earlier written decision. Second, each stage is closed before the next opens. If appearance approval runs in parallel with wall set-out and the wall line moves by a few centimetres, the appearance approval is no longer valid, and nobody notices until the unit arrives.

Approve the measurement method, not just the measurement

With made-to-measure sizing, state who takes the final measurement and at what point in the programme. A dimension taken before tiling and a dimension taken after tiling differ by the thickness of the finish. The same applies to a floor level that has not yet been set out, or a ceiling that has not yet been packed and lined. Make the second, on-site check part of the approval record rather than an informal step: the person who measured confirms the figures after the wall and floor finishes are complete, and that confirmation closes the dimensional approval.

Where multiple bathrooms repeat the same detail, check each opening individually. Rooms built to the same drawing are rarely identical once the site build-up is finished, and one shared approval across several bathrooms carries the risk of one room out of five not fitting.

Confirm the technical items that sit outside the cabinet

Mirror cabinets are light, and a wall that carries a heavy mirror needs an appropriate fixing. The wall build-up decides which fixing is used, and the fixing method is a builder's decision, not a joinery decision. Include it in the approval list explicitly, with the wall type recorded. The same applies to power: a cabinet with integrated lighting needs a supply located to suit the final position, and that supply position needs the electrician's approval before the wall is closed.

Santerson manufactures to the project specification, and lighting and electrical specifications for each project are confirmed with the project team before production. Confirm the supply, switching and any socket arrangement with the site electrician, and hold the same confirmation as part of the approval pack. The same is true of the fit against the basin or countertop below the unit: the relationship between the two should appear on the approved drawing rather than being resolved on the day of installation.

Handle changes with a single controlled route

Changes are normal. What damages a programme is an uncontrolled change: an instruction given on site, passed verbally to a supplier, and recorded nowhere. Put one rule in the project's approval plan, that no specification change is valid until it is issued in writing with a date, a revised drawing or specification line, and the project manager's signature. That single rule lets the supplier hold production and price until the change is settled, and it protects the client from being quoted twice.

Set a change cut-off date as well: the last date on which the specification can change without a revised delivery date. Communicate that date at the start of the process, so approvers know the cost of delay before they are asked to review a drawing.

Use one approval pack as the handover record

Close the process by gathering the approvals into a single pack: the approved drawing with dimensions, the internal layout, the material and finish reference, the hardware schedule, the fixing method with the wall type it applies to, the electrical arrangement, and the dated sign-off for each item. That pack travels from order to delivery to installation, and at handover it becomes the document a maintenance team or a future refurbishment can actually work from.

Santerson's project service covers specification and production coordination, delivery and installation support, with a defined workflow from design proposal through quotation and detail confirmation to production and shipment. Aligning your internal approvals to that workflow means your approval dates and the supplier's production gates land on the same calendar, which is where rework is actually avoided.

The practical checklist

• One named approver per specification line, with a reply date agreed in advance.
• Wall set-out, services and clearance approved before appearance and price.
• Final measurement taken after wall and floor finishes, and re-confirmed in writing.
• Fixing method and electrical supply recorded in the approval pack, not on a site note.
• A dated change cut-off, and a rule that changes are valid only in writing.

Where to look next

If the bathroom fit-out is being specified as a whole, the bathroom sanitary fixtures range covers basins, toilets and bidets alongside the mirror cabinets, and the wider turnkey interior project solutions service shows how fixtures, joinery and finishes are coordinated from one specification rather than several. The custom minimalist bedroom wardrobe page follows the same approval logic for a different piece of made-to-measure joinery, and is a useful comparison when a project team is writing one approval process for the whole apartment.

For a specific bathroom, send the drawing, the wall build-up and the services positions with your enquiry. The specification can then be reviewed against those three inputs, and the approval questions that matter for that room can be identified before the first drawing is issued for signature.