How a joinery project runs alongside your build

If your project includes bespoke joinery — a kitchen by a Joinery Partner, custom wardrobes, a bespoke vanity — you'll work with two contracts that run side by side: your Home Improvement Contract (HIC) for the build and your Joinery Improvement Contract (JIC) for the joinery. The two are deliberately separate documents but the platform holds them together as one project.

Two contracts, one project

The HIC is between you and your builder for the construction works. The JIC is between you and your Joinery Partner for the joinery works. Beams isn't a party to either; both run on Beams's standardised templates.

Why two contracts rather than one? Joinery is a different shape of work — workshop fabrication, lead-time-driven, with a different milestone shape and different warranty layers — and a separate contract lets each party (builder, Joinery Partner) commit cleanly to what they actually deliver, without inheriting obligations for work outside their scope. The platform shows you both contracts in one place; from your point of view it's a single project with a parallel joinery track.

Both contracts typically go live around the same time. Milestones, payment schedules, and warranty terms differ between them — the article Joinery payment milestones and The joinery warranty layers cover the joinery side.

How the work sequences

Joinery has a Design Freeze early — a fixed point at which the design is locked and fabrication begins. The Design Freeze is critical because bespoke items can't be re-cut without significant cost.

After Design Freeze, fabrication runs at the Joinery Partner's premises while your builder progresses the build. Once fabrication is complete, the Joinery Partner installs on site, usually after first fix and before second fix.

Coordinating the Joinery Partner on site

Coordinating delivery and installation between the lead builder and the Joinery Partner is your builder's responsibility — not yours. Specifically, your builder:

Agrees the install window with the Joinery Partner against the build programme.
Makes sure the site is ready for joinery delivery (services first-fixed in line with joinery requirements, surfaces prepared, access organised).
Takes receipt of the joinery on delivery day and checks the items in.
Coordinates with the Joinery Partner's installers if they're fitting on site, or fits the items themselves if that's been agreed.

You don't need to be in the middle of this. If something on the coordination side isn't working — a delivery date that doesn't line up, an install detail that needs a decision — your builder will flag it.

Snagging — who you raise what with

Snags on joinery items are raised directly with the Joinery Partner. The article Joinery snagging in practice covers the path. Your build advisor can support if anything escalates.

There's one exception: where a joinery snag relates to build damage — for example, a finish damaged after install by site work around it — those are raised with the builder, not the Joinery Partner. They sit within the build's snagging window.

Why HIC sits above JIC

The HIC governs the wider build. If the joinery is delayed or has an issue, the HIC is paused until the joinery resolves. The HIC can't fully complete until the joinery is signed off — your sign-off on the build acknowledges the joinery is complete and warrantied.

What this means for you

Treat your joinery as a parallel track on the same project — two contracts, two warranty layers, two sets of milestones, all coordinated through the platform. Your builder runs the on-site coordination with the Joinery Partner; you focus on the design and snag decisions. Your build advisor and your Joinery Partner's coordinator are both available for questions.

The joinery design process
Joinery payment milestones (50/40/10)
Joinery snagging in practice
The contracts behind your project