The joinery design process
Joinery starts with a survey, moves through shop drawings, and locks at Design Freeze. After that, fabrication begins; changes get expensive. Here's how it runs.
Joinery starts with a survey, moves through shop drawings, and locks at Design Freeze. After that, fabrication begins. The article describes each step and what locks where.
The survey
Your Joinery Partner visits your home (sometimes alongside your builder, sometimes separately) and takes detailed measurements. Joinery is a precision business — millimetres matter when an item has been fabricated to fit a specific opening.
If the build is at a stage where the relevant openings aren't yet finished (for example, walls aren't yet plastered), the survey may need to happen later or be revisited. Your Joinery Partner will tell you what they need.
Shop drawings
Shop drawings are the construction-grade drawings the Joinery Partner works from to fabricate. They show every detail — dimensions, materials, fittings, hardware, finishes. You'll see and approve them before fabrication starts.
Take the time to review shop drawings carefully. They're the document that defines what gets built. Any change you want to see in the final piece needs to be on the shop drawing.
Design Freeze
Once shop drawings are approved, the design is locked. This moment is called Design Freeze. From here on, changes are expensive — bespoke items being fabricated can't be unmade without significant cost.
Design Freeze is a deliberate moment. Your Joinery Partner will confirm it explicitly with you so there's no ambiguity about when it happened.
After Design Freeze
Fabrication runs at the Joinery Partner's workshop. Lead times vary — typically several weeks for a standard kitchen, longer for complex bespoke work. The Joinery Partner will give you an installation date based on when fabrication completes and when your build is ready to receive the items.
Changes after Design Freeze
Possible but expensive. Sometimes a change becomes necessary because of something that's surfaced on site (a structural surprise, a service location). Most discretionary changes are best avoided after Design Freeze.
If a change is needed, it goes through a change-order process within the Joinery Improvement Contract (JIC). Your Joinery Partner provides the cost and time impact; you approve before any new work starts.
What this means for you
Use the period before Design Freeze actively. Review shop drawings carefully. Ask questions. Make sure what's drawn matches what you want — because after Freeze, what's drawn is what's built.
Related articles
- How a joinery project runs alongside your build
- Joinery payment milestones (50/40/10)