Construction Fixings and Services Coordination Checklist

Go room by room and list everything that will be fixed to a wall: televisions, mirrors, radiators, wall lights, shelving, handrails, hanging rails, cisterns and a boiler if there is one.

The list is the deliverable. Once it exists, the questions about backing, routes and positions have somewhere to attach themselves.

Mark clearly which items on the list you have already bought and which are still to be chosen, rather than leaving that distinction in your head.

An item that has not been chosen cannot have a confirmed position or weight, and saying so is more useful than an optimistic guess.

List separately anything to be fixed to a ceiling: a pendant over a table, a drying rack, a track, a projector or a fan.

Ceiling fixings need support built in before boarding, and they are almost always considered later than wall fixings.

Note which items are heavy or will be pulled on in use, such as a grab rail, a wall-hung basin, a swinging arm or a rail people will lean on.

The wall behind these items has to be prepared, and preparation is only possible while the wall is open.

What support a heavy or pulled item requires is determined by the contractor, engineer and manufacturer, not by an owner list.

Note items you might add later rather than now, and mark them as provisional so backing can be discussed while it is still cheap to include.

Backing put in for something that never arrives is invisible; backing missing for something that does arrive is a repair.

Include external walls and outbuildings in the list: an outside light, a tap, a camera, a bracket, a hose reel or a gate fixing.

External items are almost always left off, and they raise different questions about the wall build-up behind them.

Ask when each area is due to be boarded or closed, and arrange to walk it before that happens rather than after.

This is the whole opportunity. Everything else in this checklist depends on being in the room while the walls are open.

Access to a working site is controlled by the contractor; arrange the visit with them and follow whatever the site requires of visitors.

Where the contractor agrees to it, mark your intended positions on the open studwork and photograph each mark, so the record survives even if the mark is covered.

Marks get boarded over, painted out or misread, and a photograph taken at the time settles later disagreements quickly.

Describe each position relative to something permanent, such as the corner of the room or the edge of a door lining, so it can be found again.

A mark described only as being on a wall is unfindable once the wall is boarded and skimmed.

Stand in the room at the marked positions and check them against how you will actually use the space, rather than working from the plan alone.

Positions that look sensible on a drawing are frequently wrong once you are standing where the sofa or the bed will be.

Record which marked positions have been discussed with the contractor and which are still only your own suggestion.

A mark on a stud is not an instruction, and treating it as one is a common source of misunderstanding.

Note where one of your marks conflicts with something already run — a pipe, a cable, a socket box, a noggin — and raise it rather than assuming somebody will notice.

Conflicts visible to anyone standing in the room at this stage become invisible within hours of boarding starting.

Ask what backing each heavy item needs behind the finished surface and who is responsible for providing it, and record the answer against the item.

This is a question with a clear answer if it is asked in time and an expensive one if it is asked afterwards.

Backing requirements come from the contractor and the product manufacturer; ask them and record what you are told rather than deciding.

Ask what each wall is made of where you want a fixing — masonry, timber studwork, or something else — and note it wall by wall.

Owners often assume all internal walls behave the same way, and the difference determines what is possible for every item on the list.

Note where an item would be fixed to an external wall or one containing insulation, and ask what that changes about the fixing.

External walls have layers that matter, and fixing into them is not the same operation as fixing into an internal partition.

Fixings through insulated or external construction affect performance and detailing; the approach must come from the design team and contractor.

Note where a wanted fixing would land close to something running inside the wall, and raise it before the wall is closed.

Once the surface is finished, nobody can see where the services are, and the fixing becomes a gamble nobody should take.

Never assume a position is clear of services; ask the contractor and installers, who are the only people able to answer.

Ask what should be done where the item is not yet chosen and could turn out heavier than expected, and record the fallback you agree.

Undecided items are the normal case rather than the exception, and there is usually a sensible way to keep the option open.

Ask which items on your list need a specialist, a supplier instruction or information from the manufacturer before anyone can prepare for them.

Some items arrive with their own fixing requirements, and those requirements have to be in hand before the wall is closed.

Walk each room and note where you would set down a lamp, a phone, a laptop, a kettle, a vacuum cleaner or a charger, then mark those points.

Outlets follow habits rather than symmetry, and habits are only visible when you are standing in the space.

Mark where large furniture will stand against a wall and identify which outlets would end up behind it.

An outlet behind a wardrobe or a sofa back is effectively lost, and the furniture layout is usually known well before first-fix.

For each room, note which switch you would reach for when entering in the dark and from which side you would be entering.

Switch position is decided by which way the door swings and which hand is free, both of which the owner knows and the drawing does not show.

Note where you would want to switch a light from two places, such as a long hall, a stair, a room with two doors or a bedside.

Two-position switching is a first-fix decision, and adding it later means opening up finished walls.

Note whether an outlet is wanted outside, in a loft, in a garage, in a cupboard or under the stairs, since these are the ones most often left off.

These positions rarely appear on a domestic layout unless the owner asks for them explicitly.

Ask which positions are fixed by requirements or by the design and which are genuinely yours to choose, and confirm locally what applies.

Knowing which requests are negotiable saves everyone time and keeps the conversation on the ones that are.

Where an outlet or switch may go is a matter for qualified installers working to the requirements that apply where the property is, not for a checklist.

Note where the existing waste leaves each wet room, and ask what moving it would involve before assuming a fixture can be relocated.

Waste runs are the least flexible part of a bathroom or kitchen, and they are frequently the reason a proposed layout does not survive.

List every point that will need a water supply: a fridge, a washing machine, an outside tap, a filtered tap, a shower or an outbuilding.

Appliance supplies are easy to include at first-fix and disruptive to add afterwards, but only if they are on somebody's list.

Ask which walls are expected to contain pipework and which are intended to be kept clear, and note both on your plan.

This tells you where fixings will be straightforward later and where they will need care, which is worth knowing before you buy anything.

Note where each radiator or heat emitter is drawn and whether furniture, curtains or a door would sit in front of it.

Emitters are placed on drawings for technical reasons and then furnished around, and the clash is easier to raise now.

Note where underfloor heating has been mentioned, and record that any later fixing into that floor becomes a question rather than a simple job.

Floors containing pipework or cables change what can be fixed into them for the life of the building.

Anything to be fixed into a floor containing heating must be discussed with the installer, who holds the record of what is where.

Ask who decides the final pipe and duct routes, and at what stage those routes stop being adjustable.

Routes are often set on site by the installer, and the owner only sees the result, so asking early is the only way to have any input.

Final pipe and duct runs are settled on site by the people installing them; your part is to ask where they will go, never to suggest a route.

Note where a television, router, doorbell, aerial, speaker or camera might go, even where you are undecided, and mark those points as provisional.

Marking a provisional position is far more useful than saying nothing, because it lets somebody ask whether a cable can be run there anyway.

Describe where you want a cable to arrive rather than which product you intend to buy, since the product will probably change.

Positions outlive products, and a request expressed as a position stays valid when you change your mind about the device.

Note where mobile or wireless signal is poor in the existing property, and record it as context for whoever is planning the cabling.

Signal problems in an existing building often persist into the new work, and this is knowledge only the occupant has.

Ask whether spare containment or a draw cord can be included where you are uncertain, and who decides whether that is worthwhile.

There is often a low-effort way to keep an option open, but it has to be requested before the wall is closed.

Note where a garden room, garage or outbuilding might later need a supply, and record it as a question to raise rather than an instruction.

A route left available across a garden before it is landscaped is worth far more than the same route dug afterwards.

Any supply to an outbuilding is subject to requirements and must be designed and installed by qualified people; confirm locally what applies.

Record which of these items you would accept adding on the surface later and which must be concealed, since that changes how urgent each one is.

Sorting the list this way tells everyone which decisions genuinely cannot wait.

Photograph every wall and ceiling before it is closed, working around each room in the same order so no wall is missed.

A systematic sweep produces a usable set; a handful of interesting pictures does not.

Record with each photograph which room it shows and which direction you were facing, either in the filename or on a companion sketch.

Photographs of open studwork start to look identical to one another very quickly, and unlabelled ones are close to useless.

Include something of a known size in each frame, such as a tape held against the wall or a door lining, so positions can be judged later.

A photograph without a reference shows that something is there but not where, which is usually the question being asked.

Keep the photographs somewhere that will still exist after the project finishes, not only on a phone that will be replaced.

This record is most valuable years later, which is exactly when a phone-only copy has disappeared.

Record which stage of work each set of photographs shows, since first-fix and second-fix images of the same wall answer different questions.

Two sets taken at different stages tell a much fuller story than either one alone.

Note which of your marked positions were moved during the work and what you were told about why.

Positions do move for good reasons, and recording the reason at the time prevents it becoming a dispute later.