Court Handover Preparation Checklist

Ask for the handover to happen on site with the people who actually did the work present, rather than by message once everybody has left.

The people who laid the surface know things about your particular court that never reach an office, and this is the last easy chance to ask them.

Decide who attends from your side, and make sure at least one person who will look after the court afterwards is among them.

Handover knowledge given to somebody who never touches the court again is lost the moment it is handed over.

Ask for the walk round to happen in daylight and, where lighting has been installed, for a second look once it is dark.

Lighting can only be looked at in the dark, and this is the one occasion when the people who installed it are still on site.

Write your questions down beforehand rather than relying on remembering them while walking about and being shown things.

Handover moves quickly and courteously, and unwritten questions almost always go unasked.

Note whether anybody else should be present, such as a designer, a club officer or whoever holds the keys to the site.

Getting everybody there once is far easier than reassembling them afterwards to answer one question.

Ask in advance what will still be outstanding at handover, so you know before you arrive rather than discovering it while walking round.

Knowing what is unfinished changes the conversation from a discovery into a discussion about when and how.

Ask to be shown how anything switched, locked, wound or adjusted actually works, and to operate it yourself while somebody is still there to watch.

Watching somebody else do it is not the same as doing it, and the difference only shows up when they are no longer on site.

Ask where every isolator, control, valve and stopcock serving the court sits, and photograph each one in position.

These are the things nobody can find at the moment they are needed, and they are trivial to record while somebody is pointing at them.

Anything beyond ordinary operation of a control is for a suitably qualified professional; ask to be shown where things are, not to be trained to work on them.

Ask to be shown how nets, posts and any removable equipment come out and go back, including anything that genuinely needs two people.

Equipment is most often damaged during removal by somebody who was never shown how it was meant to come apart.

Ask where the drainage points around the court are and how each is meant to be cleared, standing at them rather than describing them.

How a drainage system is cleared, and what must never be put into it, is described by the installing contractor or a qualified drainage professional.

Ask to be shown what this surface looks like when it needs attention, using the court in front of you as the example.

Being shown the early signs on your own court is far more useful than reading a general description of them later.

Note anything you were shown but could not follow, and ask for it a second time rather than nodding it through.

Handover is the only moment where asking twice is free, and the alternative is guessing for as long as the court exists.

Ask for aftercare instructions in writing that name the surface actually laid here, rather than a general leaflet about a family of surfaces.

Generic instructions are the most common thing handed over and the least useful, because they do not tell you which parts apply to yours.

Aftercare depends on the specific surface installed, and only the specialist contractor or supplier can state what applies to the one on your court.

Ask what should and should not be used on the surface and its markings, and keep that answer with the court records rather than in a drawer.

The prohibitions are what protect a surface, and they are the part of a conversation that is least likely to be written down unprompted.

Ask what written cover applies to the surface, the equipment and the work itself, and what would bring any of it to an end.

The terms of any cover are a matter between you and the contractor or supplier, and are read with a suitably qualified professional if anything is unclear.

Ask whether there is anything the court should not be subjected to at first, and get that answer in writing before anybody is told they can play.

Whether a newly laid surface needs any settling before use is stated by the specialist contractor; nothing here decides when a court may be played on.

Ask for a written record of what was actually installed, covering the surface, the equipment, the fencing and anything placed below ground.

This record is what allows a future repair to match, and it becomes almost impossible to reconstruct once the contractor has moved on.

Ask for contact details for every trade involved rather than for the main contractor alone.

Problems later tend to concern one specific element, and going through a single point of contact adds delay to every one of them.

Write down everything you have noticed as a plain description of what you can see, without labelling any of it as a fault.

A description invites an explanation, whereas an accusation invites a defence, and you want the explanation first.

Photograph each item with something in the frame that shows where on the court it sits, so it can be found again without you present.

Close-up photographs of a surface all look alike, and an unlocatable item is one nobody returns to.

Ask the contractor to respond to each item in writing, including any they consider normal for this surface and this kind of work.

A written response gives you something to take to another professional if you remain unsure about an item.

Whether something is a defect or normal for a surface is established by the specialist contractor and, if needed, an independent qualified professional.

Note anything that only appears in certain conditions, such as after heavy rain or in low sun, and say when you saw it.

Conditional observations are dismissed as imagined unless the conditions are recorded alongside them.

Record what was agreed about each outstanding item and who is coming back to deal with it.

An item agreed in conversation and not written down becomes an item that was never agreed at all.

Keep the list open after handover rather than closing it at the walk round, since some things only show once the court is being used.

The first period of real play reveals what an empty court cannot, and the list needs to be able to receive it.

Walk the whole access route and compare what you see with the photographs taken before machinery first arrived.

The route is the part of a site most often affected and least often looked at, because attention is entirely on the new court.

Look at verges, paths, kerbs, gates and the ground beside them, since these take the weight of every delivery made to the site.

Damage here appears gradually and is easy to attribute to nothing in particular unless it is raised while the contractor is present.

Note whether anything shared with a neighbour has been affected, and raise it with the contractor before raising it with the neighbour.

Anything affecting a neighbour or a shared boundary may involve others, and a suitably qualified legal professional advises where responsibility is unclear.

Note where spoil, offcuts, packaging and surplus material have ended up, and ask who is removing each pile and when.

Material left on site at handover tends to stay there, and it is much easier to allocate while somebody is still standing next to it.

Look for anything that has been covered over or buried during the work, such as an access chamber that can no longer be reached.

A buried cover is invisible until it is urgently needed, at which point nobody remembers where it was.

If a cover, chamber or gully has been buried, ask the contractor to establish what is beneath before anybody digs to find it.

Note whether planting, lawn or ground near the court has been affected, and what was agreed about putting it back.

Reinstatement of the surroundings is frequently assumed by the owner and not included by the contractor, which is worth resolving out loud.

Count and record every key, fob and entry combination handed over, and write down who is holding each one.

Keys distributed informally at handover are almost impossible to account for afterwards, particularly in a club.

Ask whether any spare surface material, mesh, fixings or paint has been left, and note exactly where it is stored.

Spares are the difference between a matched repair and an obvious patch, and they are usually put somewhere nobody records.

Note the details of anything that would need replacing later, so a match can be found without guesswork or a site visit.

Matching an existing surface or fitting is far easier while the information is being offered than it will ever be again.

Record where nets, posts, covers and other equipment are stored, and who has access to that store.

Equipment with no agreed home ends up beside the court, where weather and passers-by reach it.

Ask what happens to anything temporary still on the site, such as a barrier, a sign or a protective cover.

Temporary items become permanent by default, and nobody wants to be the person who removes something that turned out to matter.

Note anything supplied with its own instructions, and keep those instructions with the court records rather than in the store with the item.

Paper left in a damp store does not survive, and the record is the only copy anybody will find later.

Decide who tells players the court is available, and make sure that follows the contractor's written instructions rather than running ahead of them.

Word travels faster than paperwork at a club, and a court gets used the moment it looks finished unless somebody manages the message.

Note what players need to be told before they first use the court, including anything that is not yet finished or not yet available.

People treat a court differently when they know what is still outstanding, and telling them prevents a run of duplicate reports.

Agree how anybody using the court reports something they have noticed, and to whom, before the first session rather than after it.

Early use is when the most useful observations are made, and they are wasted if there is nowhere to send them.

Record who is looking at the court during its early use and what specifically they are looking at.

General attention notices nothing; a named person with a short list of things to look at notices a great deal.

Ask the relevant governing body whether anything needs to be confirmed with them before organised play begins on this court.

Opening a court for organised play may involve the relevant governing body, which is asked directly rather than through anybody else on the project.

Note how the first sessions actually went, including anything players remarked on about the surface, the light or the surroundings.

Comments made in the first sessions are the most candid you will get, and they are easy to lose if nobody writes them down.