Joinery project timeline: what happens, and how long each stage takes

The first conversation should establish what you want, roughly where the budget sits, whether other trades are involved, and when you need it finished. Rough dimensions and photographs help enormously; a floor plan or architect's drawings help more.

Expect an indicative budget range rather than a price at this point. Anyone offering a firm figure without seeing the space is guessing, and the guess will be revised later.

A site survey takes an hour or two per room and records wall deviation, floor level, ceiling heights, service positions, existing mouldings, and the access route including stairs, lifts and doorways. Access shapes how the work is made and delivered.

This is the point to raise anything unusual: a listed building, a shared stairwell, restricted working hours, a landlord's rules, or building works happening in parallel.

Usually one to three weeks depending on complexity. You should receive plans and elevations, not just a plan view - elevations are where you see how the joinery meets the ceiling, the window reveal and the existing skirting.

Expect one or two rounds of revision. Changes at this stage cost nothing but time; the same changes after cutting cost money and weeks. Decide finishes, ironmongery and internal fittings here.

Once you sign the drawings and pay the deposit, materials and ironmongery are ordered and workshop time is booked. Specialist items - particular handles, glass, stone, specific hardware - are frequently the long pole; some run six weeks on their own.

The sign-off date, not the enquiry date, is what starts the lead time. This is the single most common misunderstanding in joinery programmes.

Typical workshop time is four to eight weeks for wardrobes and storage, six to ten for kitchens and larger schemes. Machining, assembly, sanding, priming and spraying all happen here, and finishing needs curing time between coats that cannot be rushed.

While making proceeds, site preparation should be happening: first fix electrics to the agreed positions, plastering completed and dry, and flooring decided.

Most domestic installations take one to five days. The sequence on site is: protect the area, position and level the carcasses, fix back to walls, scribe to walls and ceilings, hang doors and drawers, fit ironmongery, then touch in the finish.

Second fix electrics, worktop templating and any tiling follow. For stone worktops, allow one to two weeks between template and fit; that gap must be in the programme from the start.

Walk the work in daylight with the drawings. Check alignment of doors and drawers, tightness of scribes, evenness of gaps, quality of touch-in, and that everything opens and closes as it should. Produce one written, dated list rather than a series of messages.

A revisit to clear snags is normal. Many joiners also offer an adjustment visit six to twelve months later, once the building and the timber have settled, which is when doors typically want a small hinge tweak.

On anything larger than a single cupboard, the joinery programme is really a coordination programme. Electricians need socket and lighting positions taken from the joinery drawings, not from a wall plan; plumbers need waste and supply positions confirmed against carcass layouts; plasterers need to know which walls must be flat and finished before installation.

The most useful thing you can do as a client is make sure everyone is working from the same signed drawings, with one person nominated to resolve clashes. Where a main contractor is running the project, the joiner should attend at least one coordination meeting before making starts.

Three things, in order: late decisions, late site readiness and long-lead items. Changing a handle in week five can push a delivery by a fortnight if the replacement is on back order. A room that is not plastered and dry on the installation date sends a fitting team away.

Protect the programme by locking the specification at sign-off, confirming appliance and hardware availability before ordering, and agreeing site readiness criteria in writing with everyone involved.