Briefing a Maker Before the First Cut

A brief that works is short, drawn and signed. It carries four things: a dimensioned drawing, an approved sample, a stated tolerance and a single sheet that stays with the job from first cut to delivery. Get those four right and the workshop stops guessing, which is where most of the money and the time go.

The order of work matters more than the length of the document. Draw first, sample second, agree the tolerance third, then write the one page. A brief written before the drawing exists is a wish list.

Why the drawing comes before the words

A dimensioned drawing settles arguments that prose cannot. Put every critical dimension on it, in millimetres, with the datum marked. Say which face is the show face. Say which edge is the reference edge.

A joiner reads a drawing in a different order from a client. The client looks at the shape. The joiner looks for the datum, the grain direction and the joint. If the drawing does not carry those, the joiner will choose, and the choice will be reasonable and possibly not what you meant.

Scale matters. A 1:10 drawing shows the proportions of a cabinet. A 1:1 detail shows whether a 20 mm rebate will take the panel you have specified. Send both when the job has a moulded edge or a shadow gap.

This is also where the trade abroad is worth reading. Studios that publish their own working notes, such as the Italian desk covering wood and furniture workshops, tend to describe the same sequence: drawing, sample, tolerance, sheet. The vocabulary differs. The order does not.

What the sample has to prove

A sample is not a colour chip. It is a piece of the actual material, finished the way the job will be finished, at the thickness the job will use.

Ask for three things on one board:

• the timber species and grade, planed and sanded to the final grit
• the finish, built up in the same number of coats as the job
• an edge detail, so the client can see the profile and the arris

Date the sample and keep it. If a second batch of timber arrives six weeks later, the sample is the reference, not the memory of the first delivery.

For painted work, the sample should be two coats on the same substrate, not a fan deck held to the light. Fan decks are printed. Paint on oak is not.

How tight should the tolerance be?

Tighter than the drawing needs is expensive. Looser than the joint allows is a callback.

A workable default for fitted furniture is plus or minus 2 mm on overall dimensions and plus or minus 1 mm on door gaps. For a scribed panel against a wall, the scribe takes up the difference, so the panel itself can be cut to plus or minus 3 mm.

State the tolerance in the brief and say what happens if it is missed. Most disputes are not about quality. They are about a gap of 4 mm that one party thought was fine.

Timber moves. A 300 mm wide oak board can shift 4 to 6 mm across the grain between a dry summer and a damp winter. The tolerance has to allow for that movement, or the joint has to be designed to absorb it.

What goes on the one page that travels?

The one page is the working document. It goes to the bench, into the van and onto the site. It is not the contract. It is the sheet the maker reads at 7am.

It carries:

• job number and client name
• the drawing reference and revision letter
• species, grade and finish
• the agreed tolerance
• the delivery date and the address
• the name and mobile number of the person who can answer a question

One side of A4. Laminate it if the job is on site. A maker who has to ring the office to find out which oak was specified has already lost twenty minutes.

Who signs the brief?

The person who will cut the timber signs it. Not the sales office, not the client alone.

A signature from the bench is a check that the drawing is buildable. It catches the panel that will not fit through the door, the drawer that fouls a radiator pipe, the moulding that needs a cutter nobody has.

Sign at the point of order, not the week before delivery. A brief signed late is a brief that has already been overtaken.

What changes once work starts?

Any change goes on a variation sheet, dated and signed, with the effect on price and date written next to it. Verbal changes are the main cause of a job that runs over.

A variation sheet does not need to be formal. A single page with three columns, change, cost, new date, is enough. The point is that the change is written down while the person who asked for it is still in the room.

If the change affects the sample, make a new sample. Do not approve a finish over the phone.

A short checklist before the first cut

• Drawing issued, revision letter current, datum marked
• Sample approved, dated and kept
• Tolerance stated in millimetres
• One page printed and at the bench
• Variation sheet ready
• Question contact named with a mobile number

Six lines. If any line is blank, the job is not ready to start.

The trade press and the standards bodies both publish on this. The British Standard for the specification of workmanship in timber, BS 1186, is the reference most joiners in the UK will recognise, and it is worth having on the shelf rather than in a browser tab.

None of this is bureaucracy for its own sake. A brief is the cheapest part of a furniture job and the part that decides whether the rest of it goes quietly. Draw it, sample it, state the tolerance, print the page, sign it at the bench. Then cut.