The five stages → Works
Schedule of works
The works run in six stages and the order does not change. Each stage buries the one in front of it, so a stage taken out of turn is paid for twice.
The six stages, and what each one includes
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Strip-out
Carpets up, old kitchen and bathroom units out, failed plaster hacked back to brick, redundant wiring and pipework cut back and made safe, floors lifted where services run beneath them. The unit is swept at the end of every day rather than the end of the stage, because a dirty unit hides the thing that needs to be seen.
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First fix
Cables pulled to every socket, switch and light position marked on the plan, the consumer unit position set, hot, cold and waste runs to the kitchen and bathroom, boiler and flue positions fixed, extract ducting run to the outside wall. All of it tested and signed before a single board goes on.
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Plaster
Boarding where boards are going, bonding and skim where the brick stays, beads to every external corner, reveals squared. The stage ends when the last wall is skimmed. It does not end when the plasterer leaves, because the plaster is then drying and nothing goes on it.
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Second fix
Sockets, switches and light fittings on, taps and the bathroom suite in, kitchen fitted, internal doors hung and ironmongery fitted, skirting and architrave on, boiler commissioned. The electrical installation certificate is issued at the end of this stage and goes straight on the file.
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Decoration
Mist coat on new plaster, then two coats to walls and ceilings, woodwork primed and finished, and the floor laid last so that nothing is walked over while it is wet. Colours come from the office set and are recorded room by room on the schedule.
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Snagging
The list is walked by one person with the plan in hand, room by room, in the order the rooms are named on the drawing. Every item gets a room, a description and a date. The stage closes when the list is empty, and the unit is photographed that same day.
What ends a stage, and what the next one is waiting for
| Stage | Ends when | Next stage waits for |
|---|---|---|
| Strip-out | the skip leaves and the unit is swept | nothing; first fix can open the next working day |
| First fix | cables and pipes are in and tested | the test certificate, before anything is boarded over |
| Plaster | the last wall is skimmed | drying time, which is weather rather than programme |
| Second fix | sockets, taps and ironmongery are on | the commissioning visit for the boiler |
| Decoration | the second coat is dry | the floor, which goes down last of all |
| Snagging | the list is signed off empty | photographs, and then the letting pack |
The durations are per unit and are written on the schedule before the first trade is booked. The builder on the opening page dates them.
The days that sit outside the six stages
Three kinds of day are added to a programme separately and are never absorbed into a stage, because absorbing them is how a schedule stops being believed.
- Drying. New plaster is not dry because it has stopped being wet to the touch. A mist coat over plaster that is still giving up water comes back off, and putting that right takes longer than waiting would have.
- Waiting on somebody else. A skip permit, a parking suspension, a licence to alter from the freeholder, a commissioning visit from a registered engineer. Each has a lead time set by whoever grants it and not by the office.
- Bank holidays. The builder counts working days and steps over Saturdays and Sundays. It does not know which Mondays the office is shut, so those are added by hand to the stage they fall in.
Which trade can start once a stage ends is a separate question, and the dependencies are set out on trades and sequencing.