The handover and O&M pack for FF&E and joinery

At a glance

Numbers match the drawing. The sections are working practice: we found no standard that sets them.

What the pack is for, and who reads it

Three readers use a handover pack, and none of them was in the room when the work was specified. The operator’s facilities team needs to clean, repair and re-order. The next designer needs to know what is behind each finish before altering it. The owner needs the certificates and the dated paper that were part of the brief. A pack that serves them answers one question for each item: what is it, how was it made and finished, how is it looked after, and who do I call?

On buildings, the equivalent is the operation and maintenance (O&M) manual. The Designing Buildings wiki lists its typical contents as design information, as-built drawings and specifications, operating and maintenance instructions, an asset register, test results, and guarantees, warranties and certificates. It adds that a draft is usually given to the client at handover and that the final version can follow months later. BSRIA’s guide BG 79/2020, Handover Information and O&M Manuals (August 2020) covers the documents and activities at handover of a building and replaces its 2007 guide. Neither is written for furniture. The pack in this sheet is a smaller version of the same idea, cut to the things a piece of furniture or joinery actually needs.

Two neighbours are easy to confuse with it. The health and safety file is a separate duty: under regulation 12 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 the principal designer prepares a file of information likely to be needed in later work to protect health and safety. Where a project has one, ask whether the fixing and maintenance details of heavy or fixed items belong in it as well. And the snagging record is a different document: see snagging acceptance criteria. The pack is issued once snagging is closed.

This is the same ground our aftercare page describes: a care and maintenance guide, and a project record of approved samples, finish recipes, hardware references and drawings. This sheet is a checklist for any supplier’s pack. What a particular pack contains is agreed for the project, and the drawing shows the structure it follows.

What to ask for in each section

The table above is the checklist. Five points sit behind it.

• As-built is not shop drawing. A shop drawing says what the maker proposes to build (see shop drawing approval). An as-built drawing says what was fitted, with any change made on site, and it carries the approved revision letter it started from. Ask for the second one; it is what a repair or a later refurbishment needs.
• Record codes and batches, not only colours. A finish code, the control sample it matched and, where known, the batch or dye lot are what let a later piece be matched. Batches vary: see metal finish sample approval and batch variation.
• Certificates belong to items. File each fire, timber and board record against the item code, as the FF&E schedule does, and keep the originals in the certificate file. The fire documentation matrix lists what to keep for fire; specifying FSC and PEFC does the same for timber.
• Warranty documents are quoted, not summarised. BIID’s practice guidance says that once the client or their representative has checked the product, all guarantees and certificates should be issued, and that a guarantee is only enforceable if it is in writing. So the section holds the signed documents as agreed, with the date each one starts and any condition about care or use. This sheet gives no terms; they are whatever your contract and the supplier agreed.
• Spares are labelled. Touch-up materials and spare parts should carry the item code, the finish code and the supplier reference, and the list should say where they are kept.

Care instructions: one sheet for each finish

Write care instructions for the finish, not the product. A bar front, a banquette back and a wardrobe door may share one lacquer; one care sheet then covers them all, and it is the finish code that lets a facilities team find it. The finisher writes the entries and the designer checks them against the control sample. Use this set of fields, one sheet for each finish:

The care points for timber and metal are covered in two other sheets, so do not copy them here: finishes on timber joinery gives the care points the woodwork standards make for lacquers and oils, and cleaning metal finishes gives a care table and a handover table for stainless, brass, PVD and coated metal. For an upholstered piece, attach the cover maker’s own care instructions for the fabric or leather supplied, and name the cover by its reference. Frequencies in the example are placeholders to be set with the operator and the finisher; no source we read gives them.

The asset register: start from the FF&E schedule

The asset register is the pack’s index of physical things. Build it from the FF&E schedule at its last revision, so the item codes carry over unchanged, then add what only exists after delivery: the tag, the dates and the references into the other sections.

Three rules keep it useful. One tag for each item, never reused, fixed where it will last and not be seen. Agree with the operator whether identical items, such as sixty chairs, are tagged one by one or as a group with a location list; a count and a location list is the minimum. Ask what format the operator’s facilities team can load, a spreadsheet or an asset-management system, before the register is built rather than after.

Who writes it, and when to ask

Ask for the pack in the specification and in the tender, where it can be priced: it is folder 08 of the RFQ pack. Put the dates in the programme, not in a note. A workable pattern, which is practice and not a standard, is a contents list at order, a draft before delivery, and the final pack after snagging is closed and the as-built drawings are issued. How a late or incomplete pack is treated is a matter for your contract.

Specifications are meant to carry this information. NBS describes a specification as covering, among other things, how work is completed and tested and in-use maintenance, and says it is often issued as handover information. So a clause in the specification is the right place to name the deliverables, and the paste-in wording below does that.

Before you sign for the pack, run five checks:

1. Complete against the index. Every section is present, or says n/a and why. No heading is empty.
2. References resolve. Pick five items from the register and follow each reference to a drawing, a certificate, a care sheet and a spare. Every one must lead somewhere.
3. Codes agree. Item codes, finish codes and sample references are the same in the pack, the FF&E schedule and the finishes schedule.
4. Care sheets name the finish actually used. A generic sheet for ‘lacquered timber’ is not a care sheet for finish F-03.
5. Walk the rooms with the register. Count the items, read the tags and check the quantity. Record any difference before you accept the pack.

[Supplier] is to provide a handover pack for [package] at [project, address]: contents list by [date]; draft by [date]; final within [ ] days of [snagging sign-off] and of issue of the as-built drawings, as [PDF with bookmarks and a spreadsheet register] [and one printed set]. Arrangement: cover sheet and index; 01 as-built drawings; 02 materials and finishes; 03 certificates and tests; 04 care and maintenance; 05 spares and touch-up; 06 warranty documents; 07 asset register; 08 contacts and re-ordering. [Designer] will review it against Schedule [number] and return comments within [ ] days. The pack is not complete until they are cleared.

As-built drawings are to show the work as fitted, including every site change, and state the approved shop drawing revision they started from. The materials record is to list for each item the finish code, control sample [S-nn], materials and, where known, the finish batch. Provide one care sheet for each finish, headed with its finish code, covering: where used; routine cleaning method and product type; frequency [set with the operator]; what not to use; spills, heat and light; who touches up and with what; who restores it; any finish accepted as changing with use; and the problems needing a specialist. The finisher is to review each sheet before handover.

The asset register is to have one row for each item, built from the FF&E schedule at revision [letter], with a unique asset tag, item code, room, supplier, dates, finish code, and references to the as-built drawing, certificates, care sheet, spares and warranty documents. Every cell is completed; write n/a and the reason. Certificates are filed against item codes. Warranty and guarantee documents are included exactly as agreed in [contract reference], with the start date and any conditions on care or use, and are not restated or summarised.

Standards and sources

• BSRIA: Handover Information and O&M Manuals (BG 79/2020): product page read 5 Nov 2026: published August 2020, replaces BG 1/2007; the paid guide was not read.
• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, regulation 12 (health and safety file): read 5 Nov 2026.
• BIID: Professional Practice Series, FF&E: 15 Dec 2020; read 5 Nov 2026. A guarantee is enforceable only in writing.
• NBS: Construction specifications: everything you need to know: Paul Swaddle, 5 Oct 2021; read 5 Nov 2026.
• No standard applies: no British Standard or trade guide found that sets a furniture pack's contents.

Questions we are asked

What is an O&M manual for furniture and joinery?

The file handed over at completion that tells the owner what was installed and how to look after it: as-built drawings, finish codes, care instructions, certificates, spares, warranty documents, contacts and a list of the items. On buildings the term is used for plant and services; for furniture and joinery a smaller pack serves the same purpose.

What is the difference between shop drawings and as-built drawings?

A shop drawing shows how the maker proposes to build a piece and is approved before manufacture. An as-built drawing is revised after fitting to show what was actually installed, including any change made on site. Repairs and later refurbishment need the second.

When should the handover pack be delivered?

Ask for a contents list at order, a draft before delivery, and the final pack once snagging is closed and the as-built drawings are issued. That pattern is practice, not a standard, and the dates belong in the programme. The Designing Buildings wiki notes that on buildings the final O&M manual often follows several months after completion.

Does the pack include the warranty?

It includes the warranty and guarantee documents, as agreed and as written. This sheet states no terms and the pack should not restate them: the contract and the supplier’s signed documents are the record.

Is the handover pack the same as the health and safety file?

No. The health and safety file is a separate duty under regulation 12 of the CDM Regulations 2015, prepared by the principal designer. Where a project has one, ask whether the fixing and maintenance details of heavy or fixed items should go in it as well as in the pack.

How should I tag furniture for an asset register?

Give each item a unique tag that is never reused, fixed where it will last and not be seen, and tied to the item code in the FF&E schedule. Agree with the operator whether identical items are tagged singly or as a group with a location list, and what format their facilities team can load.