Revision F, or was it G?
The customer asked for the island to move 100mm, then for the bin pull-out to swap sides, then for the wall units to go up to the ceiling. Each change produced a new render, a new plan and a new price. The designer saved them as Smith kitchen v4, Smith kitchen v4 final and Smith kitchen v5 FINAL. The order went in from v4 final. The customer had signed v5.
It surfaces on fitting day when the fitter opens the boxes and the tall units are the wrong height, or three weeks later when the customer asks where the second pull-out has gone.
How versions get crossed
Design software is good at drawing kitchens. It is not built to manage which version has been agreed with the customer, who ordered from which version, and what changed between them. That knowledge ends up in email threads and file names.
- The customer signs a printout or replies to an email saying it looks good, and that approval is not linked to a file.
- Small changes agreed on the phone are made to the plan but never re-sent for approval.
- The person placing the unit order is not the designer, and picks the file that looks newest.
- Fitters receive drawings from an earlier stage in a job pack printed weeks before.
- The price on the final version is different, and the invoice uses the older figure.
The price of one crossed version
Reordering units means waiting for the manufacturer again, with the customer's kitchen half built. Some suppliers charge for returns or will not take bespoke items back at all. The fitters' schedule has to be rearranged. And the conversation with the customer is difficult, because from their side they asked for something clearly and did not get it.
The approval step we add
- Each design revision is uploaded to the job as a numbered version with its plan, elevations, render, schedule and price, and a short note on what changed.
- The customer receives a link to review a specific version and approves it with an electronic signature, or asks for changes in writing on the same page.
- Only one version per job can be marked approved, and it is locked. Any later change creates a new revision that needs its own approval.
- The ordering screen will only release the approved version's schedule to suppliers.
- The fitters' job pack is generated from the approved version, and a warning appears if a newer approval arrives after the pack was issued.
- The invoice and stage payments are taken from the approved version's price.
| Moment | Today | With version sign-off |
|---|---|---|
| Customer agrees a change | Phone call, maybe an email | New revision, approved on screen |
| Placing the order | Pick the newest-looking file | Only the approved version can be ordered |
| Fitters' drawings | Printed early, may be out of date | Generated from the approval, flagged if superseded |
| Final invoice | Price copied from a quote | Price from the approved version |
Your designers keep using the design software they know. We work with the files and schedules it already exports.
After the change
Anyone in the business can open a job and see which version the customer approved, when and what changed from the one before. Ordering happens from that version and nothing else. Disputes about what was agreed get settled by looking at the signed revision rather than by memory.
Checklist: is version control hurting you?
- You have ordered or fitted something from an out of date design.
- File names include words like final, latest or use this one.
- Customer approvals are emails that do not name a version.
- Fitters have been working from drawings that were later changed.