The project handover detail homeowners miss

The bit that saves a renovation rarely looks like “work”. It looks like project aftercare: the small checks, materials notes, and maintenance routines that keep your new kitchen, loft or extension behaving like it did on day one. Most homeowners get a folder of PDFs, but not enough usage guidance for the specific things they now own - and that’s how expensive finishes get quietly ruined.

It usually hits a few weeks after the builders leave. The paint marks, the heating does something odd, a door swells, a tap drips, and you realise you don’t actually know what’s normal, what’s settling, and what’s a defect you need to report before the warranty window closes.

The handover moment feels like the finish line. It isn’t.

On handover day you’re tired, a bit giddy, and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of “new” things in your house. Someone shows you a boiler display, points at a stopcock, hands over a bag of spare tiles, and says, “Any questions?” You nod like a competent adult, because you want your home back and your evenings free.

The trouble is that a home isn’t handed over like a phone contract. New plaster dries, timber moves, silicone cures, grout breathes, ventilation beds in, and the way you live in the space starts applying stress in all the places drawings can’t predict. The detail people miss is not a missing certificate or an instruction manual. It’s a clear aftercare plan for the first 30–90 days, while things settle and small failures are easiest to fix.

The quiet mistake: thinking “maintenance” starts next year

Most people assume aftercare means “call me if something breaks”. But the best project aftercare is proactive and slightly boring: it tells you what to do, what not to do, and what to watch for, in plain language, in your house, for your exact products.

Without that, you do what any reasonable person does: you clean like you always cleaned, heat like you always heated, and ventilate like you always ventilated. Except your house has changed. It may now have microcement that hates harsh chemicals, engineered oak that hates standing water, a heat pump that hates being “blasted”, and paint that hates steam for the first few weeks.

That mismatch - old habits meeting new materials - is where the slow damage happens. Not dramatic enough for an emergency call-out, but enough to leave you with cracked caulk, cloudy worktops, mouldy corners and a builder saying, “That’s wear and tear.”

What good usage guidance actually looks like

A decent handover pack isn’t a dump of manufacturer PDFs. It’s a short, specific document that says: in this house, with these products, do this.

Ask for usage guidance that covers the stuff you touch daily:

• Heating and ventilation: how to run it for the first few weeks (especially with new plaster), what temperatures to avoid, when to use boost/extract, and where the trickle vents actually are.
• Surfaces: what cleaners are safe (and what will void warranties), whether you can use vinegar, bleach, steam mops, or abrasive pads.
• Water: where the isolation valves are, what “normal” pressure looks like, and what to do if a trap smells or a fitting weeps.
• Joinery and doors: what seasonal movement is expected, how to adjust hinges, and which doors need to be kept latched to avoid twist.
• Sealants and grout: curing times, when you can shower properly, and what early shrinkage looks like versus failure.

If it helps, think of it like a new car. You wouldn’t do motorway speeds from cold and then be surprised the engine complains. New homes and refurbished rooms have their own “running in” period, and it’s rarely explained.

The 30-day aftercare checklist that prevents most headaches

The most useful thing you can get from a contractor isn’t a promise; it’s a schedule. Here’s what homeowners should be doing - and documenting - in the first month.

1. Walk the job weekly, not just once. Look at ceilings, corners, around windows, and where new meets old. Hairline cracks are common; fast-growing ones aren’t.
2. Run ventilation on purpose. New plaster and new timber throw off moisture. Use extractors, keep trickle vents open, and don’t “save heat” by sealing the house up.
3. Keep heat steady. Big swings (off all day, blasting at night) encourage movement and cracking. Ask your installer for a recommended set-back temperature.
4. Wipe, don’t soak. New timber floors and some worktops dislike standing water. The first damage often comes from over-enthusiastic mopping.
5. Check for small leaks. Look under sinks, at radiator valves, around the boiler/heat pump, and at shower trays. A teaspoon a day becomes a rotten skirting board.
6. Photograph anything suspicious. Date it. If it changes, you have evidence without an argument.

This isn’t paranoia; it’s what good site managers do. Homeowners just aren’t told to do it once the van has left.

The one handover document worth chasing: the “house map”

If you ask for only one thing, make it this: a one-page “house map” that shows where everything is and what it serves. Not a neat architectural plan - a practical one.

It should include:

• stopcock and any secondary isolation valves
  
• consumer unit and labelled circuits
  
• heating zones and thermostats (and where the sensors are)
  
• ventilation unit/extract routes and filter access
  
• inspection hatches, valves, clean-outs
  
• paint codes, tile names, grout colour, worktop material, floor finish
  

Homeowners miss this because it feels like admin. Then the first time you need it, you need it now - and you’re lifting panels at midnight while water politely spreads.

Red flags that your “aftercare” is really just a goodbye

Some builders are excellent at finishing work and terrible at explaining how to live with it. The signs are predictable.

• You’re handed a stack of warranties but no explanation of what voids them.
• You’re told “don’t worry, it’ll dry” with no timeframe, ventilation advice or heating settings.
• The snagging process is vague (“email us anything”) rather than scheduled (“two-week check, then six-week check”).
• There’s no list of products used - which makes repairs and matching finishes a guessing game.

If any of that is true, push back gently while everyone is still responsive. After a few months, the story shifts from “defect” to “maintenance”, and the burden lands on you.

A simple handover script that gets you what you need

People freeze at handover because they don’t want to seem difficult. The trick is to ask like you’re trying to look after the work (because you are).

Try:

• “What are the top three things that will damage these finishes in the first month?”
  
• “Can you show me how to isolate water to the kitchen and bathroom separately?”
  
• “What settings should I use for heating and ventilation while plaster dries?”
  
• “Which cleaners should I never use on these surfaces?”
  
• “When is the formal snagging visit, and what’s the best way to log issues?”
  

You’ll be surprised how often the person in front of you knows the answers but hasn’t been asked to package them into something usable.

Keep it boring, keep it beautiful

The goal of project aftercare isn’t perfection. It’s to stop small, solvable issues turning into permanent annoyance, and to keep your new work looking intentional rather than “tired” within a season.

If you get proper usage guidance, you don’t need to become a building expert. You just need to run the house the way the house now needs to be run - for a little while - until everything settles and the work becomes, finally, just your home.

Handover detail	What to ask for	Why it matters
Aftercare plan	30–90 day do/don’t list	Prevents avoidable damage and disputes
House map	Valves, filters, circuits, zones	Saves time in leaks and faults
Product list	Paint codes, tiles, sealants, finishes	Makes repairs and touch-ups possible

FAQ:

• Is cracking after a renovation always a problem? Not always. Hairline cracks can appear as plaster dries and timber moves, but you should photograph, date, and report anything that widens, returns after filling, or follows a straight line along a new beam or junction.
• Do I really need usage guidance if everything is “standard”? Yes. “Standard” materials still have specific cleaning and running-in requirements, and your mix of paint, timber, worktops, heating and ventilation is unique.
• What’s the most common aftercare mistake? Turning ventilation off and blasting heat on and off. Moisture needs controlled removal; extremes encourage movement, mould and cracking.
• When should I report issues to the contractor? As soon as you notice them, and in writing with photos. Don’t wait for a perfect list - early reporting keeps everything inside the intended snagging and warranty timelines.