The Specification
One document, complete.Read it before you commission it.
This is a HOLZ specification, published as it is issued for manufacture. Every line the studio writes is here: what each component is, how it is dimensioned, and how it behaves under daily use. Two things have been taken out for publication: the supplier names and the quotation. Both are in the client's copy.
Specimen document
HOLZ / SPEC / 000
- Project
- A working kitchen and the utility room beside it
- Zones
- Two: cooking and preparation; laundry and services
- Revision
- Rev. C · issued for manufacture
- Programme
- The work runs 8–10 weeks from the confirmation point.
- Status
- Complete. Nothing on this sheet is left to interpretation on site.
- Removed for publication
- The supplier names and the quotation. Both are present in the client's copy of this document.
The form, the completeness and the grammar are the real thing. The project is representative, a specimen written so you can read the studio's hand before you commission it.
The line items
Carcase & construction
01.01
Carcase board
18 mm moisture-resistant core, declared by series, with every cut edge bonded before assembly.
Named in your specification
A kitchen fails at its edges first. A sealed edge is what keeps a swollen carcase out of year four.
01.02
Carcase backs
8 mm back panel grooved and glued into the side panels, not pinned to the rear face.
A grooved back squares the box and holds it square. A pinned back has been asked to do a job it cannot do.
01.03
Shelf bearing
Concealed supports set into the side panel; shelving rated for stacked stoneware.
Shelves are loaded with plates, not with ornaments. The bearing is specified for the real load.
01.04
Edge treatment
Bonded edge on every visible arris: a fused seam with no glue line.
Named in your specification
A glue line is where steam and heat begin their work. Removing the line removes the failure.
01.05
Levelling
Adjustable feet on a sealed plinth channel; the run is levelled to the floor.
The floor is never level. The cabinetry absorbs that, so the worktop reads true across the room.
Fronts & finish
02.01
Front construction
Flat-slab, handleless; 19 mm front with a continuous grip rail set behind the top edge.
The hand finds the same rail on every door, at the same depth, whether the door is 300 mm or 1,200 mm wide.
02.02
Surface finish
Matt, fingerprint-resistant, in the agreed tone.
Named in your specification
Matt finishes differ enormously in how they hold a mark. The finish is chosen for how it wipes, and it is written down.
02.03
Grain & match
Continuous grain sequenced across the run; the sequence is set out on the elevations before any board is cut.
Grain that runs through a room was decided at the drawing, not discovered at the saw.
02.04
Reveal
4 mm shadow gap held on all four sides of every front.
The reveal is the detail, so it is dimensioned. A gap left to the fitter is a gap that varies down the run.
02.05
Tall-unit doors
Twin-hinged with an aligned centre stile so the pair reads as a single plane when closed.
Two tall doors either read as one surface or they read as a mistake. Alignment is a specification, not luck.
Worktop & upstand
03.01
Worktop material
Sintered surface, 12 mm, on a mitred build-up to 40 mm apparent thickness.
Named in your specification
Chosen for heat, scratch and stain behaviour over years of use, not for the pattern on the sample.
03.02
Edge profile
Mitred to 40 mm with a 1 mm arris to the top edge.
A dead-square edge chips against a pan. The arris is small enough to read square and large enough to survive.
03.03
Joints
One joint, positioned off the sink and clear of the hob; the position is drawn.
A joint decided on site lands where it is convenient to cut. A joint drawn in advance lands where water and heat will not find it.
03.04
Upstand
Continuous 100 mm upstand in the worktop material, mechanically supported at the wall junction.
A silicone bead is a maintenance item. An upstand in the same material is not.
03.05
Sink cut-out
Undermounted with a polished cut-out; drainage grooves machined into the surface, falling to the bowl.
Grooves cut with a fall drain. Grooves cut flat hold water and mark.
03.06
Hob cut-out
Cut and reinforced to the appliance's stated clearance, with heat-relief detail at each corner.
Corners are where a surface cracks under thermal movement. They are detailed, not merely cut.
Movement & internal organisation
04.01
Hinges
Concealed, soft-close, 110° opening, adjustable in three planes after installation.
Named in your specification
A hinge that cannot be adjusted after the room settles is a door that will sag and stay sagged.
04.02
Drawer runners
Full-extension, soft-close, load-rated to 40 kg dynamic on each box.
Named in your specification
Rated for how the box behaves loaded and three-quarters open: the position where a weak runner drops.
04.03
Drawer boxes
Steel-sided with a bonded base.
Named in your specification
A bonded base does not drum when the drawer is loaded and pushed. It is the difference you hear every day.
04.04
Corner unit
Pull-out mechanism that brings the whole of the corner into the room in one movement.
Named in your specification
A corner you cannot reach is storage you do not own. The mechanism is specified so the back arrives at the front.
04.05
Lift systems
Sprung stay-lift on the wall units above the worktop; the door remains where it is released.
Named in your specification
Set so the open door clears the head at standing height, measured against the client rather than a catalogue.
04.06
Internal organisation
Cutlery, utensil and pan divisions dimensioned to the client's own inventory, measured at survey.
The divisions fit what is actually owned. Standard inserts fit what a factory assumed.
04.07
Waste
Segregated bins in the sink base, carried on a runner rated for the loaded weight.
Named in your specification
The bin carriage is the hardest-worked movement in the room and is specified accordingly.
Water & waste
05.01
Sink
Single large bowl with a half bowl, sized to the largest tray in the client's kitchen.
The tray was measured at survey. A bowl that will not take the roasting tin is the complaint you hear at year one.
05.02
Tap
Single-lever with a pull-out spray; reach dimensioned to the far corner of the bowl.
Reach is a dimension, not a description. It is checked on the drawing against the bowl it serves.
05.03
Waste & trap
Space-saving trap set clear of the bin carriage, drawn in position.
A standard trap and a full-depth bin want the same space. Drawing them together is how both fit.
05.04
Water treatment
Provision drawn in the sink base, with the connection carried on the specification whether or not it is fitted now.
Provision costs a dimension today. Retrofitting costs a worktop later.
Appliance integration & services
06.01
Appliance schedule
Every appliance listed by model with its stated aperture; cabinetry is built to the aperture.
Built to the aperture, never to a nominal size. Nominal is how a fascia ends up 3 mm proud of the run.
06.02
Extraction
Ducted externally where the plan allows; duct route, diameter and bend count are drawn.
Every bend costs airflow. Counting them on the drawing is how the extraction actually extracts.
06.03
Electrical
Socket and spur positions set out on the elevations and issued before first fix.
A socket positioned after the cabinetry is a socket behind a carcase.
06.04
Ventilation
Free air paths drawn to every integrated cooling appliance.
A blocked air path is a service call in a hot climate. It is dimensioned rather than assumed.
06.05
Services drawing
One coordinated sheet issued to every trade on the project.
Each trade works from the same drawing, so the room is coordinated before anyone arrives.
Light
07.01
Task light
Continuous under-cabinet light set to the front edge of the wall unit.
Named in your specification
Set forward so the light falls on the work rather than on the splashback behind it.
07.02
Colour temperature
One temperature throughout the room and the utility.
A room lit at two temperatures reads as two rooms. The specification holds one.
07.03
Drivers
Concealed but accessible without dismantling the run; positions drawn.
A driver that cannot be reached is a driver that will not be replaced.
07.04
Interior light
Movement-triggered within the tall units and the pantry pull-out.
Named in your specification
Light where the hand goes, rather than a switch to find in the dark.
Utility: the kitchen's language, continued
08.01
Continuity
The same front, the same finish and the same 4 mm reveal as the kitchen.
The room behind the door is written to the same standard as the room in front of it.
08.02
Appliance stack
Washer and dryer stacked on an anti-vibration deck, with a pull-out working shelf beneath the worktop.
A stacked machine walks unless it is decked. The deck is a line item, not an afterthought.
08.03
Worktop
Solid surface, 20 mm, coved to the wall on a seamless junction.
Coved so water has nowhere to sit. This is the wettest surface in the house.
08.04
Drying
Concealed pull-out drying rail in a ventilated bay.
Ventilated, because a closed drying bay is a damp cupboard.
08.05
Storage
Full-height cupboards with adjustable shelving, pitched to the bottle and box heights measured at survey.
Shelf pitch set to what is stored. Anything else wastes a third of the height.
08.06
Sink
Deep single bowl with a high-arc tap for filling.
Specified for buckets and vases: the things the kitchen sink should not be doing.
Installation, tolerance & handover
09.01
Survey
Final survey taken after the wet trades finish; manufacture is released from the surveyed dimensions.
Released from what the room measures, never from what the drawing hoped it would measure.
09.02
Tolerance
Scribed to the wall within 2 mm across the run.
Walls are rarely square, so the scribe is drawn as a component with a dimension of its own.
09.03
Sequence
Installation set out in the drawings, stage by stage, with one accountable studio answering for all of it.
The sequence is written down, so no trade waits on a decision that was never made.
09.04
Adjustment
Every door and drawer aligned after the run is loaded, not before.
A run aligns differently empty. The final alignment happens under real weight.
09.05
Handover
The specification, the appliance documents and the care schedule handed over as one file.
The document you are reading is the record the finished work is checked against.
The two blanks
Named in your specification
Wherever this appears, a supplier and a series is written into the client's copy of this document. Those names are opened with you across the table and they appear in your specification. They are not published here.
The quotation
The quotation is a separate document. It is settled with you, in writing, for your project. The specification and the quotation travel together.
What the document does
Written before it is made
The specification is complete before anything enters the workshop. Manufacture is released from the sheet, not from a conversation someone remembers differently.
Behaviour, not badges
Every line records how a component behaves under daily use: what it carries, how it moves, how it ages. That is what can be answered for.
The record on site
Installation is checked against this document. A question on site is answered by the sheet rather than by opinion.
It stays with the space
The specification is handed over at completion and remains with the room, so any later work begins from what is actually there.
Read yours before you commission it.
Your specification is written the same way: every line named, dimensioned and opened with you before anything is made.
Begin the conversation