---
id: KB-CN-030
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/making-to-measure-from-site-dimensions
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: carpinteria
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-029, KB-CN-021]
citadoPor: [KB-CN-031]
---

# Making to measure from site dimensions

_You measure a site that is still moving and manufacture to that figure. If the site changed, the piece is scrap and the argument is who measured._

**Responde a:** who answers if the site dimension was wrong · documenting site measurements · the piece does not fit whose fault is it · confirming dimensions before manufacturing

Your product does not exist until somebody goes to site and measures. From that figure material is cut, a piece is manufactured and something is transported that **fits that opening and no other**. If the figure was wrong, or stopped being right between measuring and delivery, there is no adjustment possible: there is a useless piece, a lost deadline and a conversation about who measured.

## Everything that can happen between measuring and fitting

| What happens | How often | Who knows |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The site changes the opening | Common | Whoever changed it, sometimes nobody else |
| Measured before a finish goes on | Common | Whoever measured, if they noted it |
| The design changes | It happens | It should be communicated, sometimes it is not |
| **The figure was transcribed wrong** | **It happens** | **Nobody, until fitting day** |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **A site dimension is a snapshot of a moment, not a permanent fact — and this whole position consists of treating it as what it is.** Recording when it was measured, what state the opening was in and what was assumed (that it would be finished, that the floor would rise two centimetres) turns an unresolvable argument into a comparison between two states. Without that, when the piece does not fit there are only two accounts and no referee.

## What turns a measurement into a document

1. **Date and state of the opening when measured** — A photo of the opening with the figure is the complete record.
2. **What was assumed still to come** — It is where half the mismatches are born.
3. **Confirmation from whoever runs the site** — Before cutting. Afterwards it is a claim, not a confirmation.
4. **And notice if anything changed later** — Changes reaching you is not automatic: it has to be asked for.

> [!WARNING]
> The costliest point in this position is **the time between confirming and fitting**, which on a site is weeks. During those weeks the opening is still alive: someone raises a floor, changes a frame, adjusts a partition. Nobody tells you because to them it is a minor adjustment, and to you it is a manufactured piece. Asking explicitly that any change to those openings be communicated is not over-caution: it is the only warning that can arrive in time.

> [!NOTE]
> Who answers for site dimensions, what counts as an order modification and how the cost of a useless piece is shared **is determined by the contract, and settled by your adviser**. Here we cover the operational part: how to record the measurement and its context so the conversation has something to resolve on.

**Does a photo with the figure count?**

It is among the most useful records there are, especially showing the opening's state.

**Should I ask for written confirmation?**

It is what turns an assumption of yours into a decision by the site.

**What if they change the opening after confirmation?**

That is the case to agree beforehand: being told does not happen by itself.

## Ejemplos

**The piece does not fit and there are two accounts of the dimension.**

- Keeps the measurement with its date and a photo of the opening

→ Comparison replaces argument.

**It was measured before a finish went on and nobody noted it.**

- Allows recording assumptions alongside the figure

→ The mismatch is explained rather than attributed.

**The site changes the opening after the order is confirmed.**

- Records the confirmation with date and author

→ The change can be placed after the agreement.

**Figures are transcribed from paper to the order and one is wrong.**

- Captures the measurement at source without transcription

→ The step where errors creep in disappears.

**Each fitter keeps their measurement notes separately.**

- Gathers measurements in the project file

→ Anyone can consult what was measured.

**Nobody gives notice of a change to an already confirmed opening.**

- Records what was asked to be communicated and to whom

→ The request for notice is demonstrable.