The most common source of home renovation disputes is miscommunication — the homeowner had one thing in mind, the contractor another. A simple floor plan shared before work starts can prevent most of this.
Here's how to create an effective brief using a floor plan, and what to include for different trades.
Why a floor plan matters more than a verbal brief
Words are ambiguous. "The sink should go under the window" leaves room for interpretation — which window? Where exactly under it? How far from the edge? A dimensioned floor plan answers all of these questions before the tradesperson picks up a tool.
A floor plan also gives the contractor something to price from. Vague briefs lead to vague quotes, which lead to scope creep and disputes over what was agreed. A clear plan leads to a clear quote.
What to include for a kitchen fitter
- Room dimensions and wall positions drawn to scale
- Door and window positions with widths noted
- Position of existing services: boiler, gas supply, soil pipe, electrical consumer unit
- Proposed unit layout with approximate widths of each run
- Position of sink, hob, oven, fridge, and dishwasher
- Island dimensions and clearances
What to include for a bathroom plumber
- Room dimensions drawn to scale
- Existing soil pipe position
- Proposed positions of WC, basin, bath, and shower
- Door swing directions
- Any walls the plumber will need to chase pipes through
What to include for a general contractor (extension)
- Dimensions of the proposed extension footprint
- Position of new doors and windows
- Internal room layout if relevant
- Connection point to existing structure
- Any design constraints (permitted development boundary, neighbour proximity)
How to create the brief in Free Room Planner
Open Free Room Planner, draw your room to scale using the measured dimensions, add the proposed layout, label each element, and export a PNG. You can share it by email, WhatsApp, or print it out for a site meeting.
It takes about 15 minutes to draw a clear kitchen or bathroom plan — and could save weeks of costly rework.
One extra step: annotate before sharing
After exporting from Free Room Planner, you can open the PNG in any image editor (including your phone's markup tool) to add arrows and text annotations for anything not obvious from the plan alone — such as "door swings outward" or "radiator to be moved to this wall".