Someone signed off on this.
Here's the 2-minute check that would have stopped it.
Before you sign off a network install, open the comms enclosure and check three things: nothing is inside that wasn't installed, you can tell what every cable is for without asking, and every loop is tied and dressed. It takes 2 minutes. Any "no" means the job isn't finished, so hold the sign-off until it is.
Actual field photograph, taken when we arrived to take the site live. Site details withheld.
The installer packed up, the job was accepted and the invoice was paid. Nothing was broken, so it passed. That's the lowest bar a handover can set, and it's the one most of them use.
What we found
It passed because nothing was broken.
Then someone opened the door. Orange leads knotted in the bottom of the enclosure. Packaging and offcuts bagged and left behind. No labels anywhere. Conduit pushed through a rough hole in the top.
Most handovers ask one question: does it work? Working proves the service is up today. It says nothing about whether the next technician finds a fault in minutes or spends hours tracing unlabelled leads first.
Testing still matters, and it's a separate step. We cover it in network acceptance testing. This check is the bar above it: is the job finished?
The 2-minute check
Three questions at the open door, before you sign.
Stand at the open enclosure with the installer still on site. Answer each one yes or no.
- Is there anything in there that isn't installed? Packaging, offcuts, spare leads, a bag of bits. Loose material blocks airflow and hides what's actually connected.
- Can you tell what every cable is for without asking? A label at both ends that matches the port schedule. If you have to ring the installer to find out, so will everyone after you.
- Is every loop tied and dressed? Spare length coiled, tied and fixed off. Not knotted on the floor of the enclosure.
Say so before you sign, while the installer is still on site. The list is short on purpose. If a check takes longer than 2 minutes, it won't happen at handover.
Signing off sites you'll never visit?
Make the photo the deliverable. No photo of the finished, open enclosure, no sign-off and no final payment. It takes the installer 30 seconds, and you can check 50 sites from your desk. Who should hold that record afterwards is covered in who owns the risk in that cabinet.
"Fixing it while the installer is on site costs them 20 minutes. Finding it later costs you a callout."
The real cost
20 minutes now, or a callout later.
Before handover, clearing out the enclosure, labelling the leads and tying off the loops takes the installer about 20 minutes. After handover, it's a new job on your budget.
Cheapest on the quote and cheapest over the life of the site are rarely the same job. If 20 minutes for tidy-up was never in the price, it won't be in the box either.
Who's accountable
Design, budget, install and sign-off all had a chance. None took it.
The thread under this photo didn't blame the installer. It pointed at every decision before the installer arrived, and at the inspection that never happened after.
Fair call, Ian, and that's exactly why the post is aimed at whoever signs off, not whoever holds the tools. The person who set the budget and the deadline is usually the same person accepting the job. If 20 minutes for tidy-up was never in the price, it won't be in the box either.
If this is in the context of an MDU deployment, having a pre-installation mock up design agreed by all parties and installed onsite ensures the standard has been set from the outset. Any deviations from that should be picked up by independent onsite audits.
That's the right order, Karl. The mock-up sets the standard everyone signs up to, and the independent audit checks it was actually met. Without the second step, the mock-up is just a nice photo.
What needs to start to happen is a physical inspection installer and customer to visually check and make sure everything is installed correctly.
Exactly, Thomas. Installer and customer standing at the open door together for 2 minutes before anyone signs. It's the cheapest inspection there is, and it's the one that gets skipped most.
I used to run IT projects for the likes of easyJet and John Lewis so you can never look at the detail like this. Hence you have to hope that people have some ethics and want to do a job properly.
At that scale you can't open every box, so don't rely on ethics. Make the photo the deliverable. No photo of the finished enclosure, no sign-off and no final payment. It takes the installer 30 seconds and you can check 50 sites from your desk.
What else the thread said
36 comments. One pattern.
Electrical contractors, engineers and project managers, all describing the same gap between "it works" and "it's finished".
Already signed off?
We open every enclosure before you sign. Or after, if it's too late.
We didn't install the enclosure in the photo. On jobs like this, clients bring us in afterwards to take the site live: plug in and set up the equipment, work with the carrier until the service is up, and run user acceptance testing with the staff. Every enclosure gets a before and after photo in the handover pack.
- Up to 90 minutes on site
- The 3-question check on every enclosure, with before and after photos
- The 20-minute tidy included: clear it out, label the leads, tie and dress the loops
- Site report within 24 hours: photos, findings, the fixes made on the day, and each further item with a photo and description
- Bigger than 20 minutes, or needs parts? A fixed-cost quote within 48 hours, and we come back to finish. Nothing extra without your approval.
Appointment confirmed within 1 business day. Over 1,000 sites taken over and taken live in 34 years.
Book a technician visit, A$495 ex GSTNot ready yet? Send 3 photos. Get a free cabinet review. Rate My Rack
If the whole cabinet needs rebuilding rather than tidying, Cabinet Reset is a fixed-scope package for one small cabinet: labelled, tested, port schedule and handover photos, A$1,500 to A$3,000 ex GST. For a whole site, start with a Layer 1 Network Audit.
AAA Communications is a Sydney-based network infrastructure contractor. Since 1992 we've installed, tested and documented commercial data cabling and Wi-Fi on live office, branch, retail and industrial sites nationally: 34 years on live networks.
What does your handover sign-off actually check?
Related reading
The rest of the handover.
Common questions
It's easy to blame the person doing the job, but many problems start long before installation, with poor design, procurement, planning and management. ... If we want better workmanship, we need to look beyond the person holding the tools and start questioning the decisions that put them in that position. Accountability starts at the top, too.