Customer Handover and Floor Care
The floor is finished when the customer knows how to live with it. Walk it together, agree the punch list in writing, hand over the records, and leave care instructions for the product you actually installed.
Walk the floor with the customer before the crew leaves and before the final invoice. Agree in writing what is a punch item and what is normal for the system, give the three return-to-service dates on paper, and leave a care sheet written from the manufacturer's own maintenance document for the product you installed. Keep a copy of all of it, with your batch numbers and the conditions on the day, in the job file.
Handover is a stage of the job, not the end of it
Most of the floors that come back were never defective. They were walked on too soon, parked on too soon, cleaned with the wrong thing, or judged against an expectation nobody set. Every one of those is a callback, and a callback costs a working day you do not get paid for, which pricing callbacks and warranty work puts a number on. The handover is the cheapest point in the job to prevent them, because it is the last time you and the customer are standing on the floor together.
It has three parts, and each has a printable on this site: the walkthrough, the records, and the care instructions.
The final walkthrough
Walk it on your own first. Anything you find before the customer does is a punch item you raised, which reads very differently from one they had to point out. Then walk it together, in the light the room is actually used in, and look at the same things in the same order every time.
The field
- Uniform color and sheen across the whole floor, looked at low and along the light, not straight down
- Even texture on a broadcast floor, with no bald patches or ridges
- No soft, tacky or marked areas
Edges and terminations
- Clean lines at walls, cove base, door thresholds and transitions to other floors
- Joints and cracks treated the way the quote said they would be
- Drains, posts and penetrations finished, not stopped short
The site
- Tape, masking and protection removed
- Nothing left behind: tools, buckets, offcuts, empty kits
- Anything you moved, back where it was agreed to go
When something looks wrong, identify it before you agree what to do about it. Identify your coating defect starts from what you can see and routes to the page that explains the cause, which is the difference between a repair that holds and one that comes back.
Normal for the system is not a defect, but only if you said so first
Every system has characteristics a customer can read as faults: the texture of a full broadcast, the movement in a metallic, the variation in a polished slab, a crack that was filled but still shows. Those belong in the conversation when the system was sold, not at the walkthrough. At the walkthrough, write down which items both of you agree are characteristics of the system, so they are not reopened later as punch items.
The punch list goes on paper
For each item: what it is, where it is, what you agreed to do, and by when. Then both of you sign the sheet. Its practical value is the record of what both of you saw on the day. What a signature means legally depends on your contract and where you work, so do not present it as a release unless your own adviser says it is one.
The records to hand over, and the ones to keep
The customer needs dates and instructions. You need evidence. Most of it is the same paperwork, so fill it in once and keep a copy.
- The three dates. When it can be walked on, when things can come back in, and when it is genuinely finished. The first 24 hours after coating explains what each one permits. Take them from the data sheet and scale them to the temperature on site; for a polyaspartic floor the polyaspartic cure time calculator does the scaling
- What was installed. The system, each product by name, and the batch or lot numbers from the kits. Manufacturer warranty claims usually ask for them, and they are gone once the empty kits are
- The conditions on the day. Slab and air temperature, humidity, the dew point spread and any moisture readings. The dew point calculator gives you the spread, and how to test concrete moisture covers the readings. These are what let you tell a workmanship claim from a slab that changed after you left
- Photos. The finished floor, the edges, and any punch item before and after, taken on the day
- Your warranty terms, in plain words, next to the manufacturer's. If your promise covers more than theirs does, the difference is yours to pay for
- The care sheet, and who to call
Floor care: what the care sheet has to say
A cured floor is hard wearing, not maintenance free. What follows is the shape of a good care sheet. The specifics (which cleaner, at what dilution, how often, and what the coating resists) come from the manufacturer's care document for the product you installed, written onto the sheet in their words. If the manufacturer does not publish one, ask their technical line before you hand anything over, rather than guessing on the customer's behalf.
Grit is the enemy
- Dry dirt underfoot is what dulls and scratches a topcoat. Regular sweeping or dust mopping, and mats at the entrances, do more for the floor's life than any cleaner
Clean with what the manufacturer names
- Write the approved cleaner and method on the sheet. Tell the customer to ask before using anything else, especially anything acidic, strongly alkaline, solvent based or abrasive
Spills
- Chemical resistance on a data sheet is rated for a particular chemical and a particular exposure. A spill left standing is a longer exposure, so the instruction is to wipe it up promptly
Vehicles
- Not until the date on the sheet, whatever the floor looks like. Hot tire pickup is what an early car does to a coating
Heavy and sharp things
- Lift rather than drag, and put pads or plates under jack stands, ladders, racking feet and anything with a small, heavy footprint
Wet floors
- A smooth coating can be slippery when wet, whatever was specified. Say so on the sheet, and see slippery epoxy floor for what can be done about it
If the system can change color in sunlight, which some epoxies do, say so too, and see epoxy floor yellowing for why. A customer told in advance reads it as a property of the floor; one who finds it alone reads it as a defect.
When to call you
The care sheet should end with your number and a plain instruction: call before trying to fix anything. A patch, a cleaner or a coat of something from a hardware store applied before you see the floor can make the cause much harder to read, and can put the repair outside the manufacturer's warranty. Worn traffic lanes, marks that do not clean off, lifting at an edge, and anything soft or cracked are all worth a call while they are small.
The two printables
Both are free, print from the browser, and carry your business name rather than ours.
- Final walkthrough and handover sheet: the walkthrough checklist above, the punch list, the three dates, what was installed and the conditions on the day, with space for both signatures. Fill it in on site and keep a copy
- Customer floor care guide: the care sheet above, with a blank for every product specific instruction, to fill in from the manufacturer's document and leave with the customer
What this guide does not cover, and where those answers live
- The first day. What a curing floor has to be protected from, and why covering it is usually worse than leaving it open, is the first 24 hours after coating
- Cure times and maintenance intervals. Product figures, so they come from the data sheet and the care document, never from a guide. How to read a technical data sheet covers finding them
- What to charge for a warranty. That is callbacks and warranty pricing
Frequently Asked Questions
When should the final walkthrough happen?
Before the crew leaves the site for the last time, and before the final invoice goes out. Walk it once on your own first so nothing on the punch list is a surprise to you, then walk it again with the customer in good light. A walkthrough done after the invoice is a negotiation; done before it, it is a checklist.
Should the customer sign the walkthrough sheet?
Yes, and so should you. The practical value of the signature is the record: what both of you saw on the day, what was agreed as a punch item, and what was agreed as normal for the system. What a signature means legally depends on your contract and where you work, so do not present it as a release unless your own adviser says it is one.
What cleaner should a customer use on an epoxy floor?
The one the coating manufacturer names in its care or maintenance document for the system you installed. Products differ, so this page does not name one. Put the manufacturer's instruction on the care sheet in its own words, and tell the customer to ask you before using anything else, especially anything acidic, strongly alkaline, solvent based or abrasive.
Is a care sheet worth the time on a small residential job?
It is worth more there, because a homeowner has no maintenance department and will clean the floor with whatever is under the sink. A care sheet takes minutes to fill in from the manufacturer's document, and a floor damaged by the wrong cleaner is a callback you pay for whether or not your warranty covers it.
What records should I keep after a handover?
The products and batch or lot numbers you used, the conditions on the day (slab temperature, air temperature, humidity and moisture readings), photos of the finished floor, the signed walkthrough sheet, and a copy of the care sheet you left. Manufacturer warranty claims usually ask for exactly this kind of record, and it is what lets you tell a workmanship problem from a floor that was misused after you left.