The shell handover checklist that decides your programme

Levels and structure

Record the slab level across the unit, not at one point. A 40mm fall across a 1,800 sqft floor decides whether your finish build-up works and whether the entrance threshold meets the mall datum.

Confirm the soffit height at the lowest obstruction, not the highest. Ceiling strategy lives or dies there.

Services at the boundary

Verify the incoming electrical capacity in kW, the position and size of the drainage connection, the fresh-air and exhaust provisions, and whether the sprinkler grid is live. For food service, the kitchen exhaust route is the single most programme-critical item and is often unresolved at handover.

Statutory and landlord position

Who holds the fire NOC, what the landlord's fit-out approval turnaround is, and what the permit process for hot works looks like. These are calendar items, not paperwork items, and they belong on the bar chart.

Photograph everything, dated

A dated photographic record of the shell settles every later argument about what was there on day one. We shoot the same camera positions at handover and at trading, which is also the clearest way to show a client what changed.