How do I pass on my cabinet shop’s design drawings and shop knowledge to a successor?

Start with an inventory of what exists. Count drawings, templates, standard details, cut lists, finish recipes and customer files, and note which are digital and which are on paper. Decide where they will live and who has access.

Then capture the unwritten part. Spend time with the successor on a real job, and explain each decision out loud. Record short videos or notes on the things you do without thinking: how you check a site, where you add material for waste, what you watch on the finishing line.

Hand over supplier and customer relationships alongside the files. Introduce the successor so the knowledge has a face attached. Set milestones, such as the successor running a job alone and you reviewing it. Succession takes time, so build the schedule around the person rather than a date. Your lawyer and accountant can help with ownership and who holds the drawings. Do not forget the knowledge that lives with customers: which designers want what, which homeowners change their minds, and which builders pay on time. Write those notes down too. Test the system by asking someone outside the shop to find a drawing from an old job. If they cannot, the filing is not yet good enough, and your successor will have the same trouble when you are not there to ask.

Key takeaways

• Inventory every drawing, template and file before you move it.
• Record your decisions on a live job, not only your results.
• Hand over relationships with the files, in stages.