Lighting Project Checklist: From Site Survey to Container Loading

Lighting projects rarely fail at the product — they fail in the gaps between phases: a survey that missed the ceiling type, a layout approved in a screenshot, a golden sample nobody kept, a container loaded without a plan. This checklist compresses the project path into fourteen checkpoints, each with the deliverable that should exist before the next phase starts. Use it as the agenda for your supplier calls and the attachment to your purchase order; a supplier who resists producing the evidence at any row is telling you something.

The checklist

Phases typically run: sampling 7-14 days after drawings freeze; bulk production 25-40 days after deposit and sample approval; PSI at 100% completion. Illustrative durations for standard commercial volumes.

The four checkpoints that save the most money

If the full list is too heavy for a small order, these four carry most of the protection. Row 5, the calculation file: a supplier willing to share the dialux file is quoting a result, not a box count — and it is the document that settles uniformity disputes later. Row 7, the sealed golden sample: every later argument about colour, finish or beam is settled by holding it against the batch. Row 11, PSI at 100% completion: an inspection booked before production finishes routinely inspects cartons of nothing. Row 13, the loading report: mixed-SKU damage is almost always a loading decision, made in twenty minutes at the factory gate and discoverable only weeks later — our container loading guide covers that step in detail.

Running the checklist

• Attach it to the PO. A checklist inside the purchase order becomes contractual; one sent as advice becomes optional.
• Match evidence to payment. Tie the deposit to the frozen drawings (rows 4-6) and the balance to the PSI report (row 11) — the two natural leverage points.
• One owner per row. Decide up front whether you, a third-party inspector or the supplier performs each checkpoint, and name it in the PO.
• Archive everything. Survey sheets, calc files, bin reports and loading photos form the warranty file; a claim without row-level evidence is a negotiation, not a claim.

Where AURELUX fits

This checklist is the process behind every mixed-SKU order we consolidate from the cluster, whether the goods are high bays under warehouse lighting, fit-out fixtures from commercial lighting, or decorative schemes from the hotel programme. Rows 5-14 run on our side by default; rows 1-3 typically start from your site or your contractor's survey. For the supplier-vetting layer beneath this checklist — licences, sample policies, factory audits — see our 20 questions for a lighting factory and the Guzhen sourcing guide.