The method is the product.
Anyone can mount a server. What separates a delivery partner from a labour supplier is whether the work is repeatable, evidenced and documented well enough that the next engineer does not have to guess. This is how every Tech Maths project runs, whether it is one rack or three halls.
The eight stages
Stage 01 / 08 · Day 0
Brief
We confirm site access windows, power and cooling readiness, security and induction requirements, and whether the scope is a build, a migration or a mixed programme. Anything ambiguous is resolved here, in writing, before a price is issued.
Outputs at this stage
- Scope confirmation
- Access and security requirements
- Indicative pricing within 4 business hours
Quality gate
Scope signed off before mobilisation planning starts.
- 01
Brief
Day 0You send the hardware list, the drawings you have and the deadline. We ask the questions that decide feasibility.
We confirm site access windows, power and cooling readiness, security and induction requirements, and whether the scope is a build, a migration or a mixed programme. Anything ambiguous is resolved here, in writing, before a price is issued.
- Scope confirmation
- Access and security requirements
- Indicative pricing within 4 business hours
Scope signed off before mobilisation planning starts.
- 02
Survey
Day 1–3A site visit or a structured remote survey. We measure what is actually there, not what the drawing says.
Rack space, containment capacity, power feeds and phases, cooling behaviour, cable routes, lifting and access constraints, and the state of anything we have to work around. Remote surveys use a guided checklist with your site team when travel is not justified.
- Site survey report
- Risk and constraint register
- Route and containment assessment
Constraints logged and priced — no surprises left for the floor.
- 03
Plan
Day 3–7Rack elevations, cable schedules, port maps and a sequenced programme you can approve line by line.
The plan is the deliverable that keeps the project honest: what goes where, in which order, by whom, with which tests at which point. Change after this point goes through a documented change record rather than an informal conversation.
- Rack elevations and cable schedule
- Port map and addressing plan
- Programme with milestones and dependencies
Plan approved and baselined before mobilisation.
- 04
Mobilise
Day 7+Crews, tooling, spares and logistics in place — including inductions, permits and site-specific briefings.
Engineers are briefed on the plan and the site before they arrive. Tooling is calibrated, ESD equipment checked, and any local access or licensing requirements arranged in advance so the first day on the floor is spent building, not waiting.
- Named crew and schedule
- Calibrated tooling and ESD kits
- Access, permits and inductions confirmed
Crew briefed and inducted before first touch of live equipment.
- 05
Execute
Per programmeThe build: racks, cable, hardware, OS, network. Daily progress against plan, deviations logged as they happen.
Work runs in batches so specification faults surface on the first units rather than the last hundred. Daily reports cover completed work, blockers and deviations. Nothing is silently re-planned: if reality disagrees with the plan, you hear about it the same day.
- Daily progress report
- Deviation log with approvals
- Work-in-progress photo record
Daily quality check by the lead engineer before the crew signs off.
- 06
Test
Per programmeCertification and acceptance testing, including deliberate fault injection to prove redundancy claims.
Copper and fibre certified per link, power paths verified on both feeds, and failover tested by removing feeds, links or nodes under observation. Results are recorded live. A failing test stays failing until it is fixed and re-tested.
- Certification results (native export)
- Acceptance test report
- Defect register with severity and owner
All defects closed or formally accepted with residual risk in writing.
- 07
Document
ParallelAs-builts, asset register, port maps, runbooks and the photo evidence that makes them believable.
Documentation is written during the job, not reconstructed at the end — which is why our as-builts match what is actually in the hall. Formats follow your document structure if you have one.
- As-built drawings (PDF + DWG)
- Asset register with serials
- Port map and cabling schedules
- Runbooks
Documentation reviewed by a second engineer before issue.
- 08
Handover
Go-liveA walkthrough with your team, a signed acceptance pack, and field support already scoped for what comes next.
We walk your operations team through what was built and how it is documented, transfer credentials and access properly, and agree the support model for the operating phase. Most projects move straight into a maintenance and field support agreement.
- Signed acceptance pack
- Knowledge transfer session
- Support and SLA proposal
Client acceptance signed; residual risks acknowledged in writing.
Standards
Safety, ESD, change control and documentation
These are not policies we quote in a tender. They are the controls an auditor can check on the floor, and the reason our handover packs survive scrutiny.
ESD control
ANSI/ESD S20.20 aligned handling: wrist straps, ESD-safe surfaces, continuous monitoring where the site requires it, and controlled packaging for any component that leaves the hall.
Site safety
Method statements and risk assessments for lifts, ladder work, overhead containment and live-environment working. Local site inductions completed before first access, and PPE to site standard.
Change control
ITIL-aligned change records for anything touching production. Rollback defined before work starts, maintenance windows agreed in advance, and no undocumented changes — ever.
Data and security
GDPR-aligned handling of personal data, chain-of-custody for media and assets, NIST SP 800-88 sanitisation methods, and confidentiality agreements for every engineer on site.
Sample handover pack
What you receive at acceptance
Six documents, issued in your document structure if you have one. Written during the job, not reconstructed afterwards — which is why the as-builts match the hall.
- 01
As-built drawings
Rack elevations, containment routes and cable paths in PDF and DWG, revised to reflect what was actually installed.
- 02
Asset register
Every device by serial number, make, model, rack, U position, PDU and outlet, with firmware and BIOS versions where we installed them.
- 03
Cabling schedules
Link-by-link schedules, patching tables, port maps and the administration scheme used.
- 04
Test & certification results
Native certifier exports plus PDF summaries, acceptance test results, failover evidence and re-test records.
- 05
Defect register
Every fault found, its severity, owner, fix and closure evidence — including anything accepted as residual risk.
- 06
Runbooks & deviations
Operational notes for your team, plus a deviation log explaining every change from the approved plan.
Commitments
What we will and will not do
A short list of rules our crews work to. They exist because each one has cost somebody money in the past.
We will log every deviation.
If reality disagrees with the plan, it is written down the same day with the reason and the approval.
We will not mark a failing test as passed.
A defect is closed with a re-test, or accepted by you in writing as residual risk. There is no third option.
We will not touch production unrecorded.
Live work happens under your change control, in an agreed window, with a rollback defined first.
We will document as we go.
As-builts are updated during the job. A documentation backlog at handover is a defect like any other.
We will tell you when the scope is wrong.
If the design will not work as drawn, you hear it at the plan stage — not from an engineer improvising on the floor.
How quickly can a project start?
Standard requests are quoted within four business hours and can mobilise inside two weeks. Emergency work mobilises from the nearest hub, often the same day for hub sites.
Can you work under our existing method statements?
Yes. Send your RAMS, change-control process and site procedures and we work to them. Where you do not have them, we provide ours for your approval before mobilisation.
What happens if a project overruns?
You hear about the risk before it becomes an overrun. Progress is reported daily against the programme, with blockers named and a recovery proposal attached.
Do you subcontract?
Our engineers are our own crews. Where a task needs a licensed trade — electrical works upstream of the PDU, for example — we say so at the brief stage and coordinate the specialist rather than quietly passing the work on.