By the time you're ready to lay the carpet, you will already have prepared the subfloor and installed the gripper strips and underlay material.

You should also have brought the carpet into the area where it is to be laid and allowed it to reach the same ambient temperature as the surrounding air.

AS 2455 says that the preferred ambient temperature at the time of installation is between 10° C and 35° C.

If the temperature is outside these limits, you should check the manufacturer's recommendations before proceeding.

AS 2455 (Section 3.1) sets out a list of considerations that you should take into account when you're planning the layout and deciding where to start.

These are summarised below.

Where possible:

1. Run seams the length of the area, with the traffic going in the direction of the seams, rather than across the seams
   
   
2. Run seams towards windows, so that the outside light doesn't strike across the seams
   
   
3. Face the pile direction away from the main source of light, and towards the main entry point to the area

4. On stairs, have the pile direction facing towards the leading stair edge
   
   
5. Put the full width of the roll on the door side and align the selvedge (side edge) seams accurately throughout the installation
   
   
6. If there is a different floor covering on the other side of the doorway, join the two coverings underneath the closed door.
   
   
7. Put fill-outs (part widths) on the opposite side of the room from the door, and avoid having a fill-out in between full widths, unless the situation is unusual.

Note, however, that most of these decisions should already have been made and agreed on with the customer.

The floor covering plan should show you the placements of seams and cross joins, direction of pile lay and other details, and it is likely that the customer will have seen the plan and signed off against it.

So if there are any last minute changes that you need to make, be sure to get the customer's approval before you go ahead.

The last thing you want is a disagreement at the end of the installation, when you should both be standing back and admiring a job well done.

While you're looking at the floor covering plan, you should also do a final check on the carpet specifications, including type, brand and colour, just to make sure that the material you've brought to the jobsite matches the customer's order.