Designers & Fabricators: Must-ask Questions for Your Next Design Project
In business, choosing the best partners for any type of collaboration is essential for achieving the optimal outcome. This is especially true on projects with longer timelines and those involving several specialties or expertise, for instance, design and manufacturing elements. This is particularly crucial for “Design-Build” where the entire team must be assembled when the project is launched.
Design and manufacturing are at the core of our business here at ID Signsystems. Our Design Build philosophy involves creating strong partnerships at the beginning of the project, whether it is managing a client-led development process or facilitating the design vision of external partners, including architects and design professionals.
To ensure exceptional partnerships, we follow guidelines when selecting partners or vendors, using design project questions to help us establish expectations and support our clients’ projects.
In this article, we provide some of the essential questions both Designers and Fabricators should be asking to review vendors as potential partners. Information like typical project size and documentation process can help you make informed decisions to select partners that align with your business and project objectives.
Questions Designers should ask of potential fabricator potential partners:
- What is the in-house capacity of the fabricator?
- Can the fabricator provide a list of employees and their biographies?
- What is the fabricator’s relationship with other contractors and fabricators?
- Does the fabricator have an ingrained network of vendors?
- Does the fabricator have construction documentation samples?
- Can the fabricator produce the sample on time with the bid?
- Has the designer worked with the fabricators before? What size project?
Questions Fabricators should ask potential partners:
- Does the fabricator have an existing relationship with the designer?
- Has the fabricator worked with the designer on smaller projects?
- Does the designer have a specific project manager, and what is their experience?
- Is the fabricator allowed to adjust material sizes?
- If the designer is an architecture or interior design firm, can the fabricator be part of the design development stage?
- Has the designer asked for educational input before bidding?
- If the designer is an experiential graphic design firm, what do their design intent documents look like?
A cost-effective and desirable experience is the goal for all stakeholders, no matter the size or complexity of any project. Setting and using these guiding design project questions will help achieve that goal.
Learn more about design best practices in “Presentation: Designer/Fabricator Best Practices for Maximum Profitability,” presented by Craig Berger at ISA Sign Expo 2022.
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ID Signsystems is a full-service sign production company. Our designers and fabricators work together to deliver projects in a highly creative and collaborative environment to develop the most innovative sign designs in the industry.
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