- Guide – Lift & Shift
Commissioning industrial installation: enquiry, quotation and award
By Tobias Schott · Reading time approx. 24 minutes · Last updated: October 2026
A reliable installation quotation comes from a complete enquiry and a site visit – those who skip both end up comparing change orders instead of quotations.
“Please quote for the installation of the new plant, photos attached.” That is how many enquiries begin, and that is how many change orders begin. Anyone who wants to commission industrial installation needs six details before the first quotation: plant, weight and dimensions, accessibility, date and maintenance window, client-provided services and the required credentials. If one is missing, every bidder fills the gap with their own assumption. In the end, three quotations are on the table, backed by three different scopes.
That costs time in the wrong place – on installation day: the forklift is not rated for the weight, the door is too narrow, the power supply is missing, the maintenance window has not been released. Each of these surprises was already in the enquiry – as a gap.
This guide is the in-depth companion to our foundation page What is industrial installation? for the phase before the order. It shows what an enquiry must contain, why the site visit belongs before the quotation, what an installation quotation consists of, how to make quotations comparable and what must be in the purchase order. You will deliberately find no amounts, hourly rates or time promises here – they are the result of a complete scope, not its yardstick.
Key points at a glance
- An enquiry for industrial installation needs six details: plant, weight and dimensions, accessibility, date and maintenance window, client-provided services, required credentials.
- The site visit belongs before the quotation, not before installation day – it checks what the enquiry claims.
- A reliable installation quotation explicitly names line items, lifting equipment, ancillary services, exclusions, billing method, responsible persons, credentials and acceptance.
- Time and materials or lump sum is not a question of price but of predictability: new installation to drawing can be quoted as a lump sum, adaptation in existing facilities only with a site survey.
- Quotations only become comparable when all bidders offer the same scope in completeness, safety, responsible persons, references and insurance.
- The purchase order must include scope, interfaces, the appointed person for lifting operations and acceptance – not just the quotation number.
- The most common mistakes are enquiries by photo without dimensions, unfixed maintenance windows and unclear client-provided services.
What is a reliable installation quotation?
A reliable installation quotation is one that defines, for a named plant at a visited location, which installation services are owed with which lifting equipment, which ancillary services, which exclusions, which billing method and which responsible persons up to which acceptance – so that two professionals understand the same thing by it without asking.
Reliable does not mean extensive. A quotation for two days on site for a gantry crane can fit on one page if it names surveying, grouting with curing time, pre-assembly, forklift and work platforms. A ten-page quotation that assumes moving in is “by the client” and does not mention the electrics is not reliable – it is long.
What an installation contractor understands by industrial installation
Industrial installation is the mechanical installation of machines, plant and steel structures at the operator's site – from unloading to handover. Where the trade ends is explained on the foundation page; the scope we offer is shown on our service page Industrial installation. What counts for the enquiry: say which module you need – new installation, moving in, relocation, dismantling or conversion in existing facilities. Then the bidder knows which phases to calculate.
Why a cost estimate without a site visit is not one
Anyone who receives a cost estimate for an industrial installation without a site visit is holding a guess on letterhead. The installation takes place in your building, with your door clearances, floor loads, crane set-up areas and access rules. None of these figures is in the photo of the plant. A bidder who names a fixed sum without a site visit has either built in a lot of contingency or excluded a lot – you only find out which later.
Commissioning industrial installation: what information does an enquiry need?
An enquiry for industrial installation needs six details: the plant with type and condition, weight and dimensions of the heaviest and largest assembly, accessibility from the lorry to the installation position, date and maintenance window, the client-provided services and the credentials you require from the installation contractor.
| Detail | What the bidder needs to know | What is missing from the quotation without it |
|---|---|---|
| Plant | Type, manufacturer documentation available, new plant or existing, degree of disassembly on delivery. | Installation sequence, pre-assembly, personnel requirement. |
| Weight and dimensions | Heaviest and largest part, centre of gravity, lifting points, packaging. | Lifting equipment, lifting accessories, forklift or crane. |
| Accessibility | Access road, unloading point, gates, door clearance, lift, floor load, route to the installation position. | Access route, machine skates, openings, floor protection. |
| Date and maintenance window | Preferred date, live operations or shutdown, day, night, weekend, window fixed or open. | Days on site, shift model, fallback level. |
| Client-provided services | Foundation, utilities, power supply, unloading, disposal, MEWP, crane – who provides what. | Ancillary services, exclusions, interfaces. |
| Records | Induction, access, prequalification, insurance, appointments, risk assessment. | Waiting times, lead time, team composition. |
Plant, weight, dimensions
Naming the plant is not enough if the bidder does not know in which parts it arrives. A gantry crane arrives as columns, head pieces, runway girders and bridge; a parts washer as a unit with feeder trolley and rail. Weight and dimensions of the heaviest and largest part decide the lifting equipment – forklift, chain hoist or mobile crane. Anyone who uses the enquiry sheet from our guide on Lift & Shift installation has this information together in a structured form.
Accessibility and access route
Accessibility describes the route from the lorry to the installation position: unloading point, gates, door clearance, lift capacity, floor load, bends, floor covering. A new hall with open wall bays is a different access route from an existing hall with production in the neighbouring bay. What needs to be clarified on an installation day is described in the guide on the sequence of a move-in.
Date and maintenance window
The maintenance window is the detail most often left open as “to be agreed” – and the one that changes the quotation the most. Installation during live operations means stages, barriers and a fallback level for each stage. Installation during a shutdown means a free hall and a window that holds. State whether the window is fixed or depends on the quotation. For installations during an annual overhaul, the guide on shutdown planning.
Client-provided services and credentials
Client-provided means: the client supplies it. Foundation, utilities, power supply, disposal, MEWP, overhead crane – each of these services is either provided by the client, in the quotation or open. Open is the most expensive variant. Credentials are the last detail: anyone who requires a background check, a prequalification or a permit to work should say so in the enquiry, not in the purchase order. For larger awards, the scope of works for installation and moving in is the form in which these six details become line items.
Why does the site visit belong before the quotation?
The site visit belongs before the quotation because it checks what the enquiry claims – door clearance, floor load, crane set-up area, foundation, utilities, access – and because every deviation that is only noticed on installation day comes back as a change order or waiting time.
For a container facility for the plant security service in the Taunus initially only the placement of the containers was booked. On site, it became clear what else a ready-to-occupy facility needs: a levelled base of concrete slabs and steel plates, crane coordination with a truck-mounted loader crane and container lifting hooks rated at 12.5 t on the corner castings, connections for power, water and drainage, two split air-conditioning units. Because the team had already passed the security clearance for the site, it took on these services from a single source. Three fitters, about a week, after which the facility was ready to occupy.
For your enquiry, this means: what you show at the site visit, the bidder can quote. What you do not show gets added as a change order.
What is clarified at the site visit
- Access route from the lorry to the installation position with dimensions, floor load and floor protection.
- Foundation, ground and anchoring – including curing time for grouting.
- Lifting equipment on site: overhead crane, forklift, crane set-up area for the mobile crane.
- Utilities at the plant: compressed air, water, drainage, exhaust air, power supply up to the control cabinet.
- Access, induction, permits to work, work during live operations.
- Interfaces with other trades and who coordinates them.
With us, a site visit is part of the enquiry, not of order processing. It ends with a written assessment of which service module fits and what remains on the client side.
What does a reliable installation quotation consist of?
A reliable installation quotation consists of eight blocks: scope description with reference to the plant, line items per phase, lifting equipment and aids, ancillary services, exclusions and client-provided services, billing method, responsible persons and credentials, and acceptance – and each block answers a question you would otherwise ask on installation day.
| Block | Question it answers | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Scope description | Which plant, at which location, following which site visit? | “Installation as per enquiry”. |
| Line items per phase | Unloading, moving in, setting up, aligning, anchoring, connecting, trial run? | One line item “installation complete”. |
| Lifting equipment and aids | Forklift, crane, chain hoist, machine skates, work platforms – who provides them? | Lifting equipment not mentioned. |
| Ancillary services | Travel, site set-up, floor protection, disposal, waiting times, night and weekend? | Just “incidentals included”. |
| Exclusions and client-provided | Foundation, utilities, power supply, inspection – who does what? | No interface list. |
| Billing method | Lump sum, unit prices or time and materials – and for what in each case? | Everything “by effort”. |
| Responsible persons and credentials | Installation supervisor, appointed person for lifting operations, appointments, insurance? | Company brochure instead of names. |
| Acceptance | Trial run, installation record, briefing, inspection before commissioning? | Acceptance not mentioned. |
Line items, exclusions and ancillary services
Line items per phase make an installation quotation readable. For a parts washer, these are moving in and aligning, supply line up to the control cabinet, compressed air with pressure gauges and shut-off valves, fresh water and drainage, supply and exhaust air, commissioning and briefing. Anyone who sees these items recognises immediately whether the exhaust air is included. Exclusions are not a flaw but information: a quotation that names the power supply as client-provided is complete. One that does not mention it is not. Ancillary services are everything that arises not at the plant but around it – travel, floor protection, barriers, disposal, waiting times due to access.
Lifting equipment in the quotation
Lifting equipment belongs in every installation quotation – even when the bidder does not provide it themselves. For the gantry crane in Babenhausen, forklift and work platforms were in the quotation; for the container facility, the truck-mounted loader crane. Anyone who needs a mobile crane must clarify crane set-up area, outreach and lift plan beforehand. What belongs in the risk assessment for this is shown in the guide on RAMS and risk assessment for installation.
Time and materials or lump sum – without amounts
Time and materials or lump sum is a question of predictability, not of negotiation. A new installation to drawing in a hall that has been visited can be quoted as a lump sum: phases, lifting equipment and days on site are known. A conversion in existing facilities, where what sits behind only becomes visible during disassembly, can only be honestly quoted with a site survey and a time-and-materials share. For a working platform at an automotive plant in Mannheim the platform made of aluminium profiles and gratings was adapted on site to the existing plant – with sufficient clearance from the conveyor belts, small gaps and feet that do not disturb production. Such an adaptation cannot be quoted as a lump sum down to the last bolt before the site survey. A good quotation therefore says which part is lump sum, which is by site survey and which is time and materials – and how time-and-materials hours are released and documented.
How do you compare installation quotations without falling into the price trap?
You compare installation quotations on five criteria before looking at the total: completeness of scope, safety and installation planning, named responsible persons, references on comparable plants and insurance – only when all bidders offer the same scope on these five points does the total say anything.
Five criteria before the price
- Completeness. Place the eight blocks from the previous chapter next to each quotation. Missing blocks go back as a bidder query, not into the evaluation.
- Safety and installation planning. Risk assessment, lift plan and installation sequence are part of the quotation or are promised before the order. A bidder who only produces these after the award only plans after the award.
- Responsible persons. Who is the installation supervisor, who the appointed person for lifting operations, who the point of contact in a breakdown? Names and availability, not job titles.
- References. A reference counts if plant, environment and service module are comparable – a crane in a new hall says little about a move-in at a data center.
- Insurance. Public liability insurance covering installation risk with appropriate cover, evidenced by confirmation from the insurer, not by a sentence in the quotation.
Credentials that mean something
Credentials only mean something if they match the people who come to your site. The appointment for the crane operator who actually drives is worth more than a general certificate. Inspection records for lifting equipment and lifting accessories are required by the German technical rule TRBS 1201 – for you this means: ask to see the records of the lifting accessories that will be used. A tax exemption certificate under Section 48b EStG and a clearance certificate from the employers' liability insurance association belong to every award. Which credentials you may demand and which say nothing is set out in the guide on subcontractor credentials between the tank and the base slab.
When the cheapest quotation is the most expensive
The cheapest quotation is the most expensive when it leaves out the items that will arise anyway: lifting equipment, floor protection, waiting times due to access, weekend work, inspection before commissioning. These items do not disappear, they just change column – from “quotation” to “change order”. The same logic for recurring services is described in the guide on comparing maintenance quotations.
Award and purchase order: what must the order contain?
The purchase order for an industrial installation must contain the scope with reference to quotation and site visit, the interface list, the appointed person for lifting operations, the maintenance window, the client-provided services with dates, the acceptance and the contractual basis – a purchase order that only names the quotation number leaves everything else to installation day.
Scope and interfaces
The scope in the purchase order refers to the quotation and the site visit record – and to the bidder queries that changed the scope. The interface list names, for each boundary, who is responsible up to where: haulage up to the unloading point, installation contractor up to the control cabinet, electrical contractor from the power supply, manufacturer for control system and commissioning. During the replacement of two folding ramps at a logistics centre in Frankfurt two mechatronics technicians fitted the new ramps, welded them to the existing steel structure, connected hydraulics and control cabinets and laid the cables. The final power supply was still missing – the team worked via a power distributor, and the in-house electrical firm reconnected later. This boundary had been fixed beforehand, which is why there was no waiting time. In large projects with several trades, the guide on interfaces in large projects.
Responsible persons and coordination
If several companies work at the same location, the client must coordinate the work and appoint a coordinator – this is required by DGUV Vorschrift 1 (DGUV Regulation 1). For you this means: name in the purchase order who at your company briefs, issues permits to work and gives releases. In return, the installation contractor names the installation supervisor and the appointed person for lifting operations who releases every lift. What this person decides is described in the guide on the appointed person for lifting operations; how to brief and release external fitters, in the guide on contractor management.
Acceptance and contractual basis
Acceptance belongs in the purchase order with form and content: trial run, functional test, briefing, installation record, punch list, signature. Under the BetrSichV (German Industrial Safety Ordinance), an installed item of work equipment whose safety depends on the installation must be inspected before first use – define who organises this inspection and when. How handover and acceptance run properly is shown in the guide on commissioning and handover. As the contractual basis, name VOB/B (German construction contract procedures) or a contract for work under the German Civil Code (BGB) and regulate the notice of concerns, change order procedure and warranty – this guide is no substitute for legal advice, but it tells you what should be regulated. Whether a contract for work, service contract or temporary agency work suits your site is explained in the guide on external industrial fitters.
How to commission recurring industrial installation: framework agreement or individual order?
You commission recurring industrial installation via a framework agreement with call-off orders when plants, environment and credentials stay the same and only trigger and date change; an individual order fits when every installation needs its own site visit, its own lifting equipment and its own interfaces.
When the framework agreement fits
A framework agreement pays off when you call the same installation contractor several times a year: series installation at many gates, recurring conversions in maintenance windows, repairs with lifting equipment. It regulates once what would otherwise be in every purchase order – credentials, induction, access, responsible persons, billing method, response in a breakdown. Each call-off order then only names trigger, plant and window. How such a contract is structured for maintenance is described in the guide on the maintenance contract.
When the individual order fits
The individual order fits when the installation is a one-off or every installation is different: a move-in with a mobile crane, a machinery relocation between two sites, a crane system in a new building. Here the framework contributes nothing, because site visit, lifting equipment and interfaces are clarified per project anyway. What preparation a relocation needs is shown in the guide on machinery relocation by a contractor.
Hybrid form: framework for the organisation, individual quotation for the service
In practice, the hybrid form often proves itself: the framework regulates credentials, induction, availability and billing method, yet every installation still gets a site visit and an individual quotation. That keeps the organisation stable and the scope honest.
Which mistakes happen most often when commissioning?
The most common mistakes when commissioning an industrial installation are enquiries by photo without dimensions, unfixed maintenance windows, unclear client-provided services, quotations without a site visit, open electrical interfaces and access clarified too late – and each of them comes back as a change order, waiting time or a second day on site.
- Photo instead of dimensions. A photo shows the plant, not its weight, its centre of gravity and the door clearances along the route. Result: wrong lifting equipment, second day on site.
- Maintenance window “to be agreed”. Without a fixed window, every bidder calculates a different shift model. Result: quotations are not comparable, and the window ends up too short.
- Client-side unclear. Foundation, utilities, power supply, disposal – not assigned. Result: the plant stands but does not run.
- Quotation without a site visit. The guess on letterhead. Result: change orders for everything the hall does differently from the photo.
- Electrical interface open. Nobody has defined up to where the installation contractor connects and from where the qualified electrician takes over. Result: the plant waits for the electrician, and the fitters wait too.
- Access and credentials too late. Induction, site pass, prequalification only requested on installation day. Result: fitters at the gate, window gone.
The countermeasure is the same in all six cases: a complete enquiry, a site visit and a purchase order that names interfaces and acceptance.
How commissioning works with us in the Rhine-Main region
Commissioning industrial installation in the Rhine-Main region means with us: an enquiry with the six details, a site visit in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Hanau, Darmstadt or Aschaffenburg at short notice, a written assessment, then the quotation with the eight blocks – and one point of contact from enquiry to acceptance.
As an installation contractor in Rhine-Main based in Rodgau, distances are short. A site visit in Babenhausen, Dietzenbach or Rüsselsheim is a morning, not a day of travel. That changes the quotation: we quote what we have seen and write down what needs to be clarified on the client side. Anyone looking for an industrial installation partner who also comes out in a breakdown will find, in the guide on the installation contractor in the Rhine-Main region, what proximity means in everyday practice.
What we always name in the quotation: lifting equipment and who provides it, grouting and curing times, utilities up to the control cabinet, the boundary to the qualified electrician, floor protection and barriers, the appointed person for lifting operations, credentials and the form of acceptance. Where we are not responsible, it is in the quotation: design and control logic with the manufacturer, power supply and electrical testing with the electrical contractor, transport on the road with the haulier.
How we do it in practice
Four jobs from our project diary show how enquiry, quotation and purchase order decide installation day – and what happens when a detail was clarified beforehand or was missing.
Taunus: from placement to a ready-to-occupy container facility
With the installation of a container facility for the plant security service in the Taunus north of Frankfurt, initially only the placement was booked. Three fitters levelled the base of concrete slabs and steel plates, lifted the containers by their corner castings directly off the vehicle with the truck-mounted loader crane and bolted them into one unit. Added to that were the power and sanitary connections, the frost-proof fresh water line with trace heating in the trench, the drainage in a sand bed and two split air-conditioning units. After about a week, the facility was ready to occupy.
For your award, this means: where access limits the number of service providers, the enquiry should name the entire scope – not just the lift. What needs to be planned when placing containers is in the guide on setting up a container facility.
Frankfurt: two folding ramps in one day during live operations
During the replacement of two folding ramps at a logistics centre in Frankfurt two mechatronics technicians replaced two manually operated ramps with electro-hydraulic ones in one day on site. The old ramps were cut from the steel frame with an angle grinder, the new ones positioned at the loading edge with the forklift, MAG-welded to the existing steel structure, the support feet aligned and welded. Then mechanics, hydraulics, hydraulic control cabinet, two control cabinets in the building, cable routes. The final power supply was later taken over by the in-house electrical firm. The logistics centre kept running throughout.
For your quotation, this means: welding, hydraulics and electrics in one quotation mean one team and one day – three quotations mean three dates.
Babenhausen: two days on site because the grout has to cure
With the installation of a gantry crane in Babenhausen the quotation stated why it takes two days: on the first day, two fitters erected the gantry, laser-surveyed it for height and diagonal and grouted the base plates – curing overnight. On the second day, the 2 t single-girder bridge was pre-assembled on the ground with electric chain hoist, travel units and cable guide, lifted onto the gantry runway with the forklift and completed with conductor rail and pre-limit and end limit switches. Forklift and work platforms were in the quotation as aids.
For your quotation comparison, this means: a bidder who offers the crane installation in one day has left out either the grouting or the curing time. What counts when aligning and anchoring is in the guide on aligning and anchoring machines.
Kassel: all utilities in the quotation, first parts on installation day
With the installation of a parts washing system at a vehicle workshop in Kassel the quotation contained everything the plant needs to run: moving in and aligning including feeder trolley and rail, supply line up to the control cabinet, compressed air with pressure gauges and shut-off valves, fresh water and drainage, supply and exhaust air as a stainless steel pipe system welded on site, joint commissioning and briefing. Two mechatronics technicians, one day on site, the first parts were washed the same day.
For your enquiry, this means: name the utilities at the plant as line items. Then the quotation states who connects them – and the plant runs on installation day, not in the week after.
Is an award coming up? Then bring us the six details
Then get in touch with us. Send us plant, weight and dimensions, accessibility, window, client-provided services and the credentials you need – or whatever of these is available. During a site visit in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Hanau, Aschaffenburg or elsewhere in the Rhine-Main region, we walk through the rest with you and tell you honestly what belongs in our quotation and what needs another trade.
What this means for your role
For buyers: Send all bidders the same six details and the same site visit date – then they all answer the same question. Evaluate completeness, safety, responsible persons, references and insurance first, and only then the total. Missing blocks go back as a bidder query, not into the evaluation.
For designers: Provide the information the installation contractor needs from your documents: door clearance and floor load along the access route, foundation with curing time, crane set-up area, utilities at the plant and the point in the construction sequence when wall bays are still open. What you write into the tender today, nobody has to add as a change order later.
For project managers and site managers: As project manager, you keep site visit, bidder queries, award and window in the schedule and set a date for the inspection before commissioning. As site manager, you brief, name the coordinator, issue permits to work and release isolation and trial run – with the names from the purchase order.
For maintenance managers: For you, commissioning is often recurring: assembly replacement in the window, conversion during the overhaul, repairs with lifting equipment. A framework for credentials, induction and availability saves time on every call-off – the individual quotation per installation nevertheless remains the basis.
For operations and plant managers: The maintenance window is your detail. Put it into the enquiry as fixed, not “to be agreed” – then all bidders calculate the same shift model, and the window holds. Demand a fallback level for each stage if production continues alongside the installation.
For manufacturers and system builders looking for an installation partner: Before the first project, clarify who takes on moving in, mechanical installation, connection up to the control cabinet and commissioning. A framework for credentials, documentation and points of contact then carries across many sites.
Industrial installation enquiry checklist: checklist on request
The industrial installation enquiry and quotation checklist is a two-page working aid. Part A “Enquiry complete” lists the six details – plant, weight and dimensions, accessibility, date and maintenance window, client-provided services, credentials – with sub-items to tick off. Part B “Check the quotation” sets the eight quotation blocks as rows against up to three bidders as columns, with the field “included, unclear, missing” in each cell. It deliberately contains no price fields, amounts or manufacturer details. Request the industrial installation checklist via our Contact form – quoting the keyword “Industrial installation enquiry checklist”.
Why Omega Mounting?
We are based in Rodgau near Frankfurt, reachable via our 24-hour hotline, and have our own workshop for brackets, frames and parts that would otherwise hold up an installation. The linked jobs show how we quote: a container facility in the Taunus where placement turned into a ready-to-occupy facility, two folding ramps in Frankfurt in one day with a clear electrical boundary, a gantry crane in Babenhausen with overnight grouting in the quotation, a parts washer in Kassel with all utilities up to the first washed part. For you this means: a single point of contact from enquiry through site visit and quotation to acceptance, installation, lifting equipment and plant electrics from a single source, a clear statement of what remains on the client side – and short distances in the Rhine-Main region.
Conclusion
Commissioning industrial installation means putting the work before installation day: six details in the enquiry, a site visit before the quotation, eight blocks in the quotation, five criteria before the price and a purchase order that names interfaces, responsible persons and acceptance. Time and materials or lump sum is decided by predictability, not by negotiation. The most common mistakes – photo without dimensions, open window, unclear client-side scope – can all be avoided before the award and can only be paid for after it. If you need a quotation that still holds on installation day, send us the six details about your plant – we will get back to you with a site visit date and an honest assessment.
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About the author
Tobias Schott
Managing director of Omega Mounting GmbH, Rodgau · more than 20 years of hands-on experience in installation and maintenance
A trained mechatronics technician, at home in maintenance, servicing and industrial installation since 2004 – first at his father's side, since 2012 with Omega Mounting: from the overhead conveyor in Frankfurt to the crane system in a new-build hall. Plans and leads lifting operations as appointed person in data centers and on industrial sites in the Rhine-Main region, is an instructor and examiner for cranes, mobile elevating work platforms and telehandlers, and a safety officer. On jobs abroad he is known as the “German Troubleshooter” – the one you call when things get stuck on site. He learned what quality means not from a manual but from his father: Made in Germany as a standard for his own work, not as a label. That is why it comes first at Omega Mounting – before speed and before price. He writes these guides from that practice: what works on our sites is in them – what only exists in the standard is not.
Frequently asked questions
Six details: the plant with type, condition and degree of disassembly on delivery, weight and dimensions of the heaviest and largest part, accessibility from the lorry to the installation position, date and maintenance window, the client-provided services and the credentials you require from the installation contractor. With these details, a bidder can submit a quotation; without them, only an estimate. A photo replaces none of the six details.
The effort is made up of personnel and days on site, lifting equipment and aids, pre-assembly, site set-up, waiting times due to access and releases, work outside regular hours and the client-provided services that your company takes on itself or not. A figure without a site visit is therefore no statement. Compare quotations first on completeness, safety, responsible persons, references and insurance – then the total says something.
That depends on predictability. A new installation to drawing in a hall that has been visited can be quoted as a lump sum because phases, lifting equipment and days on site are known. An adaptation in existing facilities, where what sits behind only becomes visible during disassembly, can only be honestly quoted with a site survey and a time-and-materials share. A good quotation says which part is lump sum and how time-and-materials hours are released and documented.
Yes, if the quotation is to still hold on installation day. The site visit checks door clearance, floor load, crane set-up area, foundation, utilities and access – everything that is not in the photo of the plant. For a container facility in the Taunus, the booked placement only became a ready-to-occupy facility with base, connections and air-conditioning units on site. What the bidder sees, they can quote; what they do not see gets added as a change order.
You may demand appointments for crane operators and slingers, inspection records for lifting equipment and lifting accessories, risk assessment and lift plan for your site, public liability insurance covering installation risk, tax exemption certificate and clearance certificate from the employers' liability insurance association. Credentials only mean something if they match the people who actually come. Request them in the enquiry, not on installation day.
The scope with reference to quotation, site visit record and bidder queries, the interface list per trade, the fixed maintenance window, the client-provided services with dates, the names of the installation supervisor, appointed person for lifting operations and your coordinator, the form of acceptance and the contractual basis. A purchase order that only names the quotation number leaves the rest to installation day.
The client coordinates the work of several companies and appoints a coordinator; the installation contractor brings risk assessment, lift plan, appointed personnel and inspected lifting accessories. An installed item of work equipment whose safety depends on the installation is inspected before first use – who organises this belongs in the purchase order. Work on the building's electrics is carried out only by the qualified electrician.
Yes, enquiry, site visit, quotation and purchase order run the same way in every sector. What changes are the boundary conditions that belong in the enquiry: floor protection, access list and escort requirement in the data center, work during live operations and windows at the gates in logistics, hygiene and tool control in the food business, security areas at the airport. Anyone who includes these conditions in the six details receives quotations that contain them.
With a short enquiry containing three details: plant with weight and dimensions, location with accessibility, and preferred date or maintenance window. We arrange a site visit in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Hanau, Darmstadt, Aschaffenburg or at your premises, walk the access route, foundation, utilities and interfaces with you and send you a written assessment and a quotation with all eight blocks. Your contact is Tobias Schott – reachable via our Contact form.
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