Request for quotation
What an enquiry from us contains
Enough to quote from without writing back, so a plant's engineers are not spent quoting for orders that never arrive or briefs that never settle.
The structure first, then a worked example.
The structure
Seven parts, every time
The unit and the quantity
Which model, how many, and whether this is a first order or a reorder against a drawing you already hold.
The dimensional envelope
Ranges rather than fixed numbers wherever a dimension is not set by an approval limit or by an appliance that has to fit.
The equipment schedule
Every fitted item, its rating and its duty, with the specification separated from the brand so an equivalent can be offered.
The destination market and its requirement set
Named, with the instruments behind it and the certification that has to exist at manufacture rather than afterwards.
The build standard, by version
The version in force on the day the specification is frozen, which is the version the order is built to whatever is published later.
The acceptance criteria
What an inspection under the order will check, so nothing at the end is a surprise.
What we need back
A quotation, a lead time, and the deviations you want against any clause you cannot meet. Deviations are welcome now and expensive at inspection.
A worked example
Welfare 360, one unit, destination Great Britain
1. Dimensional envelope and masses
Where a figure is not fixed by an approval limit or by an appliance that has to fit, treat it as a target and tell us the nearest you can reach with tooling you already hold.
| Body length | 366 cm (12 ft) |
|---|---|
| Length with drawbar | 503 cm |
| Width | 244 cm |
| Height | 265 cm |
| Unladen weight | 1950 kg |
| Gross vehicle weight | 3000 kg |
| Axles | Twin, braked |
| Standard supply | Diesel generator, or a battery and solar hybrid where run hours or a noise limit require it |
| Mess seating | 6 to 8 |
| WC | One, in a separate compartment with its own door |
2. Chassis, running gear and body
Drawn from build standard version 1.0, issued 2026-09-05. The order is built to the version named on its technical file.
| Chassis | Hot-dip galvanised steel, fully welded. Galvanising after fabrication, not before |
|---|---|
| Suspension | Rubber torsion or leaf, rated at or above the declared gross weight |
| Braking | Overrun brakes with automatic reverse, on every axle |
| Coupling | Coupling head carries its own approval, with a stabiliser fitted and the approval number stated in the unit's documentation |
| Lighting | Road lighting to the destination market, e-marked, on a 13-pin connector |
| Mass declaration | Unladen mass weighed on the finished unit, not calculated. The ticket travels with the unit |
| Panel | Insulated sandwich panel, bonded, with no thermal bridge at the corner posts |
| Interior lining | Non-absorbent, wipe-clean, coved to the floor with no square internal corner |
| Floor | Anti-slip, sealed and coved, falling to a drain in the WC and the drying area |
| Roof | One-piece or fully sealed, insulated, and able to take a person for service access |
| Door and shutters | Anti-vandal door and shutter options specified at build rather than added afterwards |
3. Destination requirement set, and what must exist at manufacture
The full set for nine markets is on what has to exist, and when. These three are the ones that cannot be corrected later.
| Australia | Gas appliance certification, from an authorised Conformity Assessment Body. Certification must exist at the time of manufacture and cannot be added later. CE and CSA certification are explicitly not sufficient. It is an offence in every state and territory to sell or offer an uncertified Type A appliance. |
|---|---|
| New Zealand | Gas appliance and fitting certification, from a recognised certification body. Gas appliances and specified fittings must be certified before being offered for sale, and the importer must make a Supplier Declaration of Compliance. |
| United States | Part 567 certification label, from the original manufacturer. A conforming trailer is admitted on a declaration with no government approval only if the certification label was permanently affixed by the original manufacturer. Without it the fallback route needs a Registered Importer and a bond of 150 percent of dutiable value. |
4. Acceptance
Inspection arrangements are confirmed in the written order. Where it includes independent inspection, it is against this frozen drawing, at our cost, before the unit is loaded: dimensions and masses measured on the finished unit, equipment schedule item by item, electrical test results, gas pressure test, water system, finish and identification. The regime is published at quality and inspection and the right to reject is part of it.
What we ask back
Three things, and one of them matters most
A price and a lead time are the easy two. The one that matters is the third: every clause you cannot meet, raised now, with what you would do instead and the evidence behind it.
A deviation proposed before material is cut is a normal engineering conversation and it costs nobody anything. The same deviation found at inspection is a rejection, whether or not the substitute was as good, because by then the requirement is the record rather than the part.
The commercial half of this, what we commit to and what we will never ask you for, is on how we work.
Send us what you build
Photographs of units you have built and who they went to, the markets you already certify for, and the manufacturing address. That is enough for a first reply.