The 9 crucial questions to ask your exhibition stand contractor as part of your due diligence.
When you exhibit, you’re putting your company on show and your reputation on the line.
As expert exhibition designers and builders, we take this responsibility seriously. We’ve been in business for over 20 years, refining and perfecting our processes and procedures to ensure flawless delivery of our exhibition stand projects.
If you're considering exhibiting, choosing the right supplier is crucial for ensuring that your stand offers a high-quality representation of your business and maximises your brand message.
To help you choose the right supplier, we created these 9 crucial questions. These are the questions that we believe you should ask a potential supplier, to figure out if they're right for you.
Are you financially sound?
Working with a contractor that is in financial distress can have disastrous consequences for your exhibition stand, if you receive one at all!
You should ask potential suppliers to provide you with either an up-to-date credit report or the information needed for you to make independent checks.
At Quadrant2Design, we welcome any credit check you wish to make. Our company name is Exhibit-UK.Net Ltd (trading as Quadrant2Design). Our company registration is 3993526.
Will you pre-build my stand?
Pre-building a stand allows all details to be checked over and perfected before your stand ultimately arrives at your event.
We pre-build every exhibition stand, days or weeks before the ‘real’ build at the exhibition venue. This gives us a unique opportunity to quality-check every aspect of a stand before delivery. It is a 100% pre-build, with everything in place, exactly as it will appear on-site at the show.
How safe is my stand?
Old-fashioned stands (made of MDF panels, metal and acrylic) present some pretty significant health and safety risks. They’re heavy, their construction requires the use of power tools and produces a great deal of dust and rubbish, and they require polluting HGV transport to get to the venue.
Our stands are created in the Prestige Events System and are inherently safe, and easy to build and use. They're built from lightweight, but immensely strong, aluminium. They use light transport, no fork-lifts and no hazardous power tools.
Is my stand reusable?
The all-too-common 'build and burn' strategy of the exhibition industry means that custom stands in particular are typically scrapped after each event. Quadrant2Design's custom-built stands are different, as our whole approach is centred on reusability.
Our solution is called the Prestige Events System and is a high-end modular system that is exclusive to Quadrant2Design. The modular structure is highly durable and reconfigurable, meaning your stand can be adapted to different stand sizes and shapes and reused over and over again.
Describe your quality control
Quality control is a vital part of producing a quality end product. Quadrant2Design is a process-driven business and our quality control process is extremely rigid.
Once the creative design of your stand is complete, we ‘press the button’ on our production process. This is a factory-like process, with multiple quality-control milestones at key points along the way. The entire process is coordinated by your Project Manager, who will keep you informed and involved along the way.
Our quality control measures culminate in the pre-build of your stand, complete in every detail – exactly as the stand will appear at your exhibition. We positively welcome your presence at the pre-build, but if you can’t make it, we’ll send you a video and images.
Do you sub-contract anything?
When choosing a contractor it's important to know if there are any processes or responsibilities that are outsourced to third parties. The risk with sub-contracting is a loss of control which can lead to lateness, quality issues, and failure to deliver.
At Quadrant2Design, every process, and every service, is in-house. From the initial design of the stand, through the manufacture and pre-build process, right up to its installation, dismantling and storage; nothing is sub-contracted.
Are your stands sustainable?
The exhibition industry has a reputation for unsustainability, primarily based on the build-and-burn model that was, for a long time, the industry standard. At Quadrant2Design, we offer the most sustainable exhibition stands on the market!
All of our materials, and stand-building components, are reused again and again, on different stands, at different shows, venues and locations. Because 90% of our stands are supplied on our unique free-hire plan, stand elements are always reused.
Who builds my stand on-site?
This question is important as you will want to know who is responsible for installing your stand on the day of (or the day before) your event.
If this service is subcontracted it can mean a loss of quality control, which is why Quadrant2Design have our own in-house team of expert exhibition stand installers, who know our product inside out and ensure that your stand is perfect down to the smallest detail.
What is 3D proofing, and why is it so important?
Unlike standard 2D artwork proofs, the 3D proofs that Quadrant2Design use show exactly how your graphics will look, when applied to the shapes and contours of your exhibition stand, giving you the best appreciation of how your design will work in reality.
By asking these questions you can ensure that the exhibition stand contractor you choose is one you can trust with your brand and ensure you receive the very best exhibition stand for your event.