You have found the maker, you like the design and the price works. Then it goes to procurement, or to the venue, or to the landlord, and three weeks disappear. This is not usually because anyone objects. It is because the supplier was not set up to answer the questions a large organisation has to ask, and every answer has to be chased.
Here is what actually gets asked, why, and how to have it ready so the approval takes days instead of weeks.
What procurement needs before they can raise a PO
A real company
A registered company number, a VAT number, a trading address and a bank account in the same name. This sounds obvious and it is the first thing that stops an onboarding form. Sole traders and unregistered makers can be excellent and they are often harder to get through a supplier setup process, which is worth knowing before you fall in love with a quote.
The ability to work on a purchase order
Larger organisations do not pay on a payment link. They raise a PO, they receive an invoice that quotes that PO number, and they pay on terms. A supplier who cannot work that way is a supplier who will not get used twice, however good the work is.
Insurance
Public liability and employers liability, in date. Venues in particular will ask before anyone sets foot on site.
A fixed price, not an estimate
Budget holders approve numbers, not ranges. If the quote can move, it will be queried, and the query is where the time goes. Ask your maker for a fixed price against a defined specification, and ask what would trigger a requote.
What the venue needs
Fire performance on materials
This is the one that catches people out most often, and it is the one with the least room to negotiate. Shopping centres, hotels, exhibition venues and public buildings will ask what the piece is made from and how it behaves in a fire. If the answer is untreated timber or standard foam with a decorative coating, you may be told no on the day of install, which is the worst possible moment to find out.
Ask early whether the venue has a fire requirement, and if it does, get it into the specification at design stage. Retrofitting fire performance is either expensive or impossible.
Method statements and risk assessments
Anything installed in a live venue, above head height, or involving lifting will need documentation before access is granted. It is routine paperwork, but it has to exist before you arrive, not after.
Access, timing and reinstatement
Get the loading bay times, the lift dimensions, the floor protection requirements and the derig window in writing before the piece is designed, not after. More bespoke pieces are redesigned because of a lift than because of a client changing their mind.
What the brand or legal team needs
An NDA, signed before anything is shared
If the project is a launch, a collaboration or a seasonal campaign that is not announced, the maker needs to be under NDA before they see the brief. A supplier who hesitates at this is telling you something. It should be a same day formality.
Certainty that your supplier will not approach your client
If you are an agency, this is the question your client is really asking when they ask who is making it. Worth getting the answer in writing.
Clarity on who owns the design
Agree at the outset whether the maker can photograph and publish the work, and when. Most makers want the portfolio, most clients are happy after the launch, and the only version that causes trouble is the one nobody discussed.
The sequence that works
- Confirm the venue fire, access and documentation requirements before design.
- Get the NDA signed if the work is confidential.
- Agree a fixed price against a written specification.
- Send the supplier details to procurement for onboarding at the same time as you send the quote for approval, not after.
- Approve drawings, renders and material samples before production starts.
- Confirm the install slot and the derig window in writing.
Run those in parallel rather than in sequence and you typically save two to three weeks on a project of any size.
The question to ask a maker up front
Ask whether they have supplied a hotel group, a retailer or an agency before, and whether they can work on a purchase order with an NDA in place. The answer tells you within one sentence whether the approval is going to be smooth or whether you will be doing the supplier admin for them.
We are a UK registered company with a VAT number, we work on purchase orders, we sign NDAs on request, we are insured, and material and finish specification comes with every quote rather than having to be asked for. See working with us or start a project.
