01 — Design-basis review
Our procurement workflow starts with the buyer’s location, occupancy, wind and snow loads, seismic basis, storey count, foundation interface and required delivery date. We use that brief to match suppliers and request comparable proposals. The selected supplier and the local engineer remain responsible for design calculations and regulatory review.
The review stops if the authority having jurisdiction is unnamed. IBC, Eurocode or a national annex is not selected from a country name alone. The engineer of record remains responsible for sealing the calculation in the destination market.
02 — Steel, coating and weld dossier
Light-gauge residential frames are normally cold-formed steel with a stated galvanized coating mass. Z275 is the usual starting point for enclosed walls. Coastal or industrial exposure moves the coating note, and cut edges plus weld zones are called out for repair because galvanizing does not restore itself at a grind. Heavier floor members, when the span needs them, are specified as Q355 or S355 rather than left as “structural steel.”
Welded frames keep more of the stiffness inside the plant and occupy more space in a container. Bolted knock-down frames raise the packing density and shift the risk to site torque and hole alignment. The dossier states which route was chosen and which welding code the project invoked, such as AWS D1.1 where a North American structural weld is actually in scope. The plant does not stamp every house as EN 1090 work.
03 — Envelope and fire strategy
Candidate suppliers may quote EPS, PIR or mineral-wool wall systems at different thicknesses. We ask for declared core density, thermal data, connection details and applicable assembly tests. A panel classification cannot establish the fire rating of a complete wall with joints and openings.
Thermal bridges at studs, base tracks and balcony fixings are listed separately from the panel U-value. A clear-span living room changes the floor cassette and the bridge at the beam pocket. Those bridges are not hidden inside a single brochure R-value.
04 — Packing, lifting and foundation interface
Volumetric modules in the 6055 × 2435 × 2896 mm class leave with lifting points and a mass note. Panelized houses leave as wall, floor and roof packs with a container loading plan. A 40HQ count of four to eight flat units applies only to the geometry that was packed, not to a furnished volumetric box. The foundation interface drawing shows anchor positions and the tolerance the jig can hold. It does not design the local slab, piles or tie-downs unless that scope is written into the order.
MEP preinstallation is an option, not a default. If sanitary, lighting and partitions are in the factory scope, they freeze on a dated option matrix. Changes after that date are revisions. The buyer and supplier should sign a dated option matrix before the order is finalized.
05 — Limits of site support
Installation services, site crews, local permits and sealed engineering are outside this coordination service unless a separate supplier contract explicitly includes them. We can compare supplier installation offers and coordinate inspection points, but credentials and project compliance must be verified for each request.
Price questions tied to “lindal cedar homes cost” or a 300k budget are answered only after quantity, climate loads, interior package and destination port are known. A missing port or a missing snow load is reported as an open item, not filled with a catalog average.