Capsule House Supplier: Evaluation and RFQ List

This is a procurement checklist, not a supplier evaluation framework. For judging whether a manufacturer is worth shortlisting - scoring dimensions, warning signals and how to read a factory - see our manufacturer selection guide, which covers that question properly. What follows assumes you have a shortlist and need to turn it into a comparable quotation, a contract and a delivered unit.

Stage 1: The Internal Brief

Most quotation problems originate in a brief that was never written down. Six items, one page.

• Site: location, exposure, access description, ground conditions if known.
• Use: guest accommodation, staff accommodation, event use, or personal use - and whether occupation is continuous or intermittent.
• Quantity and phasing: how many now, how many later, and whether the specification will be identical.
• Services available: voltage, frequency, water, drainage destination.
• Constraints: route limits, crane availability, delivery window, consent status.
• Decision criteria: what actually decides it - price, programme, specification, or documentation.

Circulate the same brief to every supplier on the shortlist. Identical inputs are the only way to get comparable outputs.

Stage 2: The RFQ You Send

Field	Why it is in the RFQ
Model and configuration	Removes ambiguity about what is being priced
Quantity	Freight utilisation and production planning both depend on it
Delivery term and named destination	The single largest source of incomparable quotes
Specification choices by layer	Shell, insulation, glazing, interior, wet room, MEP - stated explicitly
Documents required	Drawings, manuals, certificates, test records - named, not implied
Required dates	Quotation validity, production slot, shipment, arrival
Spare parts list	Priced at order, shipped with the unit
Warranty expectation	Start date and scope, in writing

A supplier who answers a structured RFQ in a structured way has told you something useful before you have paid anything.

Stage 3: The Comparison Table

Build one table with a row per supplier and a column per item. Columns that matter:

• Delivery term and named destination - normalise before comparing totals.
• Unit price, freight, duties and local delivery as separate columns.
• Specification by layer - one row each, so a downgrade is visible.
• Packed dimensions and weight, which determine whether the quote is deliverable at all.
• Documents included, by name.
• Warranty start and scope.
• Lead time and validity.
• Exclusions, which should be its own column rather than a footnote.

A quotation that cannot be entered into this table without qualification is not comparable, and that is information too.

Stage 4: Documents to Require

• Drawings: plan, elevation, section, MEP positions, foundation load figures, anchoring detail.
• Packing list and packed dimensions for the actual configuration.
• Operation and maintenance manuals for the installed equipment.
• Test and commissioning records from the factory.
• Certificates - obtain the documents and verify them with the issuing body rather than accepting a claim or a scan.
• Serial numbers for the unit and for installed appliances.

Certification claims should be treated as claims until verified. Requirements may vary by application, market and applicable standard; confirm what your market requires and ask the supplier to name what they will issue.

Stage 5: Terms to Fix Before Payment

• Specification lock - the point after which changes are chargeable, and how they are priced.
• Risk transfer under the stated delivery term.
• Inspection rights before shipment, and the procedure if inspection delays dispatch.
• Damage and shortage procedure - evidence required, deadline, and who pays. Our freight damage guide covers this in detail.
• Warranty start date - dispatch, arrival or commissioning.
• Payment schedule and what each payment is tied to.
• Currency and validity.

Stage 6: Order to Delivery Controls

• One named counterpart on each side, with technical authority.
• A reporting rhythm - fortnightly photographs and a short written status note is usually enough.
• Change control. Every change in writing, with its price and its programme effect, agreed before work proceeds.
• Pre-shipment inspection against the packing list and the specification, with photographs.
• Shipment confirmation with the documents required for clearance, sent before the vessel sails rather than after.

Stage 7: Arrival and Acceptance

• Condition report at unloading, with photographs of any damage in place, signed by the carrier's representative where possible.
• Foundation and anchoring check against the drawing before the unit is landed.
• Commissioning records from whoever energises the unit.
• Snagging list agreed in writing with responsibility and dates.
• Asset register entry with position, serial number, photographs and commissioning date.

The records produced in this stage are what make a warranty claim routine rather than protracted - and they are also what make the second order faster than the first.

Signals That Should Slow You Down

Some responses are not disqualifying but they are informative, and they are cheaper to act on before a deposit than after.

• Reluctance to put documents in writing. A supplier who will describe what they supply but not list it is unlikely to be held to it.
• Answers that address a different question. Ask about anchoring loads and receive a description of the factory: the technical channel is not functioning.
• A quotation with no exclusions. Every quotation has exclusions; the absence of a list means they will be discovered later.
• Pressure tied to an expiring price with no stated reason for the expiry.
• Inability to name the packed dimensions for the configuration quoted.
• Different answers from different people at the same supplier, which indicates no single source of truth.

Agents, Traders and Direct Buying

Whether to buy direct or through an intermediary depends on what you need the intermediary to do.

• A direct relationship gives better technical access and usually better pricing, and requires more of your own time.
• An agent or trader can handle correspondence, consolidation and sometimes local clearance, at a margin and with a layer between you and the factory.
• Ask who holds the warranty when buying through an intermediary, and get it in writing.
• Ask whether the factory knows about your order. Where an intermediary is legitimate, this is not a sensitive question.
• Keep technical questions going to the factory even when commercial ones go through an agent, and copy both.

Multi-Site and Repeat Programmes

• Freeze a specification and reuse it, rather than re-specifying each project.
• Hold a central document set per configuration so the next import is faster than the last.
• Standardise the services interface across sites so the local design work is repeatable.
• Keep one point of contact who knows the specification history; it is what makes a change request quick.
• Record what each project taught and feed it into the next specification, particularly on transport and on commissioning.

After the First Order

The second order is where the relationship becomes valuable, and three records make it so.

• The snagging list and how it was resolved - the items that recur should be pre-empted in the specification.
• The commissioning record - what was tested, what failed, and what was adjusted.
• The maintenance log by serial number - the basis for spares ordering and for any future resale.

Suppliers respond well to buyers who are specific. A precise question about a detail gets a useful answer; a general request for reassurance gets a brochure.

A One-Page Procurement Timeline

Sequencing matters more than speed. A typical export order moves through six gates, and skipping one usually costs more than the time saved.

• Gate 1 - brief written and circulated to every shortlisted supplier.
• Gate 2 - quotations received and normalised onto one comparison table.
• Gate 3 - technical clarification answered in writing, including drawings and load figures.
• Gate 4 - terms agreed and specification locked, with the change procedure documented.
• Gate 5 - production with scheduled reporting and pre-shipment inspection.
• Gate 6 - arrival, commissioning and acceptance with records collected as they are produced.

Programme duration varies by market and specification, and the approvals timeline is usually the least controllable element. Set the order date backwards from consents rather than forwards from an optimistic opening date.

Related: the first-order checklist, the comparable quotes guide and the price page. Current models are on the product pages; to start a procurement conversation, send the brief from stage 1.