With the impact of the COVID-19 still evident, our clients are looking for ways to stretch their budgets more than ever. We have compiled a list of five ways to save money on your next fabrication build:
1. Think about material sizes during the design phase
During the design phase of any project, it is always worth keeping in mind raw input material sizes. Many materials that are used in fabrication tend to come in sheet sizes of 2.44m x 1.22m (8ft x 4ft) including plywood and MDF. Staging units are also often produced in the same sizes which means a little flexibility on exact dimensions can have a big implication on cost. Often workshop machinery is also specifically built to handle standard sheet size material. Producing build items that consider these standard sheet sizes can help to drastically reduce waste, manpower, and cost.
2. Workshop production time
The more time you have for production, the lower your build price can be. This is because a fabrication workshop runs on a production schedule and to maximise efficiency, needs to remain busy, but not too busy. A longer production window allows us to plan our schedule keeping production at normal capacity without needing to resort to overtime and additional manpower. The summer period in the Middle East is notoriously quiet for the events industry and is often a good time to plan production for projects happening later in the year. The savings in turn can be passed on to you, the client.
3. Allow more time for quoting
This is perhaps the most overlooked and simplest way to potentially save money with very little effort. A custom fabrication quote is often a one-of-a-kind pricing exercise that requires time to accurately cost. It is often necessary for a fabrication company to re-check and cross-check certain material prices to ensure the most accurate quotation. The price of timber for example regularly fluctuates based on the overall supply and demand levels worldwide. When a quotation is fast-tracked, best estimates often need to be used for certain materials which can mean higher pricing. Sometimes just an extra day can help to refine pricing to ensure that the costing is as accurate as possible, making a difference to the overall price.
4. Be flexible
This is a great area to save money that is often overlooked. The right fabrication partner can often make substitution recommendations on materials that won’t compromise design but may reduce costs and oftentimes the substitute material may even be a stronger, more suitable fit than the originally specified medium.
5. Use a multi-disciplined supplier
Generally speaking, having multiple services (for example AV, carpentry, painting, metalwork) under one roof can help to reduce costs.
Firstly, there is minimal communication delay or error between those departments because they are physically in the same location during the pre-production phase. This can help with identifying errors early in the production process and avoid costly mistakes later onsite.
Secondly, there are often ways to combine costs of project management, logistics and crewing to optimise the delivery of a project and reduce the overall cost to the client.
Finally, using a supplier that has a wide range of rental equipment across multiple disciplines can also help reduce costs by avoiding the need to fabricate everything from scratch. Event truss can often be used as a cheap replacement for custom fabricated structures. Utilising stock rental flats, walls, podiums and staging are all easy ways to help reduce project costs.
At Maestra, we specialise in Production Fabrication & Technology through our in-house workshop and wide inventory of rental event equipment. We service events across the Middle East via our offices, warehouses and workshops in Dubai and Riyadh. Contact the team today to discuss how we can support your next project.