By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
Ask a custom exhibition booths vendor where the work is produced and who supervises it, which lines the quote excludes, what drawings you sign before cutting starts, who lodges the organiser paperwork and by when, what each payment milestone releases against, who is on the floor during show hours, and what happens to the stand after the show. Then grade the answers on specificity, because that is what predicts delivery.
Key takeaways
- Get the project manager's name, the crew size and the build-up shift hours in writing.
- Ask what the quote excludes, never whether everything is included — the second question always gets a yes.
- Ask what your area can physically hold — at 36 sq.m the honest answer is about 11 visitors and 4 staff.
- Put the same questions to three vendors and write the answers in three columns. The gaps do the work for you.
- Grade answers on specificity: a name, a date, a document or a number beats any amount of reassurance.
- Ask who physically does the work. Every other answer depends on it.
How this interview works
Most vendor questionnaires fail for the same reason: they collect answers nobody knows how to read. Every firm says the work is in-house, every firm says the quote is all-inclusive, and every firm says their team will be on site. The useful skill is not asking the question — it is recognising, from the shape of the reply, whether the person answering has done this before.
That is why each question carries two notes: the answer that should settle it, and the answer that should worry you. The underlying test never changes. Specifics can be checked; reassurance cannot, and a custom exhibition booths vendor who offers only the second has told you something useful anyway.
Keep to the order. Each stage asks things that are still answerable truthfully at that point: capability before you shortlist, scope while the quote is being built, documents before money moves, logistics once the build is done. Out of sequence, the same questions produce politer and less useful replies.
Before you shortlist: questions 1 to 4
These decide who is worth briefing at all. Ask them on a call, before any design or pricing conversation, because they are about the firm rather than about your project — and because the answers are much harder to tailor when the vendor does not yet know what you want to hear.
Underneath, they all probe the same thing — whether the firm owns the work or brokers it. Written for exhibitors, procurement teams and agencies who need a stall built on time, to drawing, and safely at the venue, this guide exists because that answer usually surfaces during build-up week, when it is far too late to act on.
01
1. What were the largest and the smallest stands you delivered last season?
A good answer is two areas and two shows, and it brackets your own stand somewhere in between. A bad answer is a range so wide it must be aspirational. Capability is size-specific: a firm that turns out neat small system booths may never have engineered a structure, and a pavilion specialist will price your small stand like a pavilion.
02
2. Who physically does this work — your own team, or a sub-contractor?
A good answer is honest about the split, because every firm buys something in: print, AV hire, furniture, freight. You want to hear which trades are owned and which are bought, followed by an address. A bad answer is either a vague "we have a partner network" or a flat claim that everything is in-house with no site you can visit — the second is usually the same as the first, with less candour.
03
3. How many jobs are in your production queue for my show week?
A good answer is a number, ideally with an unprompted note about which of them is largest — it tells you whether your stand is the priority or the filler. A bad answer is "don't worry, we'll manage", which is what a firm says when the queue is not theirs to see, or when they already know the answer is uncomfortable.
04
4. Who will be my single point of contact, from brief through dismantle?
A good answer is a name, a role and a mobile number, plus confirmation that the same person is physically on site during build-up and show days. A bad answer is "our team" or "our coordination desk". Shared accountability is no accountability, and a contact who changes at handover means nobody carries the history of your decisions onto the floor.
Second stage — making the numbers comparable (questions 5 to 8)
At this point the brief is out and the quotes are coming back. Everything below exists to stop you comparing two different stands by their totals. None of it is hostile; the supplier who itemises properly is the supplier who will not be arguing with you in March.
The cost drivers for custom exhibition booths are not a secret — they are the list below. From ₹10,000 per sq.m for premium custom builds. A vendor who can rank those drivers for your specific brief is pricing the job. One who cannot is pricing a guess and hoping the variations cover the difference later.
- Stall area in square metres and number of open sides
- Finish level (laminate, paint, veneer, acrylic, metal)
- Height, hanging structures and double-decker elements
- LED walls, lighting and raised flooring
- Distance from the workshop to the venue and build-up hours
01
5. Will you itemise the quote, and will you write down what it excludes?
A good answer is yes to both, with the exclusion list as a separate signed page. A bad answer is a lump sum defended as "simpler for you", or an itemised quote with no exclusions at all — which is not transparency, it is an unanswered question. The exclusion page is the single most useful document in the process and the one you have to ask for by name.
02
6. If I remove something from this quote, what does the total become?
A good answer is a revised figure within a day, because the quote was assembled from line items in the first place. A bad answer is a vague "we'll adjust" or a total that barely moves — the first means there were no line items, the second means the removed item was never honestly costed.
03
7. What materials and finishes are you quoting, exactly?
A good answer names board thickness, the laminate or paint finish, and the fire treatment. A bad answer is "premium quality" or "imported finish". Specification is what the organiser's safety check examines, and it is also the only way to tell whether a cheaper quote reflects a better rate or a thinner board.
04
8. Is GST included, and what is the pre-tax total?
A good answer gives both figures without being chased, because that is the only way two quotes can be compared on the same basis. A bad answer is ambiguity, or a total that quietly changes basis between the proposal and the invoice. Ask also which organiser or venue charges will be billed through the vendor rather than directly to you.
Stage 3 — before you sign (questions 9 to 12)
Everything here is about converting agreement into documents. Each question seals a gap that would otherwise open during build-up, when every remaining option costs money. The timing is the point: ask before the advance goes out, not after.
Note that none of these is about design or price. They are about documents, dates and authority — the three things that determine whether a stand gets built as agreed or as improvised.
01
9. What happens if you are late?
A good answer is uncomfortable but specific: here is the slack in the schedule, here is who we call, here is what we would do. A bad answer is that it has never happened. You are not really looking for a penalty clause — you are looking for evidence that somebody has thought about the failure case before being inside it.
02
10. What drawings will I approve, and by when, before anything is cut?
A good answer names dimensioned plans and elevations with finishes and lighting positions marked, and gives you a date for sign-off. A bad answer is "you've approved the render". A render is an impression; a drawing is an instruction. If what you signed has no dimensions on it, "this is not what we approved" is an argument you cannot win.
03
11. Can I see the production schedule, with dates on it?
A good answer is a schedule with drawing release, print, joinery, dry build, dispatch and installation on separate dates. A bad answer is a delivery week. The intermediate dates are the whole value: they are what let you notice a slip while it is still a week early rather than on build-up morning.
04
12. How are changes priced, and who is allowed to authorise one?
A good answer is a written variation, priced before it is executed, authorised by one named person on each side. A bad answer is "we'll adjust at the end". Verbal agreements made on the floor during build-up are the largest single source of post-show invoices nobody remembers approving, and one paragraph in the contract prevents all of them.
Before build-up: questions 13 to 15
The last of them are asked a week or two before the show, when the build is done and the risk moves from production to logistics. Vendors expect design and pricing questions; far fewer expect to be asked for a build-up plan, which is exactly why the answers here are so informative.
Remember what you are buying: a stall layout with a clear entry, a working demo counter, storage that keeps the floor clean, and a closed meeting area for serious buyers. None of that survives a build-up that runs late, so these questions are really about the only hours in the project that cannot be recovered.
01
13. What do you need from me, and by when?
A good answer is a dated list: artwork at final size, product dimensions, staff numbers, any samples to be displayed. A bad answer is "nothing, we'll handle it". Most build-up delays trace back to an input that arrived late, and a supplier who has not asked for yours has not planned backwards from the date.
02
14. What is the backup if something fails during show hours?
A good answer is concrete: spares carried to site, a technician reachable within minutes, a named person on the floor through show hours, and a replacement path for anything that would stop the stand working. A bad answer is "nothing has ever failed". Lamps fail, laminate chips, screens drop signal and power trips — the only question is whether somebody planned for it.
03
15. What are you bringing as spares?
A good answer is a short, specific list: laminate offcuts, spare lamps, a reprint of the main graphic, basic tools. A bad answer is that spares will not be needed. Transport damage is routine rather than exceptional, and a crew that travels with the fix turns a two-hour problem into a ten-minute one.
Exhibiting soon? Let's build your stall.
The answers most likely to mislead you
The table below compresses the questions where the answer most often misleads. Each row is the same test: does the reply contain a verifiable specific, or does it contain comfort? Keep it open on the call rather than reading it afterwards.
| What you ask | A good answer sounds like | A warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| How many lights | A count and a position for each one | Lighting included |
| What if something fails mid-show | Spares on site and a named person in the building | Nothing has ever failed |
| What happens after the show | Dismantle inside the organiser's window, elements into storage | No answer, because dismantle was never priced |
| What will I approve before cutting | Dimensioned plans and elevations, by a stated date | The render you have already been shown |
| What is excluded | A written exclusion page attached to the quote | The phrase all-inclusive, with no list behind it |
| What are the payment milestones | Each instalment tied to something you can inspect | A schedule of dates, with most of it up front |
| What do you need from me | A dated list of inputs | Nothing, we'll handle it |
None of the warning signs is a lie. They are all true statements that cannot be verified, which is exactly what makes them worth noticing.
The size question most exhibitors never ask
A final question, and the most revealing of the lot: what will my area actually hold? It takes a custom exhibition booths vendor about ten seconds to work out, which means an evasive answer is not a limitation of the question.
The sums are these: 10% of the area to storage up to 18 sq.m and 15% beyond it, 5% to a meeting corner — 20% if meetings are the point of attending — and the rest to display. Display divided by 2.5 gives simultaneous visitors; total area divided by 9 gives staff on duty.
This is where a lot of disappointment comes from. A stand that cannot hold the traffic the campaign promises will look like a marketing failure on the day, when it was actually a sizing decision made months earlier by someone looking at a different spreadsheet.
| Stall area | Display | Storage | Staff on duty | Visitors at once | Build weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 sq.m | 7.6 sq.m | 0.9 sq.m | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 18 sq.m | 15.3 sq.m | 1.8 sq.m | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 24 sq.m | 19.2 sq.m | 3.6 sq.m | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 54 sq.m | 43.2 sq.m | 8.1 sq.m | 6 | 17 | 5 |
| 100 sq.m | 80 sq.m | 15 sq.m | 12 | 32 | 5 |
Figures follow the published ratios — one staff member per 9 sq.m (minimum 2) and one visitor per 2.5 sq.m of display. Build weeks exclude your own approval time.
Answers that should end the conversation
A few answers settle the matter rather than add to it. The custom exhibition booths failure modes come first, because those are the ones that cannot be fixed on site. The rest are procurement signals, all of which appear before any money has moved.
- Sub-contracted builds with no quality control
- Non fire-retardant materials rejected at the venue
- Late arrival on site that eats into build-up time
- Hidden extras for electrical, carpet or dismantling
- Every question fielded by the salesperson and none by anyone who builds
- A material specification that says premium and names nothing
- A deadline on your decision that belongs to their cash flow rather than your show
- A delivery week offered in place of a dated production schedule
- A refusal to name the workshop or studio, or a visit that is always possible next month
- Fabrication offered without drawings for you to approve first
- No one able to say who will be standing on your stand on build-up morning
A reply you cannot check next week is not an answer, however confident it sounds.
After the interview
Write the answers down as you receive them, in the same order, for every vendor. Three columns on one page does more for the decision than any amount of discussion, because a missing answer looks exactly like a missing answer once it sits next to two filled cells.
Then invert the exercise. Start from what the show has to deliver and ask whether these answers add up to it. A vendor can pass every question and still have no view on your outcome; that is a competent contractor rather than a partner, and worth knowing which you have hired.
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The payment milestones and the deliverable behind each one
- The date on which you will approve dimensioned drawings
- Who does the work, and the address where it happens
- The build-up arrival slot, crew size and shift hours
- Who submits the organiser paperwork, and the deadline
- The project manager's name and mobile number
Send the questions with your brief
One email, three recipients, same day — brief plus questions. Include the show, the city, the dates, the area, the open sides, your budget band and two or three images with a note on each. What comes back tells you as much about the firm as about the stand.
We are happy to be interviewed this way — written answers, every question. Design free with a confirmed fabrication order, production in our own workshops, organiser submissions handled, and one named project manager accountable from brief through dismantle.
Frequently asked questions
Which question matters most?+
Who physically does the work. It decides who controls quality and who controls the date, and every other answer — pricing, drawings, site crew, backup plans — depends on it.
When should I ask about build-up?+
A week or two before the show, once production is finished. Ask for the arrival slot, the crew size, the shift hours and the hour the stand will be finished and cleaned — not the hour build-up closes.
How long should this take?+
About a thirty-minute call for the first stage, then one document request each at quoting and signing. Set against a build that needs 3 weeks or more, it is the cheapest hour in the whole project.
What is the best question to catch a sub-contracted build?+
"Can I visit the workshop this week?" A firm that owns production answers with an address and a day. Anything that defers the visit — after the order, nearer the show, once design is approved — is the answer by another route.
How many vendors should I put these questions to?+
Three, with the same brief. Two gives you nothing to calibrate an outlier answer against, and five is more work than the comparison repays.
What if a vendor refuses to itemise the quote?+
Treat the refusal as the answer. Without line items you cannot compare two quotes, remove scope you do not need, or tell the difference between a cheaper vendor and a smaller scope.
Is it reasonable to ask to visit the workshop?+
Entirely. It is a routine request for anyone buying a fabricated product, and the reaction to the question is informative even before the visit happens.
Should I ask about things that could go wrong?+
Yes, and the quality of the answer matters more than the content. A vendor who describes the slack in their schedule, the spares they carry and who they would call has thought about failure. One who says nothing has ever gone wrong has not.
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