By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
Ask a double-decker stalls 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 your area can physically hold — at 36 sq.m the honest answer is about 11 visitors and 4 staff.
- Ask what the quote excludes, never whether everything is included — the second question always gets a yes.
- Ask what the vendor would change about your brief. A supplier with no opinion is not reading it.
- Put the same questions to three vendors and write the answers in three columns. The gaps do the work for you.
- Ask what happens after the show. Dismantle, clearing and storage are where unpriced costs hide.
How this interview works
A list of questions is easy to find and nearly useless on its own, because every vendor has a comfortable answer ready for each one. What separates a real supplier from a confident one is the texture of the reply: whether it contains something you could check later.
Every question is therefore paired with its diagnosis. One test runs through all 15 of them — does the reply contain something verifiable? A strong double-decker stalls vendor produces a name, a date, a document or a figure. A weak one produces confidence, which is not the same thing and cannot be checked.
Sequence matters more than it looks. Ask about price before the brief is settled and you get a figure the vendor is then committed to defending; ask about build-up after you have signed and you get an answer shaped by what is now convenient. The stages below put each question where its answer is still honest.
Before you shortlist: questions 1 to 4
This is the filtering stage, and it is best done on the phone in twenty minutes. None of these questions needs your brief, your budget or your drawings — which means nobody can tune the answers to them.
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. 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.
02
2. Which parts of this scope do you buy in, and from whom?
A good answer names them without being pushed — nobody owns everything, and print, AV, furniture and freight are routinely bought. What you are listening for is whether the person knows their own supply chain. A bad answer treats the question as an accusation, which usually means more of the scope is bought in than they want to discuss.
03
3. Can I visit the workshop or studio this week?
A good answer is a day and an address. A bad answer is any version of "later" — nearer the show, after the order, once the design is approved. The request is routine for anyone buying something fabricated, so reluctance to host it is itself the finding, and you get that finding before spending a rupee.
04
4. Can I see photographs of finished projects at my size, from a show you can name?
A good answer brings on-site photographs with the show, the city, the stall area and the year attached, including shots of the stand occupied by staff and visitors rather than empty at handover. A bad answer is renders only. A render proves somebody can design; only a photograph proves somebody can build, and the gap between the two is where most disappointment lives.
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.
Nothing about double-decker stalls pricing is mysterious; the drivers are listed below. Quoted per project; ideal for 72 sq.m and above. What you are testing is whether the vendor can put them in order for your brief specifically. If they cannot, the quote is an estimate wearing a number's clothes.
- 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. What would you change about this brief if it were your budget?
A good answer is an opinion: spend more on lighting, less on joinery, move the storage, drop the second message. A bad answer is "it's perfect as it is". A supplier with no view is either not reading the brief or not willing to risk the order by disagreeing, and neither of those helps you on the floor.
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. How many light fittings, and where exactly?
A good answer is a count and a set of positions — spots on the brand wall, track over the product, a backlit panel at the entrance. A bad answer is "lighting included". Hall lighting is designed for the aisles rather than for your stand, which makes the lighting count the line most responsible for whether the stand reads as funded or forgotten.
04
8. Are transport both ways, installation, electrical fittings and dismantle inside this figure?
A good answer goes line by line, yes or no, without hedging. A bad answer is a general "yes, everything's included" — which is the reply this question always draws, and the reason to put it as four separate questions. These are the four scopes most often missing, none of them is optional, and all of them get bought at show-week rates when they surface late.
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.
Nothing in this stage touches aesthetics or cost. It is entirely paperwork: what gets signed, when, and by whom. Those are the variables that separate a stand built to the agreement from a stand built to whatever was remembered.
01
9. What are the payment milestones, and what does each one release against?
A good answer attaches every instalment to something inspectable: a signed scope, approved drawings, the submission acknowledgement, a workshop dry build, handover of a working stand. A bad answer is a schedule of bare dates, or most of the money up front. Keep a meaningful balance payable after handover — it is what keeps a crew on the stand on show morning.
02
10. Will you dry-build the stand in the workshop before dispatch, and can I see proof?
A good answer is yes, with photographs or a video, panels numbered and circuits tested. A bad answer treats it as unnecessary. Where the first assembly happens decides whether build-up is assembly or problem-solving, and problem-solving in a hall costs hours you have not got.
03
11. 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.
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
Save these for the fortnight before the show. By then production is finished and everything that can still go wrong is logistical. It is also the stage buyers most often skip, which is precisely why asking gets you an unpolished answer.
The outcome you paid for is 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 — and it is won or lost in the last twenty-four hours before doors open. That is the window these questions are about.
01
13. 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.
02
14. Who is on the floor during show days, and how fast can they reach my stand?
A good answer is a name, a location and a response time. A bad answer is a central number. Show-day problems tend to be small and urgent — a blown lamp, a loose panel, a screen that will not wake — and they only stay small if somebody is already in the building.
03
15. When will the stand be finished, as distinct from when build-up ends?
A good answer is an hour, comfortably ahead of doors opening, with cleaning scheduled after it. A bad answer uses the organiser's deadline as the plan. Finishing at the deadline leaves nothing for the snag list, and every stand has a snag list.
Exhibiting soon? Let's build your stall.
The answers most likely to mislead you
Here are the ones where a plausible answer most often turns out to be empty. Every row applies the same test — is there anything in this reply you could check next week? Have it in front of you while you talk, not after.
| What you ask | A good answer sounds like | A warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| What are the payment milestones | Each instalment tied to something you can inspect | A schedule of dates, with most of it up front |
| Who is on site at build-up | A name, a crew size and the shift hours | Our team will be there |
| What if something fails mid-show | Spares on site and a named person in the building | Nothing has ever failed |
| Can I see finished work | Photographs from a named show, with the stall area and the year | Renders only, or images with nothing attached to them |
| How many lights | A count and a position for each one | Lighting included |
| What is excluded | A written exclusion page attached to the quote | The phrase all-inclusive, with no list behind it |
| What happens after the show | Dismantle inside the organiser's window, elements into storage | No answer, because dismantle was never priced |
The good column is almost always the shorter one. That is the quickest heuristic in this guide — specifics are compact, and reassurance needs room.
The capacity question worth adding
Add one question to the 15 above, because it sorts designers from order-takers faster than anything else: how many people fit in my stand at once? A double-decker stalls vendor who has thought about the show can answer it; one who has only priced the joinery cannot.
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.
The reason to ask is that nobody else will. Marketing sets a footfall target, procurement books the area, and the two numbers are rarely held up against each other until the aisle is blocked. Finding the mismatch while the brief is open costs nothing.
| Area | Display space | Storage | Staff needed | Capacity | Weeks to build |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 sq.m | 10.2 sq.m | 1.2 sq.m | 2 | 4 | 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 |
| 36 sq.m | 28.8 sq.m | 5.4 sq.m | 4 | 11 | 4 |
| 54 sq.m | 43.2 sq.m | 8.1 sq.m | 6 | 17 | 5 |
Staff = area ÷ 9, minimum 2. Build weeks are 3 as a base, plus 1 from 24 sq.m and plus 2 from 54 sq.m, with a further 2 weeks for a premium finish and 2 for a double-decker.
Answers that should end the conversation
Not everything here needs weighing against the price. The first group holds the failures peculiar to double-decker stalls, the ones you cannot recover from in a hall; the second holds the behaviours that reliably precede them.
- 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
- A deadline on your decision that belongs to their cash flow rather than your show
- A discount offered the moment you hesitate, with nothing removed from the scope
- A refusal to name the workshop or studio, or a visit that is always possible next month
- No answer at all on dismantle, clearing or storage
- Fabrication offered without drawings for you to approve first
- Reference images that cannot be tied to a show, a size or a year
- Every question fielded by the salesperson and none by anyone who builds
The questions are easy to find. Reading the answers is the skill.
What to do with the answers
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.
- The date on which you will approve dimensioned drawings
- The build-up arrival slot, crew size and shift hours
- Who submits the organiser paperwork, and the deadline
- What the quote excludes, in writing and signed
- The show-day backup plan and who is on the floor
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The project manager's name and mobile number
The next step
Put the brief and the question set out together, unchanged, to all three. Show, city, dates, area, open sides, budget band, and a few annotated references. The replies are a free trial: the speed and precision you get before paying is the speed and precision you get in build-up week.
We answer all of them in writing. Design is free with every confirmed fabrication order, fabrication happens in our own workshops, we prepare the organiser drawings and the approvals, and one project manager stays on the job from brief through dismantle.
Frequently asked questions
What should I ask a double-decker stalls vendor about pricing?+
Quoted per project; ideal for 72 sq.m and above. Beyond the figure, ask what drives it, what would make it cheaper, which lines are excluded, and what the pre-tax total is. A vendor who can rank the drivers for your brief has priced the job rather than guessed at it.
What should I ask about the venue's rules?+
Ask for the height limit, whether rigging is permitted, the fire certification the organiser requires, and the date drawings must be submitted. Specific knowledge of one hall beats a claim to work in every city.
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.
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.
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.
Should the answers be in writing?+
Yes. Scope, inclusions, exclusions, drawing dates, milestones and the named site contact all belong in the quote or the contract. A verbal answer is a recollection, not a commitment.
What should I ask about dismantle?+
Who does it, whether it happens inside the organiser's window, what is cleared, and where the reusable frames and graphics are stored afterwards. Unpriced dismantle is where deposits and penalties surface.
How do I know if my stand is the right size?+
Ask the vendor what it can hold. At 36 sq.m the arithmetic gives about 28.8 sq.m of display, room for roughly 11 visitors at a time and 4 staff on duty. If your footfall expectation is far above that, the constraint is the stand rather than the campaign.
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