By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
The 15 questions worth asking an eco-friendly stalls vendor cover four things: who owns the work, what the price actually includes, what goes in writing before you pay, and who is in the hall during build-up. Judge the replies by shape rather than content — a name, a date, a document or a number is an answer, and anything that merely reassures you is not.
Key takeaways
- Ask who physically does the work. Every other answer depends on it.
- Tie each payment milestone to a deliverable you can inspect, and keep a balance payable after handover.
- Grade answers on specificity: a name, a date, a document or a number beats any amount of reassurance.
- Ask what the quote excludes, never whether everything is included — the second question always gets a yes.
- Get the project manager's name, the crew size and the build-up shift hours in writing.
- Put the same questions to three vendors and write the answers in three columns. The gaps do the work for you.
Reading the answer, not just asking the question
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.
So each question below comes with what a good answer sounds like and what a weak one reveals. The pattern is consistent across all 15: a strong eco-friendly stalls partner answers with a name, a date, a document or a number, while a weak one answers with a reassurance. "We have done hundreds of these" is a reassurance. A supervisor's name, a workshop address and a day you can come and look is an answer.
Work through the stages in order. Questions asked at the wrong moment get the wrong answers — pricing questions before the brief is understood produce a number the vendor has to defend rather than revise, and build-up questions asked after signing produce whatever is convenient rather than whatever was planned.
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 marketing heads, brand managers and event agencies who need a stall concept that is approved quickly and builds exactly as rendered, this guide exists because that answer usually surfaces during build-up week, when it is far too late to act on.
01
1. 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.
02
2. Have you worked at my venue, and what are its rules on height, rigging and fire rating?
A good answer is specific about the hall — the height limit, whether rigging is allowed, what fire certification the organiser demands, and when drawings have to be submitted. A bad answer is "we work at every venue in India". Breadth is not the claim you need; one correct hall rule tells you more than a list of twenty cities.
03
3. 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.
04
4. 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.
Stage 2 — while you are being quoted (questions 5 to 8)
With a shortlist briefed, the job changes: you are no longer assessing firms, you are making quotes mean the same thing. Buyers skip this stage because it feels like haggling. It is the opposite — a vendor with an itemised scope is protected from scope creep just as much as you are.
Comparable to custom builds; lower over repeat use. The variables that move an eco-friendly stalls price are well known, and the list below is all of them. Ask a vendor which two matter most on your job: a confident, specific ranking means the quote was built, and a vague answer means it was guessed.
- Number of concept options and revision rounds
- Depth of 3D work (stills, 360° views or walkthrough video)
- Technical drawing detail required by the organiser
- Whether design is bundled with fabrication
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. 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.
03
7. What is driving this price, and what would make it cheaper?
A good answer names the real drivers for your brief and then offers a trade: less custom joinery, a simpler finish, a reused frame, fewer graphic panels. A bad answer is a flat discount with no change to the scope. A number that drops on request without anything being removed means the first figure was padded, or the next one is thinner than it looks.
04
8. 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.
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. 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.
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. Who prepares and submits the organiser paperwork, and by what date?
A good answer lists the actual documents — stand drawings, electrical load, material certificates — names who lodges them, and states the organiser's deadline from memory. A bad answer is "the organiser will tell you what they need", which pushes a hard deadline onto the party least equipped to meet it. A rejected submission costs build-up days nobody has spare.
04
12. 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.
Stage 4 — 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.
What the show finally has to deliver is a design that guides visitors to a demo point and a meeting zone, rather than one that only looks good in a render. These questions test whether anyone has planned for the hours in which that actually happens, because a stand still being assembled at ten in the morning on day one delivers none of it.
01
13. 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.
02
14. What is the build-up plan — arrival slot, crew size and working hours?
A good answer is a time, a number of people, a shift pattern, and the hour by which the stand will be finished and cleaned before doors open. A bad answer is "we'll be there from day one". Build-up windows are short and shared with every other exhibitor in the hall, so a vendor without a scheduled slot is planning to queue for the loading bay.
03
15. 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.
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.
| Ask this | Good reply | Bad reply |
|---|---|---|
| What are the payment milestones | Each instalment tied to something you can inspect | A schedule of dates, with most of it up front |
| How many lights | A count and a position for each one | Lighting included |
| 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 |
| What would make it cheaper | A scope trade — simpler finish, fewer panels, a reused frame | A flat discount with no change to the scope |
| Who is on site at build-up | A name, a crew size and the shift hours | Our team will be there |
| What is excluded | A written exclusion page attached to the quote | The phrase all-inclusive, with no list behind it |
| Who does the work | An address, a supervisor's name and a date you can visit | A partner network, or a visit that is always better scheduled later |
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.
What can your area actually hold?
A final question, and the most revealing of the lot: what will my area actually hold? It takes an eco-friendly stalls vendor about ten seconds to work out, which means an evasive answer is not a limitation of the question.
Storage takes 10% of the area up to 18 sq.m and 15% above it. A meeting corner takes 5% by default, or 20% when booking meetings is the actual purpose of the show. Display is whatever remains. Divide display area by 2.5 and you have how many visitors fit at once; divide total area by 9 for how many staff the stand needs 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.
| Size booked | Usable display | Storage taken | Staff | Visitors it holds | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 54 sq.m | 43.2 sq.m | 8.1 sq.m | 6 | 17 | 5 |
| 72 sq.m | 57.6 sq.m | 10.8 sq.m | 8 | 23 | 5 |
| 100 sq.m | 80 sq.m | 15 sq.m | 12 | 32 | 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
A few answers settle the matter rather than add to it. The eco-friendly stalls 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.
- Renders that cannot be built within the budget
- Designs that ignore organiser height and setback rules
- No material or finish specification, so the build looks different from the render
- A discount offered the moment you hesitate, with nothing removed from the scope
- A deadline on your decision that belongs to their cash flow rather than your show
- Reference images that cannot be tied to a show, a size or a year
- A refusal to name the workshop or studio, or a visit that is always possible next month
- A material specification that says premium and names nothing
- Every question fielded by the salesperson and none by anyone who builds
- A delivery week offered in place of a dated production schedule
Specifics are short. Reassurance needs paragraphs.
Turning replies into a decision
Keep one page with the vendors across the top and the questions down the side. You are not scoring eloquence — you are looking for the empty cells, which are invisible in a phone call and obvious in a grid.
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 project manager's name and mobile number
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The date on which you will approve dimensioned drawings
- Who does the work, and the address where it happens
- The dismantle plan, and where reusable elements are stored
- The material specification, including the fire treatment
- The payment milestones and the deliverable behind each one
The next step
Send all three vendors the same brief and the same questions: show name, city, dates, stall area, number of open sides, budget band, and two or three reference images with a line on what you liked about each. Identical inputs are what make the replies comparable, and how quickly and precisely a vendor answers before you have paid anything is the best available preview of how they will answer during build-up week.
Put the list to us and you will get written answers to all of it. Our own workshops, free design with a confirmed fabrication order, organiser drawings and approvals prepared for you, and a single project manager from the first brief to the last panel out of the hall.
Frequently asked questions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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