By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
Before hiring for pavilion design, ask who physically does the work, what the quote excludes, what drawings you will approve before anything is cut, who prepares the organiser submission, what deliverable each payment milestone releases against, who will be on site during build-up and show days, what the backup plan is if something fails, and who dismantles and clears the stand afterwards. The questions matter less than the shape of the answers: specific, written and verifiable is good, while general reassurance is the warning sign.
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.
- Insist on approving dimensioned drawings rather than a render before fabrication starts.
- Tie each payment milestone to a deliverable you can inspect, and keep a balance payable after handover.
- Ask what happens after the show. Dismantle, clearing and storage are where unpriced costs hide.
- Ask who physically does the work. Every other answer depends on it.
How to use these 15 questions
The hard part was never the questions. Any vendor will tell you the work is in-house, the price is all-inclusive and their team will be there. What you need is a way of hearing the difference between a sentence that commits to something and a sentence that merely sounds right.
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 pavilion design 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.
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.
All of them are really one question asked from several directions: does this firm control the thing it is selling? This guide is written for large exhibitors, government bodies, export councils and multinationals who want a single accountable partner for the whole participation, and most of them find out the answer during build-up week. You can find it out in a twenty-minute call, which is the whole argument for asking these first.
01
1. 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.
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. 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. 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.
Stage 2 — while you are being quoted (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.
Volume pricing for pavilions of 100 sq.m and above. The variables that move a pavilion design 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.
- Total area and number of co-exhibitors
- Scope (design, build, AV, furniture, logistics, manpower, hospitality)
- Number of cities or shows in the programme
- Approval layers with organisers, embassies or departments
01
5. 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.
02
6. 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.
03
7. 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.
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.
Third stage — turning a conversation into a contract (questions 9 to 12)
This is the stage that decides whether you have a contract or an understanding. Each gap left open here is one you will meet again in the hall, at a moment when you have no leverage and no time.
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. 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.
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. 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.
04
12. 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.
Before build-up: questions 13 to 15
Ask these once the stand is built and the risk has shifted from the workshop to the loading bay. Few vendors are braced for them, because most buyers stop asking questions after signing — which makes this the stage where the replies are least rehearsed.
Remember what you are buying: a participation plan where every touchpoint, from the pavilion entrance to the VIP lounge, is designed to move visitors toward a meeting. 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 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.
02
14. Who dismantles and clears the stand, and what happens to the reusable elements?
A good answer is the same crew, inside the organiser's dismantle window, with the reusable frames and graphics named and a storage arrangement stated. A bad answer is silence, because dismantle was never priced. This is where deposits are forfeited, penalties are charged, and assets you paid to fabricate quietly go to landfill.
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
Some answers sound fine and mean nothing. The rows below are those cases side by side with what a real answer looks like. It works best as a call sheet; reading it afterwards is reading it too late.
| 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 |
| 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 will I approve before cutting | Dimensioned plans and elevations, by a stated date | The render you have already been shown |
| What do you need from me | A dated list of inputs | Nothing, we'll handle it |
| Who is on site at build-up | A name, a crew size and the shift hours | Our team will be there |
| What happens after the show | Dismantle inside the organiser's window, elements into storage | No answer, because dismantle was never priced |
| What would make it cheaper | A scope trade — simpler finish, fewer panels, a reused frame | A flat discount with no change to the scope |
Notice the pattern: real answers are brief and checkable, evasive ones are long and warm. When a simple question produces a paragraph, the paragraph is standing in for a fact.
The size question most exhibitors never ask
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 pavilion design vendor who has thought about the show can answer it; one who has only priced the joinery cannot.
Work it through once and you can check any vendor's answer. Storage: 10% up to 18 sq.m, 15% above. Meetings: 5%, or 20% if that is why you are exhibiting. Display takes the balance, holds one visitor per 2.5 sq.m, and the stand needs one staff member per 9 sq.m of total area.
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 |
| 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 |
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.
Replies to walk away from
Not everything here needs weighing against the price. The first group holds the failures peculiar to pavilion design, the ones you cannot recover from in a hall; the second holds the behaviours that reliably precede them.
- Too many vendors with no single point of accountability
- Inconsistent branding across co-exhibitor booths
- Budget overruns from scope that was never itemised
- Delayed approvals that compress build-up time
- 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
- No one able to say who will be standing on your stand on build-up morning
- A material specification that says premium and names nothing
- A discount offered the moment you hesitate, with nothing removed from the scope
- No answer at all on dismantle, clearing or storage
- Reference images that cannot be tied to a show, a size or a year
The questions are easy to find. Reading the answers is the skill.
Turning replies into a decision
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 read the set backwards, from the outcome to the answers. You are not buying a stand; you are buying a result at a show, and the questions only matter in so far as they predict it. A vendor who answers everything well and cannot discuss what the show has to achieve is a builder rather than a partner — useful, but you will have to supply the thinking yourself.
- The project manager's name and mobile number
- The build-up arrival slot, crew size and shift hours
- The payment milestones and the deliverable behind each one
- What the quote excludes, in writing and signed
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The show-day backup plan and who is on the floor
- The material specification, including the fire treatment
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
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What should I ask a pavilion design vendor about pricing?+
Volume pricing for pavilions of 100 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.
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