Every quote we issue starts with someone walking the site. Not a Google Maps street-view. Not a phone call with measurements. An actual visit, with a tape and a camera, before the BOQ leaves our desk.
We started this because we got tired of the conversation that happens three weeks into a job: "You said sixteen feet, but the parapet is fourteen, and the angle on the south face wasn't in the drawing." The change order is real, the timeline slips, and the buyer feels — correctly — that the vendor underbid the work.
A pre-quote site survey costs us about half a day per site. It catches the things drawings miss: anchorage reality, electrical access, parapet geometry, mall sign-code conflicts, the height a hydraulic lift needs to reach the fascia. None of these are visible until you stand under the wall.
The quote that follows is buildable. The price you sign for is the price you pay. We've structured our pipeline around this — surveys are scheduled within 48 hours of an inquiry, the survey report (with photos) is shared with the buyer alongside the quote, and the BOQ references specific site conditions. It's slower than the lowest-bidder model. It's also why our installs land on the date we promised, and why our AMC-renewal rate is what it is.
