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What a complete design package contains — and what it does not

A buildable package is a set of documents a fabricator can quote and build from without reinterpretation. A concept image is not a design package and cannot be priced responsibly. Here is what has to be in the box.

7 min read · updated 2026-10-24

The test for a design package

A design package is finished when a competent fabricator can quote it, build it to, and be held to it — without asking a single question that would change the price. Until that is true, the project is a conversation with a price attached, and every unanswered question is a change order waiting to happen.

What has to be in it

Eight groups of documents. The list is deliberately boring: boring completeness is what protects the budget.

  • Scope and interface document — what is in, what is out, and how it meets the surroundings
  • Dimensioned drawings and models — geometry, tolerances, fixings, and the parts that are site-specific
  • Technical specification — materials, grades, finishes, coatings, and the standard each is bought against
  • Engineering review — structural, electrical or control calculations, with the assumptions stated
  • Standards and testing — which clause applies, and what evidence is expected
  • Fixing and interfaces — how it attaches, what it attaches to, and who is responsible for the substrate
  • Finish and appearance reference — colour, texture, gloss and the sample that defines them
  • Maintenance and inspection notes — what is checked, how often, and by whom

What is not a design package

Rendered imagery, mood boards and a general arrangement drawing are useful for deciding direction, and they are not procurable documents. A quotation priced against them is a guess, and the difference between the guess and the product is absorbed by somebody.

The honest test: can two different manufacturers quote the same thing from the same package? If yes, the package is doing its job.

If a supplier can quote without asking questions, the package is complete. If they ask, you have found a gap before production, not after.

The risk that is usually missed

The hardest part of most bespoke work is not the object; it is the interface between the object and everything around it. Structure, drainage, power, lighting, fixings into substrates that were surveyed months earlier, and the tolerance between something drawn to a millimetre and a building that was built to a millimetre.

Interface risk is resolved in the documentation, or it is paid for on site.

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