How to write a brief that gets you a useful answer

Suppliers cannot quote against an ambition, so they quote against their own assumptions and then present the result as if it matched your brief. The usual causes are simple: the objective is implicit, the constraints are unstated, the drawings are from an earlier idea, and the word "or" appears where a decision was needed.

The result is a set of quotations that differ in scope by a factor of several, and a comparison exercise that measures the difference in reading comprehension rather than the difference in product.

Six things, in this order: the objective in one sentence; who the thing is for and what they will do with it; what is already fixed and cannot change; the site and operating constraints; the standards or regulations that apply; and what success looks like operationally — how it will be staffed, cleaned, inspected and paid for.

Before asking for a price, write down what you would consider a complete answer and what would be a partial one. Send both to every supplier. If the quotations differ by a large factor, the difference is almost always scope, not price — and you now have a written record of what was included.

This is also why we publish what our own services do not cover. A supplier who states their limits in writing is giving you something comparable; a supplier who says everything is possible is asking you to discover the boundary later, at your cost.

Once the brief is stable, the next decision is the delivery route: complete delivery, a client-assembled kit, or semi-finished modules. That choice depends on what your organisation already has, and it changes the cost more than any negotiation will.