What to look for in an estimate

Most artists and commissioning bodies see a handful of estimates across a career. There's no reason you'd know what a good one looks like, so here's what we think is worth understanding before you read one.

A good estimate is built around phases, not scattered line items. Ours run in four: Mobilisation, Technical Development, Production then Delivery/Installation.

Mobilisation : Covers everything that happens before material is touched; site visits, engineering, insurances, the early conversations that set the direction.

Technical Development : Is where material choices get tested against the brief, where weight, tolerance and finish get resolved before they become expensive to change.

Production : Is the making itself, in whichever material and process the work calls for.

Delivery/Installation : Is the piece leaving the workshop and arriving on site and finding its physical home safe and sound.

Inclusions and exclusions are where an estimate earns your trust. We price everything in that we can, no surprises. If it's foreseeable, it's in. Some things do sit outside the estimate, but it is smaller and more consistent than people expect, often they include groundworks, lighting (unless it's identified as a key component of the work), permits and traffic control.

These depend on the site itself and on other trades and authorities working alongside us, which is why we name them plainly rather than fold them into a number we can't stand behind.

Our estimates are built from the bottom up, phase by phase, from real cost. The number we give you is the number we intend to hit.