Independent sourcing service. Not dean steel buildings, not a manufacturer or an authorized dealer, and not affiliated with dean steel buildings. We source and compare alternative products; we do not claim to supply the original brand.

Sourcing process

FrameLink Sourcing factory quote comparison

Buyers reach this desk when a brand-led search has not yet become a scope that two factories can price the same way. FrameLink Sourcing writes the request, sends it to alternative suppliers, and returns the answers in a matrix. The desk does not sell the searched brand and does not decide which quotation the buyer awards.

Request Factory Quotes Compare Alternative Options
Two marked building elevations on a desk beside a scale frame model
Checklist of building use and dimensions

Normalize the request

The opening pass records occupancy, footprint, eave height, bay spacing, clear span, and whether the building is permanent. Wind speed, wind exposure category, ground snow load, and seismic design category are copied from the project criteria the buyer already has. If those numbers are missing, the desk does not invent a code compliance claim. The request goes out with the gap marked.

Supplier response matrix with inclusion marks

Hold suppliers to one matrix

Each factory is asked to mark primary frame, secondary framing, purlins, girts, cladding, doors, and anchor bolts as included, excluded, optional, or substituted. Freight, duty, and site unloading are their own rows. A package that looks inexpensive because it stops at the primary frame is not placed next to a package that includes erection without that difference being visible.

Engineering drawing stack with a foundation reaction table

Ask for the file that matches the quote

The buyer names the documents required for the quoted system: reactions at the foundation interface, member sizes, weld notes if relevant, and the panel or blanket description tied to thermal transmittance. IAS AC472, ISO 9001, AISC 360, AWS D1.1, ASCE 7, IBC, or IRC are requested as documents to check against the named plant, system, and jurisdiction. A homepage badge is not treated as project approval.

Scope groups a quotation should separate

Items the desk asks every supplier to classify. Values are requirements, not published prices.
Frame and envelope
Primary frameRigid frame or other system, steel grade, hot-rolled steel or built-up plate, clear span, eave height.
Secondary framingPurlin and girt spacing, bracing, and the cladding weight those members are designed to carry.
OpeningsDoor size, header, and whether the door itself is in the factory package.
Commercial lines
ShellMaterials and fabrication drawings. Foundations, freight, and erection stay out of this total.
DeliveredShell plus freight to the named destination. Unloading responsibility stated.
InstalledErection added. Crane, anchor bolts, and grout called out as in or out.
TurnkeyBroader coordination. Local permits, utilities, and slab still listed if they remain with the buyer.
Checks that are not prices
LoadsDesign live load, design dead load, collateral load, wind, snow, and seismic category used in the calculation.
ExclusionsEvery omitted trade written in words, not left as a silent gap under a single lump sum.

Questions the process is built to answer

Scope

Which costs have to be confirmed separately?

Freight, taxes, duties, unloading, foundation design, slab, utilities, permits, and erection are separate until a supplier writes them into a named scope. Mixing those lines is how two quotations stop being comparable.

Can a budget be sent before a real quotation exists?

Yes. An optional target can be an amount or a range, in USD or another currency, per building or for the whole order. It is a planning note. It is not a statement that a factory will meet it.

Suppliers

What must each supplier quote?

The same use, geometry, loads, quantity, destination, and document list. Substitutions are labeled. A preference for high-end, mid-range, budget, or undecided suppliers is the buyer view, not a verified rating of any plant.

Does the desk certify code compliance?

No. The authority having jurisdiction and the project engineer of record remain responsible for acceptance. The desk organizes the criteria and the files a supplier attaches to the quoted configuration.

Hand the brief to the quote desk

Include product form, quantity, destination, and the scope line you want priced. Optional supplier preference can be high-end, mid-range, budget, or not yet decided. A shell frame and an erected envelope can share geometry while carrying different responsibilities. Ask for a column marking each item included, excluded, optional or still open; request revised drawings when a supplier changes a span or adds an internal column.

  • Geometry and loads written once
  • Shell, delivered, installed, and turnkey kept apart
  • Documents tied to the quoted system
  • No original-brand supply claim

Review building options before you send the form if the family is still open.

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Submitting lets the desk review the brief and ask factories for quotations on that written scope. Read the Privacy Policy. Stock, price, code compliance, and brand compatibility stay unconfirmed until a named supplier answers the exact system.