Design-and-build for requirements that have no catalogue answer, from a conversation and a photograph through to a finished, working assembly.
Overview
The work that does not fit a service category
A large share of what comes through the door is not a drawing. It is a problem: a machine guard that keeps failing, a set piece that has to fold and travel, a component that is no longer available, a vehicle that needs an interior that does not exist yet.
That work is handled as design-and-build. We develop the concept to manufacturing intent, agree it with you before material is committed, and then make it. The design team has worked on projects as varied as the Sebring EXALT sports car prototype, replacement doors for a heritage building detailed to conservation requirements, outside broadcast vehicles with folding safety features, and hauling drums for theatrical use.
The value in this work is usually not the fabrication. It is the hour spent early establishing what the thing actually has to do, which is where most bespoke projects are won or lost. Where that hour becomes a piece of work in its own right (a requirement to define, a failure to understand, a design to review before anyone commits to it) it is handled as engineering consultancy, which can be engaged on its own or as the front end of a build.
Capability
Concept development from a description or a photograph
Reverse engineering of an existing or obsolete part from a sample
CAD design developed to a point where it can actually be manufactured
Prototype build, evaluation and design iteration before committing to a batch
Detailing to satisfy a third party: conservation officer, approvals body or client engineer
Full manufacture of the resulting design in-house
Applications
Typical work
Prototype vehicle and motorsport structures
Heritage and conservation metalwork detailed for approval
Broadcast, film and theatrical mechanisms, including folding and moving assemblies
Accessibility equipment for public transport
Specialist vehicle interiors and equipment mounting
Obsolete parts and one-off replacements
What we need
To quote accurately
Whatever you have: a sketch, a photograph, a broken part, or a verbal description
What the item has to do, and what it has to survive
Any dimensional or interface constraint (what it must fit to)
Loads, duty cycle, environment and expected life
Any approval, standard or third party that has to be satisfied
Budget envelope and timescale, so we can advise on the sensible approach
Missing something from this list? Send what
you have. Most enquiries can be priced from a dimensioned sketch, and we would rather ask
one question than quote round a gap.
Where it starts
What we can work from
The hour spent early establishing what the thing actually has to do is where most
bespoke projects are won or lost.
A photograph
Of the thing that failed, ideally
showing how it failed. The failure mode tells us more than the original drawing would.
A broken part
Send it. Reverse engineering from a
worn or broken original is routine work, and a sample beats a measurement every time.
A sketch
Dimensioned on the back of anything. Most
enquiries can be priced from one, and we would rather ask a question than quote round a gap.
A conversation
Some jobs are quicker to explain than
to write down. Ring the works and ask for the estimating desk.
Bespoke
Most of this work does not arrive as a drawing. It arrives as a problem.
A machine guard that keeps failing, a set piece that has to fold and travel, a component that is no longer available, a vehicle that needs an interior that does not exist yet.
Yes. That is what this page is for. A photograph, a sample, a sketch or a verbal description of what the thing has to do is enough to start. The hour spent early establishing what it actually has to do is where most bespoke projects are won or lost, and it is the part most suppliers skip in order to get a number out.
You do, for work you have paid us to design. Intellectual property in drawings you send us remains yours. That is stated on the enquiry form and it is not a courtesy. For consultancy and design engagements the ownership position is set out in writing before the work starts rather than assumed afterwards.
Frequently, yes. A part-built assembly, an incomplete drawing pack and a deadline that has already moved once is a recognisable situation. What we will do first is establish what is actually built and what the requirement really is, because inheriting someone else's assumptions unexamined is how the second supplier fails as well.
Yes. Send yours with the enquiry. Uploaded drawings are stored outside the public web root under randomised filenames and are never shared outside the group, whether an NDA is in place or not.
Yes. One-off and prototype work is a substantial share of what comes through the door and a great deal of it never becomes a batch. That is not a problem. It simply changes where the cost sits: in development rather than in production.
The way to answer that question is not to be in it. On close-fitting work we survey the existing structure before detailing, rather than working to the drawing of the building, and we trial-assemble in the works before anything is loaded. Where something still has to be adjusted in place, we do that. See site and project support.
Related capability
Rarely one process on its own
Most jobs cross two or three disciplines. Quoting them together removes handling,
transport and the interface risk that comes with splitting a job across suppliers.
