People always use the word partner when taking about business relationships, as part of the museum planning process finding a fabricator you can work with is truly a partnership. Often ideas will come up and before you want to move forward you want the project estimated, any good fabricator can do it, but they will only estimate a project so many times if there is not the real possibility of getting work out of the project. I recommend interviewing several firms and finding the three firms that you feel the most comfortable with. Then be up front and say we want to get the project estimated and one of the three firms will get the work based on these criteria, price, quality, expertise. Then try them out, often just going through the expertise you learn alot;
- How fast did they get back to you with questions?
- Do you have confidence in their ability to perform the work?
- Do you trust the person who will be your project manager?
Make you decision and move forward the best project always are the result of a collaborative effort between planning and execution.