01Case 1 — the sink moves 40 mm
Arrives most often because the carcass was set out on site after the top was ordered.
If the plate is not cut, this costs nothing: the nesting programme is edited and the drawing is re-issued. If the plate is cut and the aperture is already in, the old hole is 40 mm off centre and there is no repair — a patch in a grained face is visible forever. The top is remade. Cost: one new piece of plate, back to stage three, +4 working days.
02Case 2 — the plate goes from 6 to 10 mm
Usually a late decision after someone stands on the drawing and worries about span.
New plate has to be allocated, the edge profile changes from a fold to a machine, and the weight per piece rises by roughly 70 %, which changes the crate and the packing. Nothing already made can be reused. Cost: new plate, +2–3 days for allocation, +1 day for machining the edge.
The honest note: going from 6 to 10 mm rarely fixes a deflection problem. The frame underneath does that, for less money.
03Case 3 — the edge profile changes
The cheapest of the five, and the one most likely to be quoted as if it were free.
| Stage the change arrives | What re-enters | Days added |
|---|---|---|
| Before cutting | Drawing only | 0 |
| After cutting, before machining | Machine setting | 0.5 |
| After machining, before graining | Re-machine, re-grain | 1 |
| After graining | Re-machine, re-grain, re-inspect | 1.5 |
So a square edge changed to a fold-down is free before cutting and a day and a half after graining. That is the pattern with all five cases: the earlier it arrives, the closer to zero it gets.
04Case 4 — an extra cut-out appears
A socket, a waste bin, a cable grommet, a second tap. Small hole, real consequence.
An added cut-out is usually cheap on its own — a laser or a hole saw, minutes of work. What costs is the risk it introduces: the new hole may land within 50 mm of another aperture and that changes the stress pattern, and it may cross the grain line where the finish is already running. Both mean re-checking, and a re-check is a day. Cost: +0.5 day if clear of other features, +1.5 days if it needs re-graining around the hole.
05Case 5 — a long top becomes two pieces
Usually discovered when the container is booked and the top is 3000 mm.
This is the change that is often cheaper and almost always refused until it is forced. A 3000 mm top does not fit a 20-foot container diagonally, so it is either a 40-foot container or a joint. A joint on a frame member, with the grain matched and the seam dressed, is a legitimate engineering answer; a joint in the middle of a work surface is not. Cost: no extra plate, one extra weld and dress, +1 day — and it saves a container upgrade.
Which is why we ask for the port and container at quotation rather than at loading, as set out on the six-stage order route.
06What is genuinely free, and the one rule
Three things can change at any point with no cost and no delay, because they are not on the plate.
The rule that follows is not a policy, it is physics: a change costs what it invalidates, and graining invalidates everything. So the cheapest way to make changes is to send them early, and the second cheapest is to accept a slightly conservative drawing at the start.
We quote each modification against the operation list on the original quotation, in writing, with the added days, before any work restarts. If a change would push the order past the delivery date, we say so at the same time rather than letting it be discovered later. Our quotation separates plate, cutting, forming, welding, machining, graining and packing, so a change is priced by removing one line and adding another rather than by re-quoting the job.
Two of the five cases above change the plate itself, and that is where the money is. Going from 6 to 10 mm in grade 304 changes the weight, the crate and the container arithmetic; going to 316L instead of 304 changes the plate allocation and adds days, because the thickness has to come from a different mill heat. Both are quoted to the millimetre of tolerance they carry, not as a percentage. If a change lands after delivery, the warranty terms set out what we will and will not rework, and the inspection sheet on each piece is what we check it against.
None of this is a reason to avoid changing a drawing. It is a reason to send the change on the day it is decided, to the person who is holding the drawing, rather than waiting for a weekly review.
Custom stainless steel countertops · From drawing to container · Order terms and packing · Send a drawing for quotation