From Drawing to Container — The 15-Day Countertop Route

A stainless island deck with a sink holding a wire basket of vegetables, a round prep bowl beside it, a stainless screen carrying hanging glasses and a hob at the right. — Finished, on a floor, before it goes anywhere. Deck, screen and every opening land where the drawing put them — or the job does not leave the shop.

01Six stages and where the days go

The clock starts when the drawing is confirmed — confirmed means signed, not “looks fine” in an email.

Fig. 1 — Six stages, fifteen working days. Grain and inspection are not padding; they are the two stages that decide whether the order is accepted.

Note what is not in the schedule: no outsourcing stage. Cutting, forming, welding, graining and packing all happen in one building, which is why the days are predictable. The moment one operation leaves the site, the schedule becomes a guess.

02The three events that stop the clock

A 15-day promise is honest only if both sides know what pauses it. Three things do.

What stops the 15 days
Event	Clock	Restarts when
Drawing revision	Stops	The revised drawing is confirmed and re-checked — back to day 1 if plate is already cut
Plate grade change	Stops	304 to 316L after nesting means new plate; add 2–3 days for allocation
Buyer-supplied sink or template	Stops	The physical bowl or template arrives and is checked against the drawing

Everything else — a colour question, a delivery address, a document request — runs in parallel and does not move the date. We say which of the three applies at the point it happens, in writing, on the day.

03Packing, and the container arithmetic

Countertops ship on edge, in a crate, edges protected by formed card. Weight is never the limit; volume and length are.

Fig. 2 — The 20GP length limit is the number that ruins plans. A long top is a 40-foot order whether or not the volume needs one.

The practical rule: tops over 2400 mm go in a 40-foot container or are made in two pieces with a joint on a frame member. We will say which at quotation, because a container that cannot be loaded is a delay nobody budgeted for.

04What travels with the goods

A shipment of plate arrives with paper or it arrives with questions at the border and on site.

Packing list — crate number, contents by drawing number, gross and net weight, cubic measurement.
Inspection sheet — measured dimensions, aperture positions, edge tolerance readings, and the grain direction, per piece.
Material certificate — EN 10204 type 3.1 from the mill, matched to heat number where the order requires it.
Loading photographs — taken before the doors close, with the crate labels visible. This is the document that settles a damage claim.

All four are part of the order, not extras. The order terms page states which documents are issued as standard and when.

05How to start the clock

Send a drawing with datums, thickness, grade, finish and edge profile, plus the delivery port and the incoterm you are buying on. We check it, list any missing number, and issue a quotation in 24 hours with the stages costed separately — plate, cutting, welding, graining, packing — so you can see where the money is rather than only how much.

Then the drawing is confirmed, the clock starts, and you get a photograph at each of the three stages that matter: after forming, after graining, and loaded.

Custom stainless steel countertops · The fabrication work we take on · Order terms and packing · Send a drawing for quotation