An enquiry usually opens with the building: a drawing, a size, and a question about cost. My first question is almost always about the ground it will stand on.
That is not a delaying tactic. Location changes the structure earlier than span does, and it changes it in places the buyer cannot see on the drawing.
Wind is a property of the site, not of the building
Two identical warehouses, one inland and one on a coast, are not the same structure. The wind pressure used in the calculation comes from where the building is and from the local code that governs that place. A frame sized for a sheltered inland site will be under-designed on an exposed coast, and the failure shows up in the connections first — the parts nobody looks at until something moves.
This is why a wind speed that gets copied from a previous project is a defect, not a shortcut. I ask for the town or the coordinates, and the calculation is run for that location. If I cannot establish it, I say so and list it as an open item rather than pick a number that sounds safe.
Distance to the sea decides the finish
Salt is the second thing the location settles. A building a few kilometres from the coast lives in airborne chloride every day of its service life; an inland building does not. That difference decides whether the steel is galvanized or painted, which fixings and flashings are acceptable, and how the detailing avoids pockets where moisture sits and never dries.
It also decides the maintenance story you are handing to the owner. A finish chosen for an inland site will look convincing on the day of delivery and disappointing three years later on a coast, and by then the argument is about who pays for it.
Heat, humidity and what is stored inside
A dry inland site and a humid tropical one need different roof build-ups, different insulation strategy and different attention to condensation. Add a cold store or a food processing hall and the question moves inside the envelope entirely: vapour control, ceiling detail, and how the insulated panels meet the structure.
None of this is visible in a span and a length. All of it changes what gets shipped.
The road to the site decides the packing
This is the part buyers underestimate most. How the building is cut and packed depends on how it will travel and how it will be unloaded. A site reached by a narrow road, a low bridge or a hand-pulled trolley cannot take the same member lengths as a site with a clear approach and a crane waiting.
So I ask: is there a crane on site, or does erection depend on one we have to arrange? Is there space to stack containers and sort parts? Is the ground firm enough to stand a crane on, or will it need matting? If members must be spliced to travel, the splice is designed, not improvised at the site.
What I need before the drawing means anything
- The town, or coordinates if the site is remote
- Roughly how far the site is from the coast
- Altitude, if the site is in highland country
- How the site is reached, and whether a crane will be there
- What the building will hold, and whether it needs to stay cold or dry
Five answers turn a drawing into a specification. Without them I can only describe a building that works somewhere else.