Almost every complaint about a fabrication job being "late" comes from a mismatch of expectations formed at the quoting stage, when nobody discussed what the stages actually are. Knowing the sequence lets you ask the right question at the right moment instead of chasing for an update that nobody can honestly give.
The stages
- Site measurement. After you accept the quote, not before. The quotation measurement is usually approximate; this one is the one the work is built to. Expect a visit, and expect the fabricator to want the opening in its final state — which matters enormously, as below.
- Drawing and approval. For anything other than the simplest item you should see a drawing with dimensions. This is the cheapest moment in the whole job to change your mind.
- Material procurement. What your advance pays for. Standard sections are usually in stock locally; a specific grade, a colour-coated sheet or a branded hardware set may be ordered in.
- Fabrication. Cutting, fitting, welding, grinding. This is the part people imagine is the whole job, and it is often the shortest stage.
- Finishing. Painting, powder coating or galvanising. Powder coating and galvanising usually go to a separate facility, which adds transport and queue time outside your fabricator's control.
- Installation. Delivery, fixing, alignment, and adjustment.
- Snagging. A door that binds, a gate that fouls on the slope, a latch that needs moving. Normal, expected, and the reason to hold a final payment.
Realistic lead times
From final measurement to installation, for ordinary residential work in normal conditions:
- A simple MS gate or grill: about one to two weeks.
- Aluminium or uPVC windows for a flat: two to four weeks; uPVC is usually the longer of the two because frames are made to size.
- Stainless railing: one to three weeks, depending on whether glass is involved — toughened glass is made to order and cannot be cut after toughening.
- Structural steel, a shed or a staircase: three to six weeks, longer with hot-dip galvanising.
Add time for powder coating or galvanising if they are in scope, and add time around festivals, when workshops run short-handed and finishing facilities queue up.
Where delays actually come from
Rarely the welding. In order of frequency:
- The site was not ready at measurement. If the opening is measured before plaster and flooring, the finished opening will be different and the item will not fit. A good fabricator refuses to measure early; a desperate one measures anyway and you both pay for it later.
- A change after drawing approval. Entirely your right, but it resets the clock, and after material is cut it costs money as well as time.
- Finishing queues. Outside the fabricator's control and the most common honest cause.
- Access on installation day. Lift bookings, society permissions, a watchman who knows nothing about it. A wasted trip is a week's delay for a small job.
What you can do to keep it on track
- Have the opening in final finished condition before measurement — plaster done, floor level known.
- Approve drawings promptly and completely. Half an approval is not one.
- Settle colour and hardware at the same time as the design, not after. Both can change procurement.
- Arrange building access and permissions a few days ahead of installation.
- Be present, or send someone who can decide, on installation day. Most small disputes are resolved in two minutes at the time and never resolved at all afterwards.
On handover
Check operation before the team leaves: every door and window opened and closed, every lock engaged with the item in place rather than on the bench, gates run through their full travel. Problems that take five minutes to fix with the installer present take a scheduled visit once they have gone.