Buyer's Guide: Communicating with Your Aluminum Formwork Supplier(1)

Here at GETO Aluminum Formwork System, we want you to make an informed decision before purchasing with us. That is why we have supplied you with a Aluminum Formwork System buying guide to help you make that decision.

Aluminum formwork is an investment for your business- no matter you are going to use it on your own or you are running rental business- so you want to be sure you are choosing the correct one to fulfill your needs and budget. In this article, let's put on the shoes of the contractor for this topic. Here we go!

You probably have looked into your local market and noticed that one type of formwork doesn't rely on tower crane for transferring and always come with orderly and organized construction site.

That is "Aluminum Formwork".

If you take a closer look, it is not difficult to find it has a series of outstanding advantages:

• light-weight and easy-to- handle
• makes for quick floor-to-floor cycle ( as short as 4~5 days)
• requires no skillful workers
• can be re-used for more than 300 times and thus cost-efficient
• ensures good concrete finish and needs no thick plastering

…

Wait, wait, it is not our focus today. Now come back on the topic.

Assume that you are well aware of this type of formwork is perfect for your projects, "Great, now I am going to try using this new product. How excited! Hold on, There are hundreds of suppliers out there in China. Let me search to find the one offering the best price. It would be a great saving, isn't it ?"

Well, it sounds logical. But I also feel obliged to remind you that here is the No.1 rule of thumb that you have to remember: There is no one-size-fits-all formwork system on the market.

Even with so many advantages of the aluminum formwork system mentioned, it is not necessarily good for you, unless it is truly tailored to your needs.

["You have made a point. But I am still confused a little bit. I do want a fully tailored solution for my project. Among hundreds of suppliers who all promised "the best product and perfect solutions" under different price tags, how to locate the one that best fits my need?"]

There there. No head-scratching now.

I have done the hard work for you, and Let’s run through it together:

Selecting a well-fit aluminum formwork system could be quite a challenge involving the balancing of several factors: desired concreting result, cost considerations, project schedule, labor quality & skills, product configuration, future re-utilization in other projects all play a role in selecting the best formwork solution for your project. 

As a formwork supplier, I have seen many purchasers rushed to ask for price the moment we got connected. It is surprising that price seems to be the only determinant in his purchasing. While Some would claim they are not able to define their budget frame until the pricing is unveiled. Much as I couldn’t fully agree on it, I would suggest our customers to take the following key factors into evaluation and work out the desired result they are expecting to achieve. Once they fully understand what results they are trying to get, they will be able to see which costs range they are falling into so that they could adjust their allocable budget accordingly.

["What is the price of it?”

-"It ranges from “xxxx Usd to xxxx Usd."

Why don’t we sit down first and have a discussion on your specific demands.”

-"Ok, I will discuss with our team and get back to you on Monday."

And his Monday never comes.]

Joking aside, let’s take a look at what you really should talk with your supplier on tailored aluminum formwork solution:

It is all about these four words: DEMAND, SOLUTION, COST and SAFETY.

1. Demand

Much as the fact that project situation varies vastly from one to another, we always have to face the dilemma: " Quality or Speed? " and try to achieve a balance between them.

**Quality

Please be noted that I don't mean the quality of the formwork itself here but mean the concrete result that you or the owner desire. For example, how you would like the flatness and perpendicularity to be; whether you will have to do fine decoration; whether you want to make special-shaped aesthetic structures nicely...

Here below is a nice example.

In Project Queen Peak Tower in Singapore, one of its prominent characteristics is the wavy balcony. And the mission for structural works is to make such a cantilever slab in a wavy shape.

[ “Don't forget about the water drip.”

- OK. It will be included in our solution.”]

This is how it look like at the end.

f you are also determined to make something special and nice, talk with your supplier.

**Speed

For sure, you will set up construction schedule for your projects and will do utmost to avoid scheduling setbacks. When it comes to structural construction itself, it is precisely floor-to-floor cycle. How fast you would like to achieve?

With the basic understanding of above, experienced and responsible suppliers will check with you about your labor quality, use preference, construction method etc., and then come back with proposals on a certain product configuration as well as cost estimation.

2. Solution

This point is based on the above topic. Yes, a certain solution should always based on specific project background and demands. For example, if you want higher working speed, then the major standard panel of bigger sizes should be provided; if you want to compress the floor-to-floor cycle, then you can consider increasing another set of shoring prop...

Yet in the case of GETO, we are not satisfied with gettig the job done. Instead, we will go extra miles to think on the customer's shoes. It is because sometimes the customers will not realize they can get further benefited with an optimized solution:

[Our client highly prioritizes speed, how can we make it even faster?

Oh, we can propose to avoid those subsequent structural works like making the down-hang and up-stand. Furthermore, we can avoid those chiseling or drilling work for water drip. Let's talk with them..]

[They now have big concerns about the budget, how can we help lower the overall project cost?]

[ Are they doing different kinds of projects or mainly focusing on one type? Taking this into consideration beforehand helps make their investment the best value.]

...

Due to the word limits here, we will keep on exploring the next two factors on the next article, especially about the inside story behind the cost difference.If you can not wait to explore it, just drop me messages or email me by connie@geto.com.cn.

If you like this article, please share to have more readers inspired. Your appreciation is my ultimate motivation on sharing more industrial know-hows of aluminum formwork.

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