Exhibition Stand Design Consultancy for Indian Exhibitors
Concepts, drawings, specifications and a bill of quantities your own contractor can build from — and three bidders can price fairly.
Some exhibitors do not need a builder
They have a contractor they trust, an in-house team that handles production, or a global procurement policy that requires the build to go to tender. What they need is the design, the drawings, and someone who knows what an Indian show floor will actually allow — before the tender goes out, not after the lowest bidder has interpreted a mood board.
That is what this service is. We take design engagements without a build attached, and the deliverable is a documented, buildable design that any competent contractor can price against on equal terms. What you do not receive is a set of beautiful renders with nothing behind them. A render is a sales document; a BOQ and a drawing set are a procurement document, and the second is the point of a consultancy engagement.
Three reasons come up repeatedly. Comparability: when three contractors bid against three different interpretations of the same brief, you are not comparing prices, you are comparing guesses. Buildability: designs drawn by an agency with no fabrication background routinely specify things that cannot be built to the deadline or cannot pass the organiser’s height rules. And independence: when the designer is not the builder, the design is not quietly steered toward whatever that builder happens to have in stock.
What consultancy costs
Design-only engagements are quoted against plot size and scope. Indicatively, a single-show design package — concept, drawings, finishes schedule, lighting plan, BOQ and compliance note — starts at ₹45,000 for plots up to 48 m² and ₹85,000 for larger or double-decker designs.
Programme-level engagements are scoped and quoted individually: stand design guidelines defining how the brand appears at 9, 18, 36 and 72 m²; a show portfolio review; an audit of the stand assets you already own and what can be reconfigured rather than rebuilt; contractor selection support in cities where you have no local knowledge; and a post-show design review documented while it is still fresh.
If you subsequently award the build to us, the design fee is credited in full against the build cost. We take no commission from contractors, which is the only way our evaluation of their bids is worth anything to you.
Our build pricing is unchanged by the consultancy route, and the design fee comes off it in full:
Essential
- Design, build and graphics
- Lighting and furniture
- Transport from Mumbai
- Installation and dismantle
Regular
- Bespoke structure and joinery
- Meeting area and storage
- Lighting design
- Full site crew
Premium
- Double-decker or feature build
- AV integration
- Hospitality and meeting rooms
- Dedicated project manager
Stand figures are all-inclusive of design, fabrication, graphics, lighting, furniture, transport, installation and dismantling. They exclude the organiser's floor rental, power connection charges and venue-levied service fees, which the organiser bills to you directly. GST applies at prevailing rates.
Stands we have designed and documented
Photographed on the show floor, not rendered. Designed from the workshop backwards.
The constraints that force a redesign here
A design consultancy is only worth what its local knowledge is worth. The constraints that most often force a redesign in India are not exotic, but they are specific, and a drawing set that ignores them produces a tender all three bidders will have to re-price on site.
Venue behaviour differs enough to matter. Bombay Exhibition Centre at Goregaon and BIEC in Bengaluru give reasonable build access and generous hall height that the organiser’s own rulebook then limits. Bharat Mandapam and Yashobhoomi in Delhi run tighter security, vehicle passes and compliance checks. Jio World Convention Centre in BKC routes material through a basement dock on booked slots with venue-appointed handling, which changes both the schedule and the cost of a build.
We read the exhibitor manual before we draw, and we flag anything in your ambition the venue will not permit in week one rather than week six.
What the manual usually says
- Height
- Organiser caps on open-space plots, routinely lower than the hall’s clear height
- Double-deck
- First-floor approval needs a licensed engineer’s stamp ~30 days ahead, plus a floor charge
- Rigging
- Near-universally restricted — features must be floor-supported
- Fire
- Fire-retardant certification on timber and fabric
- Access
- Build-up windows that at some venues are a single day
- Power
- Declared load, provisioned against the declaration rather than the actual draw
What you receive
A pack detailed enough that three contractors bid on identical terms.
Concept and layouts
A 3D concept with two layout options worked against your confirmed plot, booth number and hall — with an indicative cost range for each, so the design conversation and the budget conversation happen at the same time rather than six weeks apart.
Drawings at scale
General arrangement drawings, elevations and sections, plus a materials and finishes schedule that specifies substrate, thickness, finish and print method rather than describing them.
Lighting and load
A lighting plan with fixture types and positions, and an indicative electrical load in kilowatts ready for the organiser application — the declaration that stops a stand tripping on opening morning.
BOQ and compliance note
A bill of quantities structured so competing quotes are genuinely comparable, and a venue compliance note covering height limits, first-floor approvals, fire requirements and build-up windows for your specific show.
From brief to tender-ready pack
Seven weeks is the comfortable schedule. Where a plot is confirmed late — common in India — we can compress to four by running drawings in parallel with concept approval, at the cost of some rework if the direction changes.
Brief and constraints
Plot and hall confirmed, the organiser’s exhibitor manual reviewed, and an early flag on anything in your ambition the venue will not permit.
Concept and freeze
Two concept directions in 3D against the confirmed plot, each with an indicative cost range. Direction selected and frozen — the last point at which layout changes are free.
Documentation
General arrangement drawings, elevations, sections, finishes schedule, lighting plan and the electrical load calculation.
Tender pack
Bill of quantities issued and the tender pack assembled, with a briefing call so all your shortlisted contractors work from the same understanding. On return of bids we compare against the BOQ and write up where any bidder has deviated from specification, not simply who is cheapest.
How the drawing set and BOQ are structured
A tender is only as fair as the document it is issued against, so the structure of the deliverable matters as much as the design in it. The bill of quantities is broken into fixed heads — structure, wall and panel work, flooring, ceiling and feature elements, graphics and print, lighting, electrical, furniture, freight, installation labour and dismantle — with quantities stated in the units contractors actually price in: square metres of panel by finish type, running metres of profile, numbers of fixtures by wattage, and man-days by trade. A contractor cannot then absorb a cost in one head and inflate another without it being visible on the comparison sheet.
Finishes are specified to a named standard rather than a description. “18 mm BWR ply, MS frame, PU duco finish in a stated shade” is a specification. “Premium painted finish” is an invitation to substitute. The same applies to print: substrate, print method and lamination are stated, because direct UV print on 5 mm foam board and UV print on 10 mm ACP are not the same product and will not be quoted at the same price.
We also mark, explicitly, which elements are provisional sums — typically AV, live plants and anything dependent on a decision you have not yet made. Provisional sums that are not labelled as such are the most common source of a bid that looks cheap and lands expensive.
Design thinking, on the floor
What the design has to do once the stand is standing. Tap any card to play.
Design consultancy — common questions
Can you design a stand without building it?
Yes — that is what this service is. You receive a 3D concept with two layout options, scaled general arrangement drawings, elevations and sections, a materials and finishes schedule, a lighting plan with indicative electrical load, a bill of quantities and a venue compliance note. Any competent contractor can build and price from that set.
What does design consultancy cost?
A single-show design package starts at ₹45,000 for plots up to 48 m² and ₹85,000 for larger or double-decker designs. Programme-level work such as stand design guidelines or an asset audit is scoped individually. If you award the build to us, the design fee is credited in full against the build cost.
How is this different from your free 3D design?
The free concept comes with a build proposal and is a sales document — it shows you what we would build for you. A consultancy engagement is a procurement document: drawings, specifications and a BOQ detailed enough that three contractors bid on identical terms. Different purpose, different level of documentation, different commercial basis.
Will the design work with our own contractor?
Yes. Everything is specified rather than described — substrate, thickness, finish, print method, fixture type — so the drawings are not tied to our workshop or our supplier base. That independence is one of the main reasons clients use a design-only engagement in the first place.
Do you help us choose a contractor?
On request. We shortlist, brief and evaluate build partners in cities where you have no local knowledge, and we assess returned bids against the BOQ. We do not take a commission from contractors, which is the only way that evaluation is worth anything to you.
What venue information do you need from us?
The show, the hall, your booth number, plot dimensions, which sides face an aisle, and the organiser’s exhibitor manual. The manual matters as much as the dimensions — height caps, first-floor approval timelines, rigging restrictions and build-up windows all sit in it, and they shape the design more than the brief usually does.
Can you produce stand design guidelines for our whole show calendar?
Yes. A guidelines document defines how the brand appears at 9, 18, 36 and 72 m² with fixed rules on structure, graphics, lighting and furniture, so every market and every local agency builds to the same standard. It is quoted as a programme engagement rather than per show.
Who will we be dealing with?
The engagement is run from our Mumbai office at Marine Lines, with all drawings, correspondence and site attendance handled in India. If your brief covers a show outside India, we will tell you which group entity should hold it rather than quoting for work we would be managing from the wrong time zone.
Often booked together
Custom Exhibition Stands
Built once, for one plot, at one show, to do one job. Designed and fabricated in our Mumbai workshop and installed across India.
Custom standsModular Exhibition Stands
One aluminium system reconfigured to a different plot at every show, for exhibitors who show four, five or six times a year.
Modular standsBranding & Graphic Design
Large-format graphics designed for the distance they are actually read from, printed and proofed alongside the stand they go on.
Graphic designBuilding with your own contractor?
Send us the show, the plot and your build partner situation. We will scope a design package your contractors can bid against on equal terms.
