Questions overseas buyers ask us

Email Conniezeng@genhongsteel.com or use the enquiry form on the contact page. Attach your fabrication or approval drawings and a bill of quantities if you have them, and tell us the steel grade, the finish you need and the destination port.

We acknowledge every enquiry and normally reply with a quotation or a set of clarifying questions within one working day.

The essentials are:

• Drawings (PDF, DWG, DXF or IFC) or a member schedule and tonnage
• Steel grade and the design / fabrication standard to be followed
• Surface preparation grade and coating system, or galvanizing
• Inspection requirements, including any third-party inspector
• Destination port, preferred Incoterm and required delivery date

If you have less than that, send what you have. We would rather ask three questions than quote a number that turns out to be wrong.

We do not set a rigid minimum. There is a floor imposed by economics rather than policy: below a certain size, the cost of setting up, blasting, coating and export packing is spread over too little steel, so the unit price rises.

Small trial orders are accepted, and we treat them as what they usually are — the first step in a longer supply relationship. Tell us the total weight and we will give you a straight answer about whether the numbers work.

As an indicative guide, most packages take roughly 25 to 50 calendar days from approval of the shop drawings and receipt of the advance payment. The range is wide because it is driven by total tonnage, connection complexity, weld inspection requirements, the coating system and how fast approvals come back.

Transit time is additional and depends on the port and mode. Larger or phased packages are scheduled against a production plan, and we report progress through fabrication, finishing and loading.

Yes. Fujian Genhong Steel Structure Co., Ltd. holds import and export rights in its own name, so you contract with the factory rather than through an intermediary. We have fabricated for export consignments including full-scale pre-assembly before shipment, and we are used to working with overseas inspection bodies and freight forwarders.

PDF, DWG, DXF and IFC / IFC-SPF are all fine, as are Tekla and StruCAD models if you can export them. Scanned drawings are workable but slower — we will flag anything ambiguous before we cut steel. A BOQ or member schedule with section sizes and tonnage is enough to start a conversation.

We routinely fabricate to drawings prepared under GB 50017 and GB 50205 (Chinese codes). For export work we can fabricate to drawings prepared to ASTM / AISC, EN 10025 with EN 1090-2 detailing rules, AS/NZS and JIS criteria, and we can prepare welding procedures to the standard your project names.

Where a project carries a certification obligation we do not hold — CE marking to EN 1090-1 being the common one — we will tell you at enquiry stage. See the certification question under Packing & shipping below.

We have structural engineers for steel structure design and can detail, optimise and value-engineer a scheme, or produce approval drawings from architectural and loading information. Where we take on design responsibility, it is defined explicitly in the contract — we never assume it silently, and we never hide behind it.

Yes. For every project we produce shop / approval drawings and fabrication does not begin until you have approved them in writing. If your drawing set is already final and marked "for construction", we still confirm the drawing register and revision status with you first, so there is no doubt about which revision we built to.

Yes. We regularly fabricate replacement or extension members to match an existing structure, working from survey drawings, photographs and measured dimensions. Send whatever records exist and we will tell you what we need to measure or confirm.

Every job runs against an inspection and test plan agreed before production. In practice that means:

• Material certificates checked against the specification on arrival, with heat-number traceability
• Dimensional checks after cutting, drilling and assembly
• Weld procedure specification and welder qualification records
• Weld inspection — visual as standard, with NDT as specified
• Coating dry film thickness measurement and surface preparation checks
• Final inspection and photographic records before packing

Yes, and we encourage it. Inspectors from SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TÜV and similar bodies are welcome in our works at the agreed hold points, and we will provide access, records and the documentation they ask for. Where an inspection authority needs to be named in the contract, tell us at enquiry stage.

We are also happy to host a live video walkthrough of the work in progress if a visit is not practical.

Visual inspection is carried out on all welds. Non-destructive testing is applied as your specification requires: ultrasonic testing (UT), magnetic particle testing (MT) and dye penetrant testing (PT) as routine options, with radiographic testing (RT) where it is called for. Acceptance criteria follow the standard named in your drawings or specification.

Yes, and for anything with complex geometry we consider it essential. Interfaces, bolt holes, camber and overall geometry are checked at full scale in our yard before dispatch. It costs a little more at the factory and saves a great deal more on site — which is precisely when a buyer remembers why they chose a fabricator with space to do it.

You are welcome. Buyers and their engineers visit us regularly, and visits are usually arranged with a few days' notice so the right people are available to walk you through the works. Tell us your dates and what you would like to see — production lines, coating plant, trial assembly area, quality records — and we will arrange the programme.

We record it, tell you, and propose a disposition — rework, repair or replacement — rather than shipping it and hoping. Non-conformances found by your inspector or ours are handled the same way. Any defect attributable to our fabrication is corrected at our cost.

Shot blasting in-house to Sa 2.0 or Sa 2.5 to ISO 8501-1, or power-tool preparation where blasting is not appropriate. Blast grade, surface profile and the interval before priming are recorded, because coating performance is decided at this stage more than any other.

Typical systems include zinc-rich primer with an epoxy intermediate and a polyurethane topcoat, applied to a specified total dry film thickness. Two-coat epoxy systems, shop-primed-only supply and hot-dip galvanizing are also available. If your specification names a proprietary product, send the datasheet and we will work to it.

Yes. Give us the RAL number or your colour code, or a physical sample if the colour is critical. Colour is matched at the batch stage, so if you need several deliveries to look identical, tell us at order stage so the paint is ordered in one batch.

Yes, to ISO 1461, including vent and drain hole provision, distortion control on slender members and post-galvanizing dimensional checks. Because galvanizing is carried out in a bath with size limits, tell us the longest and largest members early so we can confirm feasibility before you design around it.

Dry film thickness is measured after curing and recorded against the specified total and per-coat thicknesses, along with ambient and surface conditions at application. The readings are available to your inspector or included in the final documentation.

Members are marked in line with the erection drawings, bundled or racked on steel stillages, and secured for ocean freight. Long members are packed to the loading plan for container or breakbulk shipment, and loose items — bolts, plates, fittings — are packed in crates and listed separately.

Where you have specific packing requirements, a marking system or a loading sequence for the site programme, send them and we will pack to it.

FOB, CFR and CIF are the most common for our export packages, and we can quote EXW and DAP / DDP on request. Tell us the destination port and the Incoterm you work on and the quotation will be structured to match — comparing a CIF price with an FOB price is a common and expensive mistake.

We work with freight forwarders and can quote CFR or CIF where you would like us to handle the movement. Equally, many buyers prefer to nominate their own forwarder and buy FOB — that is fine and often cheaper if you already have volume rates. Tell us which you prefer.

As standard: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, and material test certificates. As agreed per project: weld inspection and NDT reports, coating thickness records, dimensional inspection reports, trial assembly reports and photographs, and any certificate required for a preferential tariff arrangement such as Form E.

Tell us at order stage which documents your customs authority and your client require, and they will be prepared with the consignment rather than chased afterwards.

Honest answer: our group holds ISO 9001 quality, ISO 14001 environmental and GB/T 28001 (OHSAS 18001) occupational health and safety management system certification, together with a Grade I steel structure specialist contracting qualification. We do not currently hold EN 1090-1 factory production control certification.

If your project legally requires CE marking — a structural steelwork package placed on the EU market, for example — tell us at enquiry stage. We will confirm plainly whether we can meet it rather than let you discover it after the order is placed. For projects with no such obligation, this makes no practical difference.

Terms are agreed project by project and confirmed in the proforma invoice. Typically that means a T/T advance with the order and the balance before shipment or against a copy of the bill of lading. For larger contracts an irrevocable letter of credit at sight is workable.

If your organisation has standard terms, send them at enquiry stage and we will say whether we can accept them.

USD is the usual currency for export contracts, and EUR is possible. Our corporate account is set up to receive international transfers; you are welcome to verify the beneficiary details by calling us before making any payment — we would rather you did than not.

Warranty terms are agreed in the contract and reflect the scope: fabrication quality, coating system and any design work we have taken on each carry their own period and conditions. In practice, any non-conformity attributable to our fabrication is corrected at our cost, and coating systems are warranted against the system specified and applied.

Tell us what has gone wrong with photographs and the relevant packing list or member mark. If the cause is our fabrication, we will correct it — by supplying replacement members, authorising local repair where that is faster, or crediting the value. Resolving a claim quickly costs us far less than the reputation it would cost to argue about it.