Quality Isn't Inspected In. It's Engineered In.

Read the table as a ratio, not a price list. A defect caught at Station 9 costs roughly one-fifteenth of the same defect caught after the module reaches a site 8,000 km away, and the difference is programme time, not materials. This is the single strongest economic argument for factory-side inspection, and it is why the 147 checkpoints are a delivery strategy rather than a marketing claim.

Two clauses decide most post-handover disputes, and both are negotiable before signature rather than after. The first is the delineation line, precisely which interface belongs to the factory scope and which to the site contractor; the process page sets out how that line is drawn at each gate. The second is the FAT sign-off record: because every module leaves with a photographic and instrumented record of its acceptance test, a later claim can be traced to a specific station rather than argued in principle. Buyers who ask for this split at tender stage, rather than at handover, are the ones who avoid the argument entirely.

• Can we send our own inspector into the factory? Yes, and we recommend it. Client-appointed inspectors and, for US projects, the state third-party inspection agency are welcome to witness production and hold points. Give us two weeks' notice so the module is open at the right station rather than finished and sealed. The Soledad, California programme ran under exactly this arrangement.
• What happens if a module fails FAT? It does not ship. The module stays in the factory and the defect is corrected at bench cost. We will show you the failed test record alongside the passing re-test. A supplier that cannot produce the failed record is not testing, only certifying.
• Who approves the drawings, and to whose code? For US projects, drawings are PE-stamped in the destination state and reviewed under the state modular programme (DAPIA), with factory inspection by the appointed third-party agency (IPIA). Structural design follows IBC/IRC 2021 with ASCE 7-22 loads, and the cold-formed framing is independently evaluated under ICC-ES ESR-5348. For EU/UK and Australian delivery the applicable design standards are listed in the table above.
• Do you hold certificates in your own name or a partner's? Both, and we say which is which. Several certificates: including ICC-ES ESR-5348 and the ISO 9001/14001/45001 registrations. Are held by our LGS manufacturing partner and apply to modules produced on their lines. We name the holder on every certificate card rather than implying a single-entity chain, because a buyer who discovers this at due-diligence stage loses trust in everything else on the page.
• What is the realistic first-pass yield? 99.7% across a programme, which means roughly 3 modules in every 1,000 are held for rework, and holding is the point. A factory claiming 100% is either not inspecting or not counting. Ask for the yield record from the last programme, not a target figure.