Questions clients ask before starting a project

Most engagements begin with a call or an email describing the site and the problem. From there we suggest a short scoping step so both sides understand the real size of the job. Only after that do we propose a larger design or commissioning package.

Starting small is deliberate. A project with a defined scope tends to finish closer to budget than one built on assumptions.

Every engagement is defined in writing before work starts: the documents, the schedule, the design assumptions and the points where client decisions are needed. Contractors pricing from that package should arrive at comparable numbers.

If something falls outside the agreed scope, we raise it rather than absorbing it silently. That keeps the commercial side clear.

We are not a general contractor and we do not carry construction labour. Our role is engineering, coordination and documentation. Where a project needs a specialist outside our scope, we say so and, where useful, point to the kind of firm that covers it.

On multi-vendor projects, EPCM scope can include coordinating those interfaces. On simpler jobs, a clear design package is usually enough.

Belgian industrial projects involve permitting, safety files and utility connections that can affect which options are viable. These are considered early in feasibility work, because a constraint discovered late can invalidate a design that was otherwise sound.

We are not a legal or permitting consultancy. We make sure the engineering accounts for the regulatory context and coordinate with the specialists who handle submissions.

Process, electrical, instrumentation and automation are reviewed together rather than sequentially, because the conflicts live at the boundaries between them. A valve that behaves correctly on a P&ID can still fight the sequence logic if nobody checked the interface.

Catching that in design review costs far less than catching it during a startup weekend.

Commissioning and site work are scheduled rather than on demand. If a startup window is fixed by production planning, it is worth talking to us early, because the design work that precedes it has its own lead time.

Design-only assignments are more flexible in the calendar. Either way, we plan site presence deliberately rather than assuming availability.

Projects have taken us across Flanders and into Wallonia, though most site work stays within reach of Lochristi. Distance matters less for design phases and more for commissioning, where repeated attendance is part of the job.

For projects further away, we plan the site visits as part of the schedule.

Belgian industrial projects routinely run in Dutch, French and English at the same time. We work in all three as the project requires, and documentation is produced in the language the client's team uses.

Shift handovers, safety briefings and vendor meetings often need more than one of those languages in the same week. That is normal here, not an exception.

Work is priced against a defined scope, not against an open-ended hourly arrangement by default. A scoping step is usually small and fixed. Larger packages are quoted once the deliverables are clear.

We do not publish rate cards, because the scope determines the number. Ask for a proposal and you will get one with the assumptions stated.

We are not a general contractor, a software vendor or a legal consultancy. If a project needs something outside engineering and technical consultancy, we will say so rather than stretch the definition.

That limit is worth knowing before you engage us, not after.