Spec sheets are not vehicles

What a spec sheet describes

A spec sheet describes what is installed: the equipment, the dimensions, the capacities. Those items come from the same catalogs. Any competent shop can install the same generator and the same lift. Comparing spec sheets tells you the vehicles are configured alike. It does not tell you they are built alike.

What a spec sheet does not describe

• The frame. Tube size and gauge, and whether it is coated on all surfaces before assembly. Two frames can look the same in a drawing and differ by half the steel.
• The wall. One laminated panel or six pieces with seams. A substrate that wicks water or one that does not. A bond applied under pressure or with a roller.
• The floor. Resin-infused composite or plywood. Sealed edges or open ones.
• The roof. Composite that bends or fiberglass that cracks; steel under the penetrations or plywood.
• The wiring. A harness built to length with sealed connectors, or wire pulled on the vehicle and spliced.
• The testing. A rain booth with someone inside, or a garden hose. A road test or a drive to the front lot.
• The insulation. Cut to fit or stuffed.

Every one of these decides how the vehicle looks in year five. None of them is on the sheet, and every one of them costs money, which is where the $20,000 went. See what fails, and when.

How to compare proposals on what matters

1. Add a second column. Next to the spec sheet, list the construction questions from how to vet a builder and make every bidder answer them in writing. Now you have two comparisons: what is installed, and what it is installed in.
2. Ask for the warranty documents, not the summary. A five-year warranty that excludes structure, floor and corrosion is a two-year warranty on the parts most likely to fail. See what a warranty actually covers.
3. Price the years, not the purchase. A unit in service for ten years at the higher price costs less per year than a unit that needs a floor at year four and is sold at year six. Ask each bidder what their oldest unit in service looks like, and call the owner.
4. Look at one. A demo unit, a customer’s unit, or the plant. Thirty minutes with a flashlight answers more than thirty pages. Use the inspection checklist.
5. Ask who fixes it. Warranty service 800 miles from the plant is a real cost. Ask about road technicians and local-shop authorization before you need them.

Where “you get what you pay for” is wrong

It is not always true. A high price can buy a thin vehicle with a large marketing budget, and a good vehicle can be priced fairly. The point is not to buy the expensive one; it is to know what you are buying. Once the construction column is filled in, the right choice is usually obvious, and it is sometimes the low bid.

Where HLE lands

We publish the construction column for every body we build — how we build it — and we will fill in the same column for any competing proposal you send us, item by item, from the proposal’s own wording. Request a consultation · 574-343-2150