Bookshelves rarely decide a project on their own, yet they are the built-in element that exposes every coordination gap: a wall out of plumb, a services run that was never recorded, a finish approved from a small sample. If the request for quotation asks only for "bookshelves, as per drawing", the reply is a guess. This guide sets out what a procurement brief should carry so that a quotation for Santerson Modular Bookshelf Systems can be compared line by line with the others on the table.
What a modular bookshelf system is
The Santerson catalogue lists these systems under Bookshelves, and the published page describes them as configurable modular bookshelf systems for residential living projects, with layout, dimensions, material and finish options specified per project. In practice that means a back panel or vertical standard, shelf blanks cut to a grid, and a face finish that has to match what is already on site. The benefit for procurement is not that the unit is modular in the abstract. It is that the same component logic can be re-cut to a different bay width, a different shelf spacing or a different wall length without changing the drawing language, and therefore without changing the basis on which the price was built.
Two adjacent entries in the same catalogue show why the comparison matters. Santerson Floor to Ceiling Bookshelves meet the structural ceiling, so the head detail and the closing allowance have to be resolved on site. Santerson Glass Front Bookshelves bring glazing, hinges and glass handling into both the cost and the installation sequence. Send all three to the same brief and the differences become visible.
Why this belongs in a project brief at all
SANTERSON works as a China-based manufacturer and one-stop supplier of furniture and building materials for hospitality, villa and office projects, with published project references that include villas in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Willoughby and North Turramurra. A shelving run in a villa of that kind is rarely an isolated purchase. It sits beside the media wall, the study cabinetry, the wardrobes and the joinery screens, and it has to read as one family with all of them. Buying the shelving from a separate vendor at the same time as everything else is usually where tone, edge profile and reveal widths start to drift.
The second reason is logistics. A modular run ordered from the same source as the rest of the built-in package travels on the same packing list and is inspected against the same dimension sheet on arrival.
Before you write: what to fix on site
- Wall length and height taken at three points along the run, not one, with the deviation recorded.
- Skirting, cornice and any reveal the shelving has to return into or scribe around.
- Socket, switch and data positions, and whether they fall behind a back panel or must stay accessible.
- Room floor-to-ceiling height, and whether the ceiling is plasterboard, exposed structure or a grid.
- The reference already issued for the adjacent joinery, quoted by make and code rather than by description.
1. Overall run dimensions, and which one governs
State overall width, height and depth, and say plainly which figure is the finished face dimension and which is the carcass. If the run passes a doorway, a column or a recess, draw it. A supplier quoting from a photograph will quote a photograph.
2. Layout grid and bay widths
Give the bay width you want and the shelf pitch, then state what is allowed to flex when the field measurement differs by a few millimetres. Where a run mixes uses — books at one end, files or equipment at the other — mark the zones, because shelf spacing and shelf depth should follow the use rather than one uniform grid across the whole wall.
3. Substrate, face finish and edge detail
Board and surface families across the wider range include melamine and wood-grain laminates, veneers, lacquer, acrylic, and glass or metal-front units. Specify board grade, face finish and edge treatment as three separate line items. State the reveal between carcass and wall, and say whether edges are squared, eased or mitred. Match the joinery reference, and ask for a full-size sample rather than a swatch card for any woodgrain or veneer.
4. Loading, spans and shelf thickness
Write down what the shelves will carry: paperback stock, hardbacks, archives, equipment or display objects. State a load per shelf in kilograms and a uniform load per shelf area, then ask the supplier to confirm the span that supports it and the shelf thickness that goes with it. Long, deep open spans loaded with books are the usual failure point, and a specification that stays silent about load is the one most often corrected after the unit is made.
5. Fixings and wall substrate
Say what is behind the finished surface — masonry, timber stud, steel stud or a lining back frame — and name who provides the fixing detail and the backing timber. A modular run fixed into a stud wall needs the blocking shown on the drawing, not left to the installer on the day.
6. Doors, glass and hardware
Where the run mixes open shelving with closed bays, list hinge type, soft-close or not, handle or push, and glazing thickness and edge polish. Glass-front modules change the handling allowance and the crate, and that shows up in freight, so state it in the packing requirement.
7. Integrated lighting
Santerson's modular shelving range also lists integrated lighting as part of the configurable system. If you want it, specify fitting positions, driver position, switching or dimming method, and who supplies the mains feed and the low-voltage cable. Have the electrical specification and destination-country requirements confirmed by your engineer before the design is fixed.
8. Tolerances and scribing
Ask how the run closes out at both ends, and how much of the closing allowance is taken by a scribe panel rather than by cutting the carcass. State the site tolerance you expect and the one you will accept.
9. Packaging, delivery and arrival sequence
Santerson's published logistics service covers freight forwarding by sea, air and rail, customs paperwork, packing and container loading, shipment tracking and door-to-door delivery. For procurement, ask for a crate list keyed to the room-by-room drawing numbers, a marked crate plan, and confirmation of the delivery address and access conditions. Where shelving travels with other fit-out items, ask whether the crates are consolidated or shipped separately — that decides the arrival date and the storage plan.
10. Site conditions and handover
Say what must be true before the shelving goes in: painting complete, floor laid, services tested, dust down. Then state what you want at handover — an as-built dimension sheet, the finish codes actually used, and any spare shelf blanks or hardware held on site.
11. What every bidder must return
Ask each bidder for the same five items: a shop drawing to a stated scale; a material and finish schedule with codes; a load statement for each shelf type; a fixing schedule against each wall substrate; and a crate list. Anything less cannot be compared with anything else, which is how a low quotation wins and a variation follows.
A brief you can copy
- Location, drawing reference and revision number.
- Overall width, height, depth; which dimension governs.
- Bay widths, shelf pitch, open and closed bays.
- Board grade, face finish code, edge detail, reveal width.
- Load per shelf and per shelf area, by zone.
- Wall substrate and who provides the fixing detail.
- Hardware schedule and glazing schedule.
- Lighting: positions, driver, control, supply split.
- Tolerance and scribing method.
- Delivery address, access, crate list requirement.
- Required return: shop drawing, finish schedule, load statement, fixing schedule, crate list.
Where shelving specifications usually fail
- Depth given without saying whether it is clear internal or overall.
- Finish described in words ("oak look") instead of by code.
- Load omitted, then corrected on site by adding a fixed shelf.
- Sockets drawn behind the unit with no access requirement noted.
- Lighting requested after the carcass is cut, forcing surface trunking.
- No fixing schedule for a run fixed to stud wall.
Wrapping the package together
Santerson's project services are published as a sequence — consultation, design and planning, production, logistics, installation and after-sales — and a shelving run sits naturally inside that flow. Send the finished brief as one document. It keeps the shelving quotation comparable, and it keeps the shelving on the same dimension sheet as the rest of the built-in package.
SANTERSON has operated since 2008, lists offices in China, Vietnam, Singapore and South Africa, and supports custom and OEM production for project work. Send the drawing set and the schedule above with your enquiry and the reply arrives as something you can place against the rest of the tender.