Two quotations for a floating vanity can look identical on the page and behave very differently on site. One arrives ready to fix to a prepared wall, the other needs a timber blockwork carrier, a different waste position and a second visit by the tiler. The price difference is usually hiding in exactly those details.

If you are comparing us against other factories on the Santerson Floating Vanity, or weighing it against a similar made-to-measure unit elsewhere, here is the shortlist of what to put side by side before you sign. A Santerson floating vanity is a configurable, project-sized wall-hung unit, so the comparison only makes sense once every quotation is describing the same build.

Compare the build specification, not the model name

Model names travel badly between factories. Ask each supplier to state, in writing:

• Carcase and drawer material. The board type, its moisture rating for a bathroom environment, and how the edges are sealed.
• Finish system. Number of coats, whether it is sprayed or wrapped, and how a matched colour outside the standard palette is priced.
• Drawer and runner specification. Soft-close as standard or as an option, load rating, and full-extension or part-extension runners.
• Wall-hanging system. The hanging rail or carrier, its load rating, and the substrate it is rated for.

Once those four lines match, the numbers begin to mean something. Until they match, a lower price is only a different product.

Compare how made-to-measure is actually handled

A floating vanity in a project bathroom rarely fits a standard width. There is a niche, a soil pipe, a shower screen returning into the wall. Ask each supplier the same three questions and note the answers word for word:

• Are non-standard widths and depths charged as an upcharge, or absorbed at the same rate per lineal metre?
• Can the unit be split into sections for a tight delivery route, and does splitting change the price?
• What tolerance do you allow around the basin cut-out and the tap holes, and who confirms it before production?

Our bathroom fit-out pages list made-to-measure sizing, material and finish options and project-tailored layouts as standard scope, which is why we ask for the setting-out drawing first rather than the other way round. If a supplier quotes a fixed size without ever asking for a drawing, that is the cheapest quotation and the most expensive one.

Compare the countertop and basin decision

The vanity top is where most comparisons break down, because some suppliers quote the carcass and leave the top to someone else. Decide at the outset whether you want an integrated countertop and basin in one piece, a separate basin dropped into a stone top, or a vessel above the counter. Integrated tops remove the silicone joint that fails first in a hotel bathroom, but they add weight, and weight changes the hanging system and the wall behind it.

Whatever you choose, require the same three items on both quotations: the top material and its thickness, the tap hole positions with a dimensioned drawing, and the waste and overflow arrangement. A quotation that says "basin included" without a drawing is not a comparison, it is a promise.

Compare what arrives, not just what is made

Ask for the packing list before you compare prices. A wall-hung unit that arrives with the hanging carrier, the waste fittings, the templated cut-outs and a labelled installation sheet lands on site ready to fix. A unit that arrives as an unpacked box of panels lands on site as a labour cost.

Then compare freight terms. Sea, air or rail, port or door, and who handles customs paperwork all sit inside the landed figure. We handle production and door-to-door delivery as one package, and where a bathroom needs a non-standard finish, colour or layout, our custom and OEM service covers it in the same production run rather than as a separate order.

Compare it inside the whole bathroom package

A floating vanity does not stand alone. It shares a wall with the WC, a sightline with the mirror, and a finish schedule with the wall panels and the cabinetry down the corridor. Comparing one unit in isolation hides the cost of coordination: three sample rounds, three deliveries, three sets of snag lists.

So the fairest comparison for buyers sourcing double vanities, mirror cabinets, ceramics and the integrated countertop range is the total package: one finish schedule, one production programme, one shipment. That is where a single coordinated supplier earns the difference it charges on the unit price.

The comparison sheet to send us

• Room-by-room bathroom layout with the vanity length, height and projection you want.
• Basin and tap arrangement per bathroom, with tap hole positions.
• Finish references for carcass, fronts and top, plus the two materials they sit beside.
• Wall construction at each position, so the hanging system can be specified correctly.
• Site-ready date and the delivery address, including access restrictions.

Send that and you get a specification you can put against two other quotations line by line. Send only a model name and you get a catalogue price back, which is the comparison you did not want.