1. Production model
Every downstream decision — house width, ventilation rate, equipment list, cost per bird — follows from the production model. Fix it before anything else, and state whether adjacent stages are inside or outside this project.
- Broiler grow-out: target live weight, cycle length, downtime between cycles, cycles per year
- Layer: production system (conventional cage where permitted, enriched, aviary, barn, free range), pullet rearing in scope or bought in
- Breeder: parent or grandparent stock, male/female ratio, nest type, egg handling to hatchery
- Hatchery: eggs set per week, single-stage or multi-stage, chick handling and delivery scope
- Processing: birds per hour, chilling method, cut-up and deboning scope — quote separately from farm equipment
2. Capacity basis
Capacity must be stated as placed birds, not as a marketing range. A house sold as '30,000 to 40,000 birds' is two different ventilation designs and two different prices.
- Birds placed per house and number of houses in this phase
- Birds per cycle and birds per year, with the assumed cycles per year
- Layers: hens housed, eggs per day at peak, egg store capacity
- Hatchery: egg setter capacity, chicks per year, weekly hatch pattern
- Future phases: state them, so silo, power and control capacity can be sized once
3. Site and climate
Climate data drives ventilation, cooling and heating capacity, which together are usually the largest equipment cost after the building. Suppliers who receive no climate data will assume a temperate design and quote low.
- Country, region and altitude (altitude derates fan airflow and generator output)
- Design summer dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature, and design winter minimum
- Relative humidity profile — this decides whether evaporative cooling is effective
- Prevailing wind direction and speed, and any dust or sand exposure
- Water source, flow rate, hardness, iron content and existing treatment
- Grid voltage, phases, frequency, reliability and typical outage duration
- Land dimensions, orientation, slope, access road and biosecurity distances
4. Housing
Housing decisions are structural and expensive to change after award. Define them, or a supplier will define them for you inside their own product range.
- Number of houses, internal length, width, ceiling height and eaves height
- Structural system: steel portal frame, tunnel curtain, insulated sandwich panel, concrete or local build
- Insulation U-value target for the roof and walls
- Stocking density in birds/m² or kg/m², tied to a target final weight and to any welfare standard
- Floor system: litter on concrete, slats, cage rows, aviary tiers, nest lines
- Anterooms, service corridors, egg room, feed area and biosecurity entry
5. Equipment packages
Ask for performance requirements, not brand names. 'Tunnel ventilation reaching 2.5 m/s at bird level at the stated design temperature' is comparable across suppliers; 'Big Dutchman fans' is not, and it removes your ability to compare alternatives.
- Feeding: silos and capacity, augers, pan or chain lines, feed weighing
- Drinking: nipple lines, regulators, filtration, medicator, flushing, water meter
- Ventilation: tunnel and minimum ventilation rate, inlets, static-pressure control, air speed target
- Cooling: pad area and thickness or fogging capacity, pumps, recirculation, water treatment
- Heating and brooding: capacity, fuel, distribution, safety devices
- Lighting: dimmable spectrum, lux at bird level, programme control
- Climate control and automation: controller, sensors, alarms, remote access, data export
- Layer and breeder: cages or aviary, nests, egg belts, elevators, grading interface
- Manure handling, mortality handling, biosecurity and washdown equipment
6. Utilities and standby power
Utilities are the most commonly excluded scope in poultry quotations and the most commonly under-budgeted item on the buyer's side. Size them before the RFQ so the load is stated, not discovered.
- Total connected load and estimated running load per house in summer tunnel mode
- Standby generator sizing basis, transfer arrangement, fuel storage and autonomy hours
- Solar, if relevant: intended share of load, roof or ground mount, storage or grid-tied
- Water demand per day at peak, storage volume in hours, treatment and backup pump
- Cable routes, distribution boards and who supplies them — supplier or local contractor
7. Building, installation and services scope
Decide who is responsible for each site activity before pricing. A 'supply only' offer and a 'supply and install' offer differ by a figure most buyers underestimate.
- Civil works: site levelling, foundations, floor slab, drainage, aprons
- Erection: local labour with supplier supervision, or full supplier installation crew
- Offloading, cranes, storage on site and site security
- Commissioning, calibration and performance demonstration criteria
- Operator and maintenance training: days, language, location
- Documentation: as-built drawings, manuals, electrical schematics, spare parts list
8. Commercial framework
State the commercial terms in the RFQ instead of receiving six different ones back. This alone removes most of the noise from proposal comparison.
- Indicative budget band and contingency (an honest band improves offer quality)
- Required Incoterm and delivery point — one for all bidders
- Target dates: order, shipment, site readiness, installation window, first placement
- Warranty period and what it covers, plus response-time expectations
- Recommended first-year and two-year spare parts, priced
- Payment milestone structure and required guarantees
- Whether financing must be explored in parallel with procurement
Pre-RFQ readiness checklist
- Production model and target output written in one paragraph
- Birds per house, number of houses, birds per year confirmed
- Design dry-bulb, wet-bulb and winter minimum temperature recorded
- Water quality analysis available or scheduled
- Grid reliability and outage pattern documented
- House dimensions and stocking density fixed
- Equipment packages listed by performance requirement, not brand
- Connected load estimated and standby power basis chosen
- Civil and installation responsibility split agreed
- Incoterm, delivery point and target dates chosen
- Warranty, spare parts and training expectations written
- Indicative CAPEX band with contingency prepared
Frequently asked questions
Production model, capacity in placed birds, site and climate data, house dimensions and stocking density, equipment packages stated as performance requirements, utilities and standby power, civil and installation responsibility, and commercial terms including Incoterm, schedule, warranty and spare parts.
Three to five qualified suppliers against one identical specification is the usual working range. Fewer gives no market reference; more tends to reduce the attention each bidder gives your project without adding comparison value.
No. Fixing a brand first converts the specification into that brand's standard product, and the remaining offers become non-comparable alternatives to it. Define the performance requirement first, then let qualified manufacturers propose how they meet it.
Not always for a single-house project, but for multi-house farms, hatcheries or hot-climate designs an independent engineer or agricultural consultant who reviews the specification before issue usually pays for themselves in scope clarity. HatchMatch is not an engineering practice and does not certify designs.
An honest budget band improves offer quality, because bidders can propose the specification level that fits it rather than guessing. A band with contingency is better than a single figure, and it should be paired with a fixed technical basis so the money cannot quietly buy a smaller scope.