Glossary
The terms you will meet in quotes and spec sheets, explained in one line each.
- EXW
- Ex Works: the price at the factory gate. You (or your forwarder) pay trucking to the port, export clearance and everything after.
- FOB
- Free On Board: the maker delivers the goods loaded on the ship at their port. Sea freight, insurance, import duty, taxes and delivery are on you. Most prices on TheGlampings are FOB.
- CIF
- Cost, Insurance and Freight: the maker pays the sea freight and insurance to your port. Import duty, taxes, port fees and delivery to site are still on you.
- 40HQ
- A 40ft high-cube shipping container (about 12 × 2.35 × 2.7 m inside). Freight is charged per container, so how many units fit inside drives the freight cost per unit.
- Landed cost
- Factory price + freight + import duty + VAT/GST + customs and port fees: what the unit costs once it is cleared in your country, before trucking and installation.
- HS 9406
- The customs code for prefabricated buildings. Your duty rate depends on how your country classifies the unit under this code.
- Form E
- A certificate of origin for China–ASEAN trade. With it, import duty on prefab buildings into most ASEAN countries is 0%. Other regions use other certificates.
- Hot-dip galvanizing
- Dipping the whole steel frame in molten zinc. Far more resistant to rust than paint or powder coat, and the minimum for sites near the sea.
- 316 stainless
- Marine-grade stainless steel for bolts and fixings. 304 or zinc-plated fixings rust quickly in salty air.
- C5-M
- The highest corrosion category for coatings in marine environments (ISO 12944). Ask for it on beachfront sites.
- Rock wool
- Mineral wool insulation: non-combustible, good for heat and sound. Preferred over EPS for hot or coastal sites.
- EPS
- Expanded polystyrene (white foam) sandwich panels. Cheap and light, but burns and insulates less than rock wool or PU at the same thickness.
- PU
- Polyurethane foam panels. Best insulation per mm; check the fire rating.
- Expandable house
- A container-sized unit whose side walls fold out on site, typically 20ft into about 37 m². Usually two fit in one 40HQ.
- Apple cabin
- A rounded or angled steel shell with a big glass front, shipped fully assembled. Usually one per container.
- Space capsule
- An aircraft-style aluminium pod with LED, smart glass and integrated bathroom. The most photogenic and the most expensive per m².
- Beaufort scale
- Wind force scale: Beaufort 10 is about 25–28 m/s (90–100 km/h); Beaufort 12 is hurricane force, 33 m/s (118 km/h) and above.
- MOQ
- Minimum order quantity: the smallest order the maker accepts.
- Lead time
- Days from deposit until the units are ready to ship, before sea freight.