Not a shortlist. A bag of catalogues, a phone full of WeChat contacts, and about forty photographs of tile edges.
That is normal. The 140th Canton Fair ran three phases from 15 October to 4 November, and by the last week most buyers had already walked the building materials and furniture halls and collected more options than they can realistically evaluate. The fair is very good at showing you what exists. It is not designed to tell you which combination of it will arrive on your site, on budget, in one container.
That work starts now — and it has a deadline. Factories that took enquiries in October are filling their November and December production slots. Every week of indecision moves your delivery date.
The instinct after a fair is to quote the same scheme with five different suppliers, take the lowest number, and move on. For a single product category that works. For a project — tiles, sanitary ware, doors, cabinetry, lighting, furniture — it usually costs more than it saves.
Here is what five suppliers actually means:
l Five different specification formats, so the quotations are not comparable line by line
l Five production schedules that do not line up, so the container waits for the slowest factory
l Five packing lists in five layouts, so nobody can tell you the real carton count
l Five quality standards, so "the same finish" is five different finishes
l Five people to chase when one item is missing on site
None of this appears on a quotation. All of it appears on your invoice, in demurrage, in air-freighting the missing hinges, or in a handover date that slips six weeks.
The alternative is not "one supplier for everything". It is one accountable coordinator across categories: one specification template, one production calendar, one container plan, one set of shipping marks, one person who owns the answer when something goes wrong.
A FOB price from a Foshan factory is the beginning of a calculation, not the end of one. The number that matters includes freight, insurance, port charges at destination, inland trucking, customs clearance, duty, and — for ceramics in particular — anti-dumping or countervailing measures that a number of markets apply to Chinese tiles, at rates that vary by exporter and HS code.
Two consequences worth acting on this week:
1. Ask for the HS code on every quotation. Not the product name — the code. Your customs broker can price duty only from the code, and a supplier who cannot give you one is telling you something.
2. Ask how full the container is. A quote built on 60% container utilisation is not cheaper; it is more expensive per unit than a full one, and it usually means a second shipment later.
We quote FOB by default and lay the rest out separately, so you can see which part of the price is ours and which part is not.
Buyers who import windows, doors, joinery and finishes from China describe the same failure repeatedly: the sample is excellent, the bulk order is not. Components get substituted, thicknesses drift, a finish batch is a shade off, and by the time it is visible the goods are on the water.
The only reliable defence is to make the approved sample part of the contract, not a souvenir. Before any deposit:
l Sign and date the approved sample, and keep a second retained piece
l Put the specification in writing: material, thickness, finish, hardware brand, tolerance
l Photograph the approved sample under consistent light, and attach the photos to the PO
l Agree who inspects, at what stage, and what happens if it fails
A pre-shipment inspection that happens after the container is sealed is a formality. One that happens before packing is a control.
Foshan is roughly an hour's drive from the Pazhou complex — closer if you take the high-speed rail from Guangzhou South. If your flight home is later this week, a showroom visit will tell you more in three hours than three weeks of PDFs.
Our showroom in Foshan covers around 15,000 m² across the categories a project actually needs: doors and windows, kitchen and wardrobe cabinetry, ceramics, stone, flooring, sanitary ware, switches, lighting, furnishing and furniture. You can put a tile, a door sample and a cabinet finish side by side in the same light — which is the one thing a fair hall cannot give you, because the categories are in different buildings.
Bring your drawings, your material list and your budget range. What comes out is not a catalogue; it is two or three costed options for the same scheme.
Send the project drawings, the material list and a budget range. We come back within 24 hours with a quotation and a material plan, usually with two or three alternatives at different price points so you can see what the money buys.
For buyers who cannot travel, we do a live video walkthrough of the showroom and the relevant factories, and ship a consolidated sample box rather than five separate parcels from five suppliers.
1. Sort every contact into three buckets: possible, unclear, no. Delete the third today.
2. Pick one category and request a formal quotation with HS code, MOQ, lead time and packing details — not a price list.
3. Ask each shortlisted supplier one technical question you already know the answer to. The response speed tells you more than the response.
4. Consolidate. Find out now whether your categories can share a container, not in December.
5. Fix the specification before you negotiate. Discounts on an undefined product are meaningless.
6. Ask for the landed cost, not the FOB price.
7. Put one date in the calendar: the day you approve the sample. Everything downstream depends on it.
COOBUILD is a one-stop building materials supplier and sourcing group based in Foshan, Guangdong. We work with villa owners, apartment developers, contractors, interior designers, hospitality projects, importers and wholesalers — from single villas to multi-block residential developments, for clients from Cameroon to South America.
One team handles selection, custom manufacturing coordination, quality inspection before packing, export packaging, documentation and shipping. You communicate in English by WhatsApp, email or video call, and we coordinate everything on the ground.
Send your drawings, material list and budget. We will tell you what is realistic, what is not, and what it will cost to land.
[Send your project brief →]
How far is Foshan from Guangzhou?
About 40–50 km, roughly an hour by car from the Canton Fair Complex in Pazhou. High-speed rail from Guangzhou South to Foshan West takes around 20 minutes. Many buyers visit Foshan showrooms the day after the fair closes.
How long does shipping from China take?
Ocean transit is typically 15–40 days depending on the destination port, plus 7–14 days for booking, loading and documentation. We give you a sailing date and an estimated arrival window with the quotation, not after the deposit.
Are duties included in your price?
No. We quote FOB by default and provide the HS code for every item so your broker can calculate duty and any anti-dumping or countervailing measures that apply in your market. We can quote CIF or DDP on request.
Can I combine several categories in one container?
Yes — that is the main reason buyers come to us rather than to five factories. Cabinetry, tiles, sanitary ware, lighting and furniture can be consolidated with one master packing list, one set of shipping marks and one loading plan.
What do you need from me to quote?
Drawings or a dimensioned sketch, a material list if you have one, finishes you like, destination port and a budget range. If you only have photos from the fair, send those — we will turn them into a specification.
Do you work with buyers who already found their own factories?
Yes. We can coordinate suppliers you have already selected, or fill the gaps. The value is in the coordination and the single point of accountability, not in replacing your relationships.
Understand the costs of importing building materials from China, from product specifications and packing to freight and destination charges. Request an itemized project quote.
Still in China after Canton Fair 2026? Visit our 15,000 m² Foshan showroom with free pickup and return from Guangzhou. Book your COOBUILD visit.
Specify custom kitchen cabinets, doors, drawers and islands for your project. Share your plans with Coobuildgroup to discuss materials, hardware and a clear quotation.
Plan custom wardrobes with six thoughtful details: doors, storage zones, lighting, drawers, hanging space and clean finishes. Share your bedroom plans with Coobuildgroup.
Compare custom windows and doors from China by size, glazing, hardware and delivered cost. Send Coobuildgroup your plans to discuss options for your villa.
Plan custom kitchen cabinets for South Africa. Compare materials, hardware and China sourcing costs. Book a Foshan showroom visit with free Guangzhou transfers.
Planning to import building materials from China to Zimbabwe? Read our sourcing guide and book a Foshan showroom visit with free Guangzhou pickup by appointment.
