Contact your local agency salesperson(s) who assisted you on the project immediately.

What are the reasons you get for being presented with an alternate package?

Do not spend time reviewing anything, unless it is owner directed.

The moment a lighting manufacturer’s representative sends a quote through channels, it is a mystery how the prices are being marked-up.

What if your carefully specified package is being inflated so that the alternate "Value Engineered" package looks more attractive?

If so, often the agent uses "Value Engineering" as an excuse to package products of a lesser quality, or without benefits you carefully vetted, at a price far above their worth. Single-agency packages are marketed to the owner, however the real profit is for the agent.

· Who is going to review photometry on the alternate products?

· Do you plan to review samples of all the proposed alternates, like you have done on the specified material?

· Who is ultimately paying for this process? More times than not, "Value Engineering" is initiated by an agent, in conjunction with a contractor, marketed to the owner, but subsidized by the designer.