Key Takeaways
- A quote gives you a size and a price; it does not give you species, grade, material strength, or verified dimensions unless you ask directly.
- The right questions surface risk before the PO is signed, not after a mat fails on a live lift.
- A supplier who answers clearly and specifically is a different kind of supplier than one who answers in generalities.
Does your supplier volunteer a documented bending strength rating, or do they wait for you to ask? Most don’t volunteer it. That’s not necessarily a red flag by itself, but it tells you the quote in front of you is a starting point, not the full picture.
The Quote Tells You Less Than the Answers Do
A price and a size are the two easiest things to put on paper, and they’re also the two things that tell you the least about what you’re buying. Species, grade, dimension, and material strength are the four things a real quote needs to answer for; hardware and origin round out the full picture. Skip any of the first four, and you’re not comparing mats; you’re comparing guesses that happen to share a price line. Ask the right questions before you sign, and you find out which supplier you’re actually dealing with.
Questions About the Mat Itself
What species is this, specifically?
“Hardwood” is not an answer; there are roughly 20 commercial species in regular use across the mat industry, and their bending strength varies enormously. “Mixed hardwood” means even less; it’s a marketing term only. Oak, mixed hardwood, and Eucalyptus are not interchangeable, whatever a spec sheet implies by grouping them under one price line. If the answer is vague, the mat probably is too.
Can you provide a documented bending strength rating?
Ask for MOR in PSI, referenced against the AWC National Design Specification or a comparable standard like AS 3818 for Eucalyptus. This is the material strength question, and it’s the one most quotes skip entirely. A supplier who can hand you a number backed by a testing standard is a supplier who knows what they’re selling. A supplier who says “it’s strong enough” is asking you to trust a guess.
What are the true measured dimensions?
A 12-inch mat that measures 11 inches in hand has lost close to a sixth of its rated bearing capacity, since capacity scales with roughly the square of thickness. Ask whether the quoted dimension is nominal or measured, and ask who verifies it on delivery. If the answer is “you” on any of this, build that inspection into your receiving process.
Ask about effective bearing length too, not just overall length; many cranes simply are too big to take advantage of a 20′ length. Buying anything longer than close to the effective bearing length is wasting money. Check out David Duerr’s excellent Mobile Crane Support Handbook for details.
What hardware is in it?
Crane mats generally run 12 inches thick and should use Grade 36 bolts or better, though global steel tariffs have pushed some mills toward cheaper hardware to hold their price. Ask what grade is actually used, and ask whether timbers are square cut or rounded. Square timbers grip each other more solidly and wear more evenly under repeated track and forklift traffic; rounded edges are missing usable material and loosen faster at the bolt line. Ask about end plates too. They’re standard practice on crane mats almost everywhere outside the US, where their added cost discourages adoption.
Questions About Where It Comes From
Do you manufacture these, or source them?
A manufacturer can trace a mat to species, grade, and often the specific log run; some can trace it further still. A reseller is often reselling whatever came available that week, and can’t always answer the species question with confidence. Neither model is automatically wrong, but you should know which one you’re buying from before you rely on the answer to every other question here.
Where is the timber grown, and how is it certified?
Domestic oak supply has tightened for centuries, especially in recent decades, and high-quality stock has grown scarcer and more expensive as a result. Plantation-grown Eucalyptus, sourced from managed forests, comes with a different supply story and generally a documented chain of custody. Ask for it, down to the forest location if the supplier can provide it. A supplier with nothing to show here is a supplier with nothing to verify.
Has it been phytosanitary treated?
This matters more than most buyers assume, particularly on imported species or mats crossing state or national lines. Untreated material can trigger delays or rejection at a jobsite or border that has nothing to do with the mat’s strength and everything to do with paperwork nobody checked in advance.
Questions About Supply and Lead Time
What is your lead time on a first order versus a repeat order?
First orders often pull from whatever inventory is closest to spec. Repeat orders, placed with 60 to 90 days of runway, give a mill room to cut to your exact requirement. If your project runs multiple phases, ask this question with your full timeline in view, not just the next mobilization date.
Can you supply this same spec again in six months?
A supplier who can’t answer this with confidence is telling you something about their own supply chain. Mid-project mat replacement on a different species or grade than your original order complicates your load calculations and your OSHA compliance documentation alike. (As a side note: World Forest Group mats are not likely to be the same either; they continually improve their specification. Currently on version 12.)
Questions About Freight and Delivery
How many mats fit on a truckload?
Weight drives this number directly. A 12-inch Eucalyptus load fits around 11 new mats per truck, rising to about 13 after roughly six months of field-driven moisture loss, against roughly 10 for a comparable mixed hardwood load. At roughly $1,500 or more per truckload, that difference compounds every time mats move. Ask for freight cost per mat landed at your site, not the mill-gate price alone.
Questions About What Happens After Delivery
What service life should I plan for?
Oak generally runs 2 to 3 years in the field, mixed hardwood often less, and Eucalyptus typically 5 to 7 years, with rot as the leading long-term failure mode across all species except Eucalyptus. Get a specific answer tied to your site conditions, not a generic range copied from a brochure.
What support exists if a mat fails early?
Ask this directly, and ask for it in writing. A supplier confident in their product answers this question without hesitation. A supplier who deflects is telling you they don’t expect to be held to it.
Answers That Should Make You Slow Down
Vague species answers, no documented MOR rating, no clear freight-inclusive pricing, and no answer on lead time for repeat orders are all signals worth pausing on. None of them individually kill a deal. Together, they describe a supplier who is selling you a size, not a specification.
A Short Checklist to Take Into Your Next Supplier Call
- Documented species, grade, and MOR rating in PSI, referenced to a named standard.
- True measured dimensions and effective bearing length, confirmed at delivery, not just quoted.
- Hardware grade and construction method, square cut versus rounded, and whether end plates are used.
- Origin, certification, and phytosanitary status where applicable.
- Freight cost per mat, landed at your site.
- Lead time for both first and repeat orders on the same spec.
A mat is not a mat, and a quote is not a specification. Ask these questions before the PO goes out, not after the mat is already on the ground under a loaded crane.
Ready to put these questions to a supplier who has documented answers for every one of them? Contact World Forest Group for a species and MOR rating on your next crane mat order.
