Most skill-lab decisions are made by comparing equipment lists. It's the wrong comparison. Machines are the easiest thing to buy and the least likely reason a program succeeds or fails.
Six questions that actually predict success
One: who runs the sessions after the launch photos? A lab without a dedicated, trained facilitator becomes a storage room. Two: is the program on the timetable, or is it an after-school extra? Timetabled programs survive; extras evaporate.
Three: what goes home? If parents never see what their child built, the program is invisible to the people who fund it. Four: how is progress measured? 'The kids love it' is not a report. Five: what happens in year two — does the curriculum deepen or repeat? Six: who maintains the machines, and how fast?
The pattern behind the questions
Every question points at the same thing: a lab is a program, not a purchase. The partners worth choosing sell you continuity — people, curriculum, measurement, and maintenance — with the machines as the visible tip.