The invention relates to a method for hot-dip coating hot-rolled steel strip, during which the steel strip passes through a pickling station, a rinsing station, a drying station, a heating furnace and then through a molten bath. The final thickness and the thickness tolerance of the hot-dip coated steel strip are achieved by a controlled thickness reduction in a roll stand in the process line. The achievement of the finished thickness is controlled by at least one thickness measuring unit at the outlet of the roll stand, and deviations upward or downward therefrom are fed back in the form of an actuating signal for actuating the roll stand in order to appropriately increase or decrease the thickness reduction. The invention also relates to an installation for producing a steel strip of the aforementioned type.