by Scott D. Butcher, FSMPS, CPSM
JDB Engineering has been fortunate to have developed great relationships with a number of construction firms – general contractors, construction managers, mechanical contractors, and electrical contractors. Much of the firm’s work since our inception has entailed providing responsive engineering and consulting solutions to contractors, whether working on smaller MEP upgrade and replacement projects or fully-integrated design of major new buildings and plants. Because of this, we really understand the fast-paced project environment and always work to provide meaningful information early in the process to expedite decision-making or GMP development.
Some of the services we regularly provide to our construction partners include:
- Comprehensive MEP Engineering, for those projects that demand complete, integrated solutions. Sometimes this is driven by client requirements, other times by project complexity.
- Design Assist, for when our partners need knowledge, but not fully-developed models and documents. This may be as simple as answering a few questions, or as complex as providing a high level of project conceptualization or developing preliminary design documents.
- Early equipment procurement, to establish parameters and prepare specifications. This is especially critical for fast-track construction projects, which seem to be increasingly common as clients tend to delay contract award dates but don’t change project completion dates.
- Detailed schematics and thorough scope definition for early GMP development. This is very important because MEP systems can represent a significant percentage of the overall project construction cost, and contractors need a firm that can “think through construction” at the very beginning of a project – before the design even commences.
- 3D Drawings for coordination and fabrication, which is becoming more common as the design and construction industry moves to fully-integrated building models, prefabrication, and modular construction. We’ve even been asked to convert 2D drawings to 3D for contractors that don’t currently have that capability in-house.
- 3rd-party commissioning to verify the systems are working as intended. This might be for projects we design, or it might be a form of retro-commissioning, when we are brought in to troubleshoot a system that is not working properly.
- Building Information Model (BIM) development is an area where JDBE excels, as we’ve been designing integrated models in Revit for more than five years.
- Sustainable strategies and design, for when contractors want meaningful approaches without the fluff. A lot of times this means thinking beyond the engineering tables, focusing on energy cost reduction (which is a major driver for most of our clients), and designing “green” without using third-party certification systems.
Are you in need of an engineering firm that provides responsive solutions to construction firms? Give me a call at 717-434-1543 or email me at sbutcher@jdbe.com and we can talk about your specific project needs and how JDB Engineering can provide value, whether you are pursuing a project or trying to deliver one that has already been awarded to your firm.
