Keeping your design-build project on schedule can be a challenge. Planning, communicating and coordinating all the different trade professionals is important and one set-back can cause a ripple effect for others. Here are a few items General Contractors can check off the list to keep the fire protection part of the plan on moving forward.
1. Have background CAD Drawings available
Your fire protection project starts with installation drawings which overlay with the project’s background CAD drawing. The design of a fire protection project cannot begin until these original drawings are received. When you select your Life Safety partner, have your project’s CAD drawings ready to hand over so that the fire protection design can begin immediately. To delay the start of the design can lead to slow submittals, unnecessary delays, or even missed deadlines.
2. Coordination with other trades
To have a successful fire protection design, your Life Safety partner will need to coordinate efforts with other trades during construction. Successful communication between trades will limit delays and errors in project delivery. For example, your HVAC professional needs to provide an accurate count of duct detectors installed and their location. If you have an excavation company performing the underground work of laying the pipe for the fire sprinkler water connection, they need to communicate with your life safety company concerning the details and timeline.
3. Cut out the Phone Company
We all know utilities move at their own pace. Waiting on the phone company to provide a dedicated line for your fire sprinkler monitoring system can be frustrating and cause an unnecessary delay. By utilizing cell monitoring you can cut out the phone company altogether. Take back control of your project. Your Life Safety partner can install a cell dialer during construction. Cell monitoring will not only save you time in your project schedule, it is also more cost effective for sprinkler monitoring. If you will be selling the property, this is a money-saving feature you can pass on to your buyer. If the property will be for tenant use, having cell monitoring means you don’t have to worry about relying on the tenant’s phone line or interrupted monitoring when tenants move in and out. Read more about the benefits of cell monitoring.
4. Communicate Permit Notes/Changes
When permits are returned with comments it is imperative that these notes be passed back along to your subcontractors including your Life Safety partner. If changes are required but not implemented, you can fail your final walk-through and delay occupancy. Even small changes can take time and cause extra expense if they have to be corrected after all work is complete; however, the delay and expense can be minimized if the changes are communicated during construction.
5. Communicate Changes to Project Schedule
Changes to your project schedule need to be communicated to your Life Safety partner and other subcontractors as soon as possible. If you are changing your project to a phased project, experiencing delays, or accelerating your project getting all of your partners on-board with that change as quickly as possible can be the difference in successfully meeting your new timeline.
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