FP Bid Documents: What Matters Most to YOU?

Perhaps the biggest elephant in the room of the fire sprinkler design industry is the problem of delegated design. 

It's not the concept, per se, but its execution that leaves so many projects in bad waters ripe with change orders.

I'm looking specifically at projects where little to no effort was put into the fire protection bid documents, and as a result, the bidding contractors are worse off than if no fire protection bid documents had been provided at all.

BAD DELEGATED DESIGN
Bad delegated design (1) makes bidding and estimating far more difficult, (2) performing the work more difficult, (3) can create costly change orders for the owner, (4) can actually get in the way of code compliance, and (5) hurts bidders, building owners, and the practice of fire protection engineering overall.

Fire Protection doesn't have to be a "necessary evil."

It doesn't have to be the bane of every architect and building owner.

We don't have to be the bad guys: this is an issue we can do something about.

And make no mistake - I'm not immune to putting out sour projects. I can improve just as much as I like to soapbox.

Personally, I think this should be the central focus for any fire protection engineering organization. It's the #1 issue I hear about from the construction side.

Cleaning up the practice and improving the building owner's experience with a smooth, streamlined process with far less adversarial friction can put fire protection in a warmer "thanks-for-looking-out-for-us" light rather than what it is today for many.

HOW TO FIX?
I don't get the impression the issue has much of anything to do with those who are fire protection people - those inside the industry who learn, read, push themselves, get educated, engage online, ask questions, go to the fire protection conferences, get their CEUs in fire protection, or get credentialed in fire protection. I don't get the sense that the problem is from those who are plugged-in and are invested in fire protection.

But, that doesn't mean we let it slide.

This is a topic that we're not going to let go until it's far better than what it is today. If you want to read more on this, see these pieces:
- The Delegated Design Problem
- FP Engineering Documents: What Goes In?
- A Practical (Real-World) Design-Spec Checklist
- The "Lanes" of Fire Protection Pre-Bid Consulting
- Why Isn't All Sprinkler Design Done Upfront?

WHAT MATTERS IN A SET OF BID DOCUMENTS?
We're working on material to help build up the consulting side - what we need help with today is identifying what it is that actually matters to sprinkler contractors in executing a project (estimating, bidding, managing, designing). 
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IF YOU WORK IN SPRINKLER CONTRACTING, WE NEED YOUR OPINION HERE:

HELP US DETERMINE WHAT MATTERS TO YOU

Yes, this is a survey - it should take about 120 seconds - but it's one where we're looking for specific scoring data so that we can relate, score, and real, helpful give feedback to consultants on how they can create better documents.

This is an opportunity to be heard and help us deliver something tangibly helpful in improving the industry.

We'll follow up with the data we collect and give that back to you as a big thank you for your time and input.

I hope, in time, to put together entry-level educational material on exactly these topics but have your voice in as part of that process. 

Plenty more to come on this topic. After you've had a chance to take the poll and score what matters to you, come back here and share your take in the comments below. Your take is always appreciated!

Thanks as always for being part of this community, and have a great rest of your week!

​- Joe