Owner have Standards or Specifications?

MeyerFire University | ​FX101.04

By Joe Meyer, PE

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• Notes Page

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TRANSCRIPT

Does the owner have standards or specifications? 

 Some building owners have their own set of standards or specifications for renovation and new construction projects. 

This is very common for large building owners who have a large volume of construction work. 

It's much easier for this type of building owner to publish a set of standards than it is to explain every detail they want to every consultant or contractor that does work for them on every single job. 

This is very common for hospital networks, government agencies, large corporations, and university campuses. 

Each of these organizations benefit from having a streamlined set of standards or specifications throughout all their projects. 

On the suppression side a common example might include pipe end prep, pipe types, pipe thickness, fitting types, desiring or disallowing flex drops, safety factors, and clarifications for their unique building hazards. 

On the fire alarm side common standards might include which manufacturers are allowable or which panel models are wanted. 

It is important to ask the owner has their own specifications that need to apply to the project, early in the project. 

If incorporated into a project at the design stage, the impact might be very little, but just as with everything else, if it's a surprise on the back end during construction then it could lead to change orders that someone may to have to eat. 

Where do you find owner standards? 

Ask your project manager or the owners project manager or representative.  

If the contact for the owner is involved regularly in design and construction, they should have access to these standards and can share them with the design team. 

I'm Joe Meyer, this is MeyerFire University.