Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/825042
22 FEDA News & Views ten for an engineer, where the liability and the requirements are considerably different than they would be for a consultant. And if we stupidly go ahead and sign it and take that respon- sibility on us, we have to backtrack." There's also the issue of KECs that are willing to do the M.E.P. work. "We get a lot of pushback from some project man- agers, construction managers and GCs who claim that on the last project they worked on, the KEC did everything, including plumbing, electrical, etc.," says Frable. "When I question that, they say it's a standard practice and I don't get it. What I think happens is that certain dealers partner with non-union electri- cians, plumbers, and sheet metal trades to be able to offer a full package to buyers to either make the project pot bigger, or to get an advantage over traditional dealers that only handle equipment." And mudding the landscape even more is the reality that every job is different from market to market, customer to cus- tomer, etc. Case in point: the installation of hoods. "A lot of the chains put the hoods in the whole ventilation system (in the HVAC, the duct work and the sheet metal con- tract), but in a more standard restaurant and school dining world, those are part of kitchen contracts," says Frable. "We've had clients that have been very specifi c about wanting an all- in-one contract. They tell us, 'We don't care who, but we don't want the kitchen person supplying the one piece and some other person supplying another piece,' and that has some validity." No. 4: Consultants Should Take the Lead in Facilitating Acknowledging that there are no easy answers, Frable says one way to at least get all of the trades on the same page is to communicate more and meet often. "We try to get everything on the table by organizing a kick- off meeting at the beginning of the project," he says. "That's a missing component that I think a lot of smaller consultants just don't do. Part of the challenge is doing work across the state. Most of my work is in the New York region so I can drive to a meeting or hop on a train. A consultant who has to go 300 miles to manage a meeting for a new high school in Idaho, may not be able to do that. One option is to use GoToMeeting or Skype and host a virtual meeting or conference call. In most cases, however, it doesn't happen and that's where things fall through the cracks." No 5: Being Present Throughout a Job is Key Unfortunately, there are a few inherent bad breaks that kitchen equipment contractors have to contend with on every major project. First, there's the notion that the kitchen is one of the most undervalued spaces on a job, even though it's one of the most complicated and expensive spaces to build in a facility. Next, there's the natural order of things. The kitchen work is one of the last phases of a project, which means there's always a lot of fi ngers pointing in the direction of the KEC and many are not there to defend themselves. "You have to be actively present in construction manage- ment and job site meetings because not only are the plumber, electrician and mechanical contractor working onsite on a daily basis," says Lancaster, "they have more of an opportunity to build a relationship with the GC. The process will go a lot smoother if you can coordinate with those trades throughout the construction process to make sure the plumbing is in the right place and the electrical is in the right place. "You can't just pop up with the equipment at the end of the process. Make sure they understand that you're part of the team and not just an outsider. If you're not careful, you're going to be at fault for each and every problem, and you're going to be back charged for every little thing that goes wrong. And, things will go wrong. "Hopefully, you can effectively mange the process and work with the other trades to make sure that everyone is working toward the same goal: to make the customer happy. If they're not happy, everyone starts pointing fi ngers and no one wins in those situations." 5 Reasons continued REQUIRED READING Not paying attention to the details speci- fi ed in various contract documents typically results in a lot of headaches and, more importantly, a loss of prof- it. "We are already bidding these jobs low enough," says Thompson & Little's Drew O'Quinn. "You don't want to lose any more money just by not reading your contract." Below are a number of the most common profi t drains he fl ags when reviewing contract documents. PAY WHEN PAID – "The GCs write in their contracts that they are only obligated to pay us if they get paid by their customer. We scratch it out." CHANGE ORDERS – "GCs try to write in the contract that we are to proceed with change orders prior to execution. We don't like to do that, as some GCs then take the C.O. away after we do the work." JOBSITE CONDITIONS – "We like the contract to state that the walls, fl oors, and ceiling must be in a fi nished state before we will install equipment." M.E.P CONNECTIONS – "We exclude these connections from our scope of work. Sometimes, contracts will state that whatever the electrician's or plumber's con- tracts don't pick up, we have to pick up the rest to make the equipment fully functional. We scratch through that, as we are not performing any connections or M.E.P work." PROJECT DELAYS – "The contract will state that if the GC delays us, we are only entitled to a time adjustment on the construction schedule. If they cause us to incur more costs, we write in that we are due that money if they delay us as well." --Drew O'Quinn REQUIRED READING Not paying attention to the details speci- fi ed in various contract documents typically results in a lot of headaches and, more importantly, a loss of prof- it. "We are already bidding these jobs low enough," says Thompson & Little's Drew O'Quinn. "You don't want to lose any more money just by not reading your contract." Below are a number of the most common profi t drains he fl ags when reviewing contract documents.