Standard vs. Mission-Critical: Understand Your System Requirements Before Choosing a Mechanical Contractor

The following is an MSC success story and entirely true, but if you operate a building where mission-critical processes take place, consider it a cautionary tale.

Cleanroom temperature and humidity were fluctuating wildly during system commissioning on a laboratory construction project, and the installing mechanical contractor’s efforts to remedy the problems they'd likely caused in the first place only seemed to compound them. Commissioning was suspended, costs were piling up, and the project had gone completely off the rails.

MSC was called in to diagnose and fix the installing contractor's rapidly-snowballing problems and get the commissioning process back on track. This was successfully accomplished over the course of five days, and upon our departure, we recommended replacing the contractor with one that was more capable to finish out the remainder of the project.

Now, it should have been obvious from the get-go that the contractor was underqualified for the mission-critical project at hand, but the owners had failed to?budget based on their facility's specific needs. It boiled down to a classic mistake: they'd failed to fully understand their own system requirements, had done their shopping in all the wrong places, and now they were paying the price.

The owners followed our advice and brought in a replacement mechanical contractor, but don’t assume they'd learned their lesson. The second contractor wasn't properly vetted, either. Commissioning resumed, new issues emerged, the new company applied inappropriate fixes that cascaded into general chaos, and progress ground to a halt once again.

MSC was called back for the second time in less than a month to fix a whole new set of problems. And though we greatly appreciated our new client's confidence in our capabilities and the money we earned, this situation never should have happened.

Here’s the lesson. Construction budgets are what they are, but building owners must understand that there are significant differences between a standard HVAC system and one that serves a mission-critical environment. Likewise, all mechanical contractors are not equal, and complex projects demand contractors of matching caliber. Budget accordingly and compare apples to apples when choosing between contractors, or expect to pay dearly in time, money, and headaches.?

Think of it this way. If your Ford sedan needs service, the neighborhood auto repair franchise might be a perfectly acceptable choice. But would you entrust them with your hybrid luxury car, vintage Corvette, or Lamborghini? Of course not.

When taking on a major construction or renovation project, building owners need to figure out whether their HVAC system is akin to a Ford, a Lamborghini, or something in between, and apply the same standards when narrowing down their mechanical contractor choices.?