Re: Contruction, Architects and Building Commissioning
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:41:25 -0700 (PDT)

On Jul 27, 2007, at 11:02 AM, Kristen Simmons wrote:

Regarding the third party review that Sharon described in her email, I
believe that she is referring to Building Commissioning. After the building in completed, a Building Commissioner, and independent third party, will
review the mechanical systems to verify through tests that the may the
requirements in the construction documents. Discrepancies would then need to
be resolved by the contractor.

In our case we contracted with a company that also does reserve studies and they looked at everything. A variety of engineers and people with construction experience looked at all parts of the building and the plans. The developer was very angry that we were doing this but they found substantial corrections that had to be made including small things like the Hardy Plank siding installed too close to the ground to the membrane under the cement corridors on the upper floors improperly installed. There was plumbing that did not meet code. Some were construction design issues and others were contractor errors.

The firm that we now consult with about structural and mechanical issues has a better website so I refer readers to them to see what such firms do:

http://www.architectural-support-group.com/

We didn't use this firm for our engineering study because they had provided some project supervision and had consulted with our developer so we wanted a third eye. They also do commissioning and many other services.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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