by C. Webster Marsh, CLCP and Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP, the Lighting Controls Association
You’ve designed your lighting control system and the construction documents have been issued. Now what? Many designers may believe that their job ends at this point, but this is when the hard work may just be beginning. With an air-tight specification, many pitfalls can be avoided, but a poorly specified system can create a lot of confusion and challenges during installation and post-occupancy.
In Part 3 of this series on how to design a lighting control system, we will discuss installation and post-occupancy. You will learn about bidding, responding to questions from installers, reviewing submittals and defending your design, following-through with the installation of the equipment, functional testing, training essential staff, and ultimately ensuring the owner is satisfied.
BIDDING
If the project is a design-bid-build project—which most public projects are—then there will be a bidding process. The bidding period may appear as a time of rest for the designer, but for the installers, it is a hectic time of review and estimation. Project documentation is thoroughly examined, broken up, and distributed to many people unfamiliar with the project, who will rely on the documentation to estimate its cost.
Here is an example list of common roles in the bidding process, which may vary based on the project:
General Contractor (GC): the entity responsible for the entire project. The GC will estimate the total cost of the project, usually adding up all subcontractors’ estimates.
Electrical Contractor (EC): the entity responsible for the installation of the project’s electrical equipment, acting as a subcontractor of the GC. The EC will estimate the cost of the electrical equipment and labor for the project and provide this estimate to the GC.
Distributor / Dealer: the entity that purchases equipment from the manufacturer’s representative for resale to the contractors or subcontractors. The distributor will request a quote from the equipment manufacturer(s) and then send a revised quote (including equipment and distributor costs) to the EC for equipment and, sometimes, services.
Manufacturer’s Representative: the entity that represents the manufacturer. The rep is often the only point of contact the project has with the manufacturer, and there may be multiple reps involved in projects involving multiple manufacturers.
Integrator: the entity that integrates various systems together. Depending on the scope and complexity of the project, the integrator may be the rep or a third party. The integrator helps review equipment quotes to ensure that the project is complete and the cost estimates are accurate.
PRICING
Project pricing varies a lot by territory, scope, and labor but often follows a similar basic format:
MSRP: The manufacturer sets the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP or “list” price) or any other pricing from the factory. The MSRP is a public number that often represents the maximum price. The MSRP may be the only pricing the designer sees, but typically adjustments are made by the manufacturer to these prices for various reasons.
Direct Sale: If the quote is a direct sale, the customer asking for the quote buys directly from the manufacturer with no middleman. When asked for a quote, the manufacturer will often discount the price based on the customer. This discount is often predicated on certain conditions—e.g., the customer must be a distributor—so owners are often precluded from direct sales.
Distributor Net (DNet): If a distributor or dealer is acting as a middleman between the manufacturer and the buyer, the price the distributor/dealer sells the products for is the DNet. This price is often discounted from the MSRP but marked up from the direct sale price. DNet is commonly requested by designers when budgeting a project to identify the “purest price” expected for the project.
Contractor Net (CNet): Distributors and dealers often quote their DNet to contractors or installers, and so the DNet price will have an additional markup known as the contractor net, or CNet. The CNet is the actual price the owner will pay for the products, which may be around the same price as the MSRP but could also be significantly less if the contractor is trying to be competitive and/or gets a steeply discounted DNet.
Overage: Overage refers to an upward adjustment made to the price and can be made at any point in the chain of quotations. The overage may be displayed or hidden, but it is a common practice used to ensure that small omissions can be covered if there is concern about the price for the project being too low. While the use of overage has been condemned in the past, it is neither illegal nor unethical to include, especially if the project is poorly specified and will require oversight.
Labor: Labor is the hardest price to pin down, since MSRP is not tied to this number. Labor pricing requires the installers to estimate time to execute the design. Every company has its own method for estimating labor. The best a designer can do is identify reputable and honest installers and use their quotes as a baseline to compare against.
USING DOCUMENTATION DURING BIDDING AND INSTALLATION
You have created important documents for your project, including a Control Intent Narrative (CIN), Sequence of Operations (SOO), and other specification documents. Each offers important information that supports the overall goal of the project during the bidding process.
The CIN is used to confirm with the owner and design team what was discussed and agreed upon during the design phase. Installers, distributors, and reps can use this document to confirm services required for the project, such as programming and integration.
The SOO is used as measurable criteria so that manufacturer(s) and installers can ensure that the CIN is met. The SOO helps identify devices and functions of the system so that a comprehensive bill of materials (BOM) can be created.
When coordinated and designed correctly, every member of the team should have the required information for their job to be fulfilled. It is the lighting controls designer’s responsibility to check new information, during and after the bidding, against the CIN and SOO and update these documents if changes are made to the design.
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
The request for information (RFI) is usually the first document generated during bidding or installation. The main purpose of this document is to provide the installers with an opportunity to ask questions of the design team.
An RFI may be used when the installer needs more information to bid the project completely or when there is a discovery during installation that potentially changes design implementation. In both cases, RFIs are important, as they are part of the formal documentation to track correspondences between the installer and design team as shown in the example RFI log below.
CHANGE ORDER
When the scope of the project requires modification, an RFI may lead to a change order, so that the contractor can revise the estimated cost of the project to accommodate the new scope.
Not all RFIs lead to a change order, however,the design team may be able to direct the installation team to existing documentation that addresses the contractor’s concerns. For example, the installation team may ask whether a space requires a photosensor even though the SOO already addressed that question. The design team can then respond by referring the installers to the SOO.
In other instances, a change order may be necessary due to a mistake or omission in project documentation or a discovery made during installation–e.g., a gypsum ceiling is dismantled and unanticipated asbestos is discovered. A change order in this case would require abatement and may require changes to the design and a significant increase the cost of the project.
SUBMITTALS
Submittals provide an opportunity for designers to confirm that the estimate used during the bidding matches the expectations of the design team.
The submittals include information regarding products that will be delivered, installed, and programmed, and which services will be provided by the manufacturer, installers, and integrators.
The design team reviews and then approves or rejects the proposed system. In some cases, the submittal package may simply be marked up cutsheets and a one-line diagram, but more complex lighting controls projects may have additional documentation to communicate the proposed system more completely.
It is the responsibility of lighting controls designers to compare their own documentation to the submittals so that everything specified in the submittal is accurate and complete. If a submittal is incomplete or inaccurate for any reason, the designer should identify where a change or more information is needed and where in the corresponding specifications the requirements documents can be found.
BILL OF MATERIALS (BOM)
Alongside or sometimes included in the submittal, will be a bill of materials (BOM) that itemizes all equipment and services provided with the lighting control system.
This document should identify equipment by part number and quantities, and also any services with a detailed description of what that service will cover.
The BOM is the document that will be used by the manufacturer to begin production and so it is important to ensure that the part numbers and quantities listed in the BOM are accurate and align with the rest of the submittal documentation. The designer cross check the BOM with the submittals and design documents to ensure it is complete and accurate.
SUBSTITUTIONS
There may be a time when a different manufacturer suggests using their products as a lower-cost substitute for the products specified in the design. This may offer an opportunity to lower equipment cost, but the proper procedure for substitutions should be followed to ensure that a substitution meets or exceeds the specified system.
Many design teams and jurisdictions have their own requirements for approving substitutions, and most public sector projects require that equivalent equipment be listed in the specifications prior to bidding. Overall, it is important that any substitutions are reviewed before being specified or approved. Most lighting control systems and devices cannot be swapped one for one, and, in the event of a substitution request, the burden of proof is on the installers to show how the proposed substitution is equivalent (or better) than the specified equipment.
When a substitution request is made, the lighting controls designer should ask for a complete submittal package and time to review it thoroughly. If the submittal is approved, the installers will then use the approved revised submittal as the official document for ordering and installation of parts. If the substitution does not meet the requirements of the specification, then the substitution should be rejected. In this case, a revised substitution may be submitted, which would require the same approval process.
PRE-STARTUP MEETING
A pre-startup meeting (also known as a pre-wire or pre-installation meeting) is scheduled after the submittals are approved but before products are delivered to the site. This meeting offers the design team and installers the opportunity to discuss the “means and methods,” a construction term referring to the work a contractor is responsible for, such as hammering a nail or running wire.
Some systems are straightforward enough that the installers do not require a pre-startup meeting, but it is good practice to anticipate and schedule one nonetheless, as the installers may need some guidance on how to install the lighting control system. The lighting controls designer should make sure this meeting is scheduled well in advance of product delivery and includes representatives of the owner, the design team, the installers, and the lighting controls manufacturer(s).
Important information to discuss in the pre-startup meeting includes:
- CIN and SOO review
- Installation requirements and procedures
- Startup requirements and procedures
- Programming and testing procedures/Commissioning requirements
- End-user training
- Ongoing support
STARTUP
Startup is a term used to refer to the first time a lighting control system is powered.
It is important that the manufacturer coordinate the startup procedure because of specific requirements that must be met before devices are energized.
For example, a manufacturer may require an onsite review, by a factory-certified technician, of the installation to ensure that the wiring is correct. Powering a lighting control system that has not been wired correctly may result in damage to multiple devices, which is why many manufacturers impose this requirement.
PROGRAMMING
Programming the system to operate according to specifications can be accomplished by a factory-certified technician, an integrator, a contractor, or even the occupants (depending on difficulty and skill level). This often takes place after the startup. Programming is when the SOO is most often the reference document for this activity, as it provides a checklist for the programmer to follow to ensure that the system meets the specifications.
Site visits with the design team and owner should be scheduled during programming, especially if custom or complex programming is required, so that the designers are available to fine tune the settings. Programmed settings should be documented and backed up during programming to ensure that the system can be restored quickly in the event of a system or device failure. These settings include time schedules for control systems, time delay and sensitivity adjustments for occupancy sensors, light level setpoints, integrated dimmer presets, and other calibration and programmed functionality.
FUNCTIONAL TESTING AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
Once the system has gone through startup and programming, the last major step is the functional test and/or acceptance testing. This purpose of this step is to ensure that the system meets the Owner Project Requirements (OPR).
Some energy codes and jurisdictions require a third party to perform functional testing, so the lighting controls designer should plan accordingly and alert the owner to this requirement.
TRAINING END-USERS
Training for the owner or the end-user should be included in the services offered by the manufacturer. It is the responsibility of the designer to ensure that end-user training is provided before a project concludes.
To ensure that the end-user is adequately trained, the manufacturer’s representative and owner’s representative should jointly identify the optimal time to schedule training. Ideally, training should be provided to the personnel responsible for ongoing operations and maintenance of the lighting control system onsite with the equipment installed.
Many manufacturers also offer to record training sessions and provide a copy to the owner for future reference.
OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL (O&M)
The owner’s operations and maintenance manual (O&M) is the document provided to the owner or owner’s representative at the completion of the project, oftentimes during the training. The O&M is a resource that the owner can access for information about the lighting control system. This document should contain the most up-to-date project drawings, reports, instructions, and contact information for support.
Historically, this document has been in physical form, but modern O&Ms have been provided in digital form via thumb drive or download.
POST-OCCUPANCY
The final phase of a project, when the building is occupied by the owner, its employees, and its tenants, is known as post-occupancy.
Many occupants require time to become accustomed to their new environment and learn how their new lighting controls work. Similarly, occupants may want to change lighting control system settings. Because of this, return visits, scheduled at six months and two years following project completion, to address any reprogramming or system setting modifications are recommended.
ONGOING SERVICES
Many of the modern lighting control systems require occasional equipment updates. Some facilities have staff that are responsible for ensuring that the lighting control system is updated and maintained, but many installers are now offering ongoing services to ensure customer satisfaction.
Ongoing services may be an option offered by the manufacture, but dealers and integrators local to the project may be a better choice for ongoing services to facilitate a faster response when on-site support is required. Unlike a scheduled return visit, ongoing services frequently provide on-call support to address issues such as troubleshooting, reprogramming, upgrading, and more.
