Do I need an MEP Engineer?

The most important thing here is to make sure that only one person is responsible for the end product. If you hire engineer, he must do field supervision, make sure that the job is done exactly as he planned, and he must have a responsibility for end result. Alternately a contractor can hire mechanical engineer, work with him on the design, and guarantee that the system will perform exactly as promised and specified. There should be no disconnect in the middle. All too often we see people paying design and engineering fee for a design that doesn’t take into consideration the nuances of this particular job, the plumber installs the closest he understands to the drawings, the engineer claims that supervision was not included in the 20k, and then when it doesn’t work each one has an excuse. At the end of the day it turns out the engineer never even visited the property and no calculations were ever performed. (this is actually happened on a project we were hired to fix. ) You have to make sure that the engineer and plumber/contractor you hire know these systems, do your due diligence. don’t rely on either party saying “we do this all the time and it works”. Contact the home owners, look at the work, check the little things, if it doesn’t seem right to you don’t be afraid to ask. A knowledgeable engineer or contractor MUST provide you with calculations to prove their point. We design-build our systems along with an engineer that we work with. This is the only way to ensure that there is only one person that answers for their work and that extra funds are not spent on a third party to make a design.

ellenlourie

in About Brooklyn 10 years ago

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lauraatlantern | 10 years ago

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I am in the planning process of gut renovating and providing an addition and new CofO to a stick built house in Brooklyn. The house needs completely new systems, and my architect recommended an MEP engineer who would do everything including drawings, filings, unlimited site visits and consultations for 20k. This seems like alot to me. Can’t the trades just make their own plans and file them? Its just a house, not the space shuttle. Thanks for your input.

steam_man | 10 years ago

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Negative, Ghost Rider. Contractors cannot stamp drawings and file them. You need a Professional Engineer for that. I’m a mechanical contractor. I’m pretty positive electricians and plumbers are in the same situation. Honestly, I believe it’s a great thing to have an engineer who can design the systems and if the contractor does the ultimate design at least the engineer can check the contractor based on science and not most contractor’s favorite method of design, “rule of thumb”.

resident2 | 10 years ago

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You ask 6 plumbers with no construction drawings to bid on the job, you will get 6 completely wild and wacky construction quotes and who only knows what you may end up moving into after a long nightmare of working out what you thought you were getting and what the plumber quoted for and what was not included!. Of course you want designed systems and you need to know a lot about what you think you want before you just let them spend your $20,000\. You can be sure it will cost you a lot more than $20,000 in over runs and change orders without a good set of plans going in. What is a stick building? A Wigwam?

lauraatlantern | 10 years ago

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THANKS resident2 and steam_man!!! A stick building meaning a frame house rather than a brownstone.

Lurker | 10 years ago

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That price is a bargain for the amount of work the MEP is signing on for assuming they are also doing the architectural drawings, so assuming they have good recommendations and portfolio I’d jump on it. If only structural and mechanical and inspections that may be high (depending on what arch is charging) A suggestion, having done this wrong myself: Figure out your absolute highest budget, then deduct a minimum 30 percent to keep for overruns. That figure left over has to account for drawings, permits, inspections, abatement, surprise structural stuff, surveys, fixtures, cabinets, door knobs, and all the other stuff your GC won’t provide. Deduct the cost of Engineer and whatever is left is your actual budget and let her/him know and then start talking design and plans. They should be able to tell you what is and isn’t possible within your budget BEFORE putting pen to paper and beginning to work on designs, and wasting time and money designing things that will never be possible in your budget. Maybe even take a list of items to a GC or two and ask if the ballpark number is within reason. If so great, then start working on designs. If not then you have to scale back your plans. As a very vague rule of thumb, and everyone on here has a different one, plan to spend $100-250 per sq ft minimum for a gut renovation depending on finishes (that’s Home Depot level). We were told to plan for 100k a floor for a brownstone if you’re gutting and redoing full mechanicals.