Hi Frank,

I agree with you on the site managers outlook. Most of them could give a rats behind with what we want. They only care about schedules and cost overruns.

Somehow we as an industry have to find a way to make this important, and better yet, how do we get the owner to enforce this.

I have asked for first shot at the space for piping. If I have a good relationship with the owner I used to win fairly often.

Consulting engineers can accommodate this when they do the drawings if they are specifying the piping runs. Unfortunately, the biggest stuff usually wins. Chilled water piping and duct work, that sort of thing.

It is sort of a compound problem, or similar to the chicken and the egg problem. Which one comes first?

I also agree with the maintenance predicament you describe. The owners only understand money. They don't know anything about what we do or why. Only that we cost money!

One of the more difficult points to teach an owner is the difference between predictive maintenance and preventative maintenance.

They tend to think in terms of immediate costs since this is what they see and have to write checks for. You are right, it is like a brick wall. I'm trying to figure out a way that we can overcome this mindset and work it to our advantage.

I hope to get some discussion on this from everyones view and see if there are any ideas.

By the way, I liked your anatomical reference. I've used this before, and just barely caught myself before saying it in "mixed" company. Not good