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Design engineer or commissioning consultant?
The construction project team needs to understand the difference between the commissioning consultant and the design engineer. Misunderstandings of their roles can cause unnecessary friction within the project team. Misunderstanding often leads to the questions: "Who is in charge?" and "Who is responsible?"
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The commissioning consultant's activities are tightly integrated with the contents of the design documents. The commissioning consultant verifies that construction proceeds in accordance with the design documents. The verification process addresses general and detailed specification requirements, and it generates questions and discussions about the intent of the specification requirements.
Many of the discussions are between the commissioning consultant and the contractors. The discussions often start because the commissioning consultant reports that the contractors are not adhering to the specifications. The commissioning consultant references the specifications and presents the specific requirement to the contractors. This specification presentation can give the appearance that the commissioning consultant is promoting a document that the consultant has generated him/herself But of course, the design engineer wrote the specification.
The...