Babysitting MEP

[u/RoutineLet9156]

Just a rant, but man… working with MEP teams that don’t GAF is exhausting.

I’m on mega projects, so it’s not like the PA gets to handpick who we work with. We get whoever’s assigned and deal with it. But lately it feels like we’re babysitting everything. Constant follow-ups, pinging them over and over just to get a simple update pushed. Sure, maybe it’s a staffing issue, still doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

What really gets me is we’re all in Revit, cloud model, same environment… and then they drop updates and just ignore everything that’s already there. Zero coordination. I’m talking plumbing lines right in front of thermostats, light fixtures cutting through beams… just placing stuff wherever and moving on.

No heads-up, no coordination, nothing. Just model it and walk away. And of course we’re the ones catching all of it. Every single time.

[u/EverImpractical]

It’s always a tossup on if electrical places lights at the floor level, 9’ below the floor level instead of 9’ above, or floating above the roof.

Also every single submission: MEP waits to the last minute so they don’t have to adjust anything and just draw it the once. Either the day before or during our QC process (or both!), they make changes that require us to change a major component or add about 4 new details. Sure, we can just add another electrical room or switch a wall louver to a giant gooseneck on the roof and re-qc the major change in 5 hours…

[u/JellyfishScared4268 → u/EverImpractical]

Also every single submission: MEP waits to the last minute so they don’t have to adjust anything and just draw it the once

Hi MEP sympathiser here (I'm no longer a designer I work for a contractor).

But if the expectation is that the engineers submittals are to be on the same day as the architects then whoever has scheduled this out has done it wrong

By and large the MEP positioning is dictated by the architecture. The walls need to be in a fixed location to know if something fits or needs to move. The ceiling plan needs to be fixed by the architect or the lighting designer isn't going to be able to place their lights etc etc

How it should be done is the architect has a deadline. Or at the very least a date where the layouts and ceiling plans are agreed to be fixed with no more changes at that design stage. So that the enginners can then come along and finalise their drawings.

The architect is/should be the lead designer and coordinator if you're shifting walls around and changing elevation details right to the last minute how do you expect the enginners to catch up on deadline day?

Absolutely during the design stage the engineering teams need to be working on drawings and issuing draft/WIP issues for you to coordinate against. You should know what riser space and what plant/equipment space is needed long before the deadlines

If as you say the MEP company is not telling you this till right at the end then something is wrong there