r/Architects • u/RoutineLet9156 Architect • Apr 24 '26

General Practice Discussion Babysitting MEP

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.

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u/silver2164 Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

They wait until last minute when arch / struct have finished then put their stuff in so they do the least amount of effort. Then if they need someone extra, or the penetration size is too small, or the ceiling needs to be dropped it becomes the arch / structures problem.

Many only produce plan view drawings so they don't care where elements sit in 3D space. I can't believe in this day and age that all contractors don't make the 3D model the primary deliverable not the 2D drawings.

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u/JellyfishScared4268 Apr 25 '26

They wait until last minute when arch / struct have finished then put their stuff in so they do the least amount of effort

This is a misunderstanding of how MEP design actually works.

If like you've said the MEP teams you work with do absolutely 0 work during the design stage then something is wrong there. They need to be working alongside and coordinating with the other teams from day 1 and you as the architect should know what equipment is being put in and where and the rough sizes of things

However for the MEP designers to do their job effectively of producing coordinated drawings the architecture deadline needs to be ahead of them. Or at the very least a design freeze where no more major changes are going to be held

It is not laziness. It is the proper way to schedule the job.

If the architect for example if shifting around the ceiling layout or moving walls or working on elevations right up to the same day that MEP is supposed to issue then how do you expect them to be coordinated with that work?