Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
As Chair of AFSA, I am proud of the technical skills that define the fire sprinkler industry. Our work requires precision and coordination, which is coupled with hard or difficult installation conditions. Imagine roughing in a steel pipe system on the fourth floor of a hotel, in February, that doesn’t have windows in northern states. The prefabricated pipe better fit if you expect to bring the job in under the estimated installation hours. The quality of the system design or shop drawings will be sabotaged by a poorly planned and poorly coordinated project by the general contractor. Unfortunately, that happens with certain general contractors or repeat offenders. Often, the other mechanical trades are the cause of installation conflicts. It’s so frustrating and costly to hack up prefabricated piping in the field to get around another trade’s installed material that is in the wrong place. Besides being on time, coordination is key to a successful rough-in. Some jobs do not require too much coordination, while other jobs are very intense.
Our industry has been keen on coordination for a very long time, all the way back to when shop drawings were done by hand on drafting boards. I can still smell the ammonia from the machine, making the blueprints from the shop drawings. We moved on to Computer-Aided Design or CAD, with plans on a computer monitor and drawings printed on a plotter. The light table for coordination overlay of hand-drawn plans went away. Coordination with CAD reduced conflicts but did not eliminate them. Today, coordination expectations are higher than ever. Now projects are CAD-designed with three-dimensional models utilizing 3D software with Building Information Modeling or BIM.
BIM offers tremendous advantages. You can view the structure and its systems in the building model. It provides coordination of all systems with clash detection. BIM allows project teams to make decisions early in the process. For fire sprinkler contractors and designers, these are meaningful benefits that can improve efficiency and accuracy.
At the same time, BIM presents very real challenges for fire sprinkler designers. In many projects, sprinkler design remains one of the last systems brought into the coordination process, forcing designers to work around decisions that have already been made by others. Walls move, ceilings shift, equipment changes, and the available space for piping becomes tighter with every revision. What may appear coordinated one day can become a conflict the next day, and more engineering time is expended. This constant need to adapt places significant pressure on designers who are already balancing code compliance, hydraulic performance, constructability, and project deadlines.
The BIM process can be extremely frustrating, with the design labor duration taking two or three times longer than the 2D CAD method. The contractor considers the other projects that could have been installed with those extra design hours, or the opportunity cost. Worse yet is when BIM coordination does not get fully implemented or enforced by the general contractor during the installation of mechanical systems at the project, also known as pretend BIM. The pipe didn’t fit. A lot of design work and prefabrication were wasted. Field labor hours went over. Opportunities are lost.
BIM is not a substitute for strong technical knowledge. Software can help model systems in three dimensions, but it does not replace a designer’s understanding of NFPA 13, system layout, hydraulics, installation practices, fabrication realities, or the judgment required to produce clear, buildable shop drawings.
That is why education is so important. AFSA has long recognized that the future of our industry depends on investing in people. AFSA prioritizes education and has the curriculum to develop and support skilled design professionals who will deliver fire sprinkler systems our communities can depend on.
In the near future, perhaps the use of Artificial Intelligence will help the mechanical coordination process, and it will hold contractors accountable, in real time, during the installation rough-in. Pretend BIM is a thing of the past, just like the smell of ammonia blueprints. Until then, the fire sprinkler contractor must be vigilant.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul DeLorie serves as Senior Vice President of Hampshire Fire Protection Co. in Londonderry, New Hampshire. One of New England’s largest merit shop fire sprinkler contractors, Hampshire Fire Protection has built a strong reputation for excellence in the industry. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, DeLorie brings more than 39 years of experience spanning sprinkler design, estimating, sales, project management, and senior leadership.