Achieve Business Goals with the Right Commercial Engineering Team
Contributors
Callie GriffithsMechanical Engineer
Katelynn JourdanElectrical Engineer
When you first meet Callie Griffiths and Katelynn Jourdan, it’s easy to feel comfortable. They welcome you into the world of commercial mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering design, making what can be a complex process feel approachable.
On the left, Katelynn Jourdan, PE, electrical engineer and on the right, Callie Griffiths, PE, mechanical engineer.
Meet Katelynn, an electrical engineer with a knack for creating instant connections through her humor and warmth.
Meet Callie, a mechanical engineer who brings a calming presence, known for her steady and trustworthy approach to projects.
They share a great amount of trust and intuitively finish each other’s thoughts and sentences. Together, they form a perfect balance in the world of commercial MEP engineering, helping businesses turn their goals into reality.
“We are the yin to each other’s yang.”
As leads of Shive-Hattery’s Commercial MEP team, Callie and Katelynn have built a strong working relationship. They travel the country together, collaborating to deliver successful projects, consistently pushing each other and improving the design process, while meeting aggressive deadlines. Their energy and commitment to fast-paced, high-pressure projects have earned them trust and admiration from clients across the nation.
Overcoming Challenges in Commercial Projects
Nationwide commercial clients are drawn to this dynamic and energy. Callie and Katelynn understand that they are constantly faced with sustaining profitable growth, looming project deadlines – all while maximizing every dollar in their budget.
To combat those market challenges, they’ve identified four key pain points that an effective MEP team can address:
Hidden Lease Terms Are Throwing Your Project Off Track
You Don’t Have an Advocate and Liaison
Design Has NOT Been Integrated or Standardized
The Risk of NOT Understanding Existing Conditions
When I Walk Into a Space, The First Thing I Do is Look Up
Callie and Katelynn both see and engineer the entire environment of a commercial space. Here’s how they see the world:
“
When I walk into a commercial space and if I notice any noise, air movement, stuffiness, or whether I’m slightly warm or cool, there could be HVAC improvements. They should just feel comfortable.
I tend to look up, as do most consulting engineers. If the space is exposed to structure, how streamlined are the duct layouts? Are there any unnecessary offsets, branches, or diffusers?
I look for cleaner, thoughtful designs like the use of plaque or linear diffusers opposed to tiered or eggcrate styles. Are thermostats in line with other wall mounted devices, particularly light switches? Are the wall-mounted grilles mounted at consistent heights?
– Callie Griffiths | Mechanical Engineer
Lighting has a purpose, and its design must meet its purpose. Sometimes you are going for a specific look and feel, other times you need to focus more on functionality.
The first thing I almost always do is look up. How are the light fixtures installed? How dark or bright is the room? Does it feel inviting?
My biggest pet peeves are exit sign locations and emergency lighting. They always seem to be an afterthought and placed in locations that distract from the design. I invest the time in placing exit signs to ensure they serve their safety purpose and well incorporated into the overall design. I avoid wall-mounted battery packs for emergency lighting at all costs.
I notice receptacle locations, or lack of. When I walk through a space, I think about how people may use it and if receptacles are in convenient locations. How would someone vacuum in here if there are no outlets?
Conduit routing is also a big one, particularly in spaces open to structure. When designs aren’t well thought out, conduit ends up surface mounted, or routed in very odd patterns. Everyone notices that.
1. Hidden Lease Terms Are Throwing Your Project Off Track
Bring in your MEP team BEFORE you sign a lease agreement. This is a critical point where your MEP team can change the trajectory of your project and make a positive impact.
They can help you review the terms and conditions, and identify areas of concern based on their engineering expertise. The earlier this happens, additional costs could be avoided or negotiated with the building owner. As you progress into designing and constructing your project, the more expensive it becomes to resolve issues.
“Without even realizing it, some of these terms can negatively impact the overall project budget, construction timeline, or design intent,” says Katelynn. “These items may include upgrade of temperature controls, allocating a maximum service size to the tenant, requiring the use of building standard lights, tying into the building lighting controls…the list goes on.”
2. You Don’t Have an Advocate and Liaison
The pressure is always on when speed to market is part of your business strategy. You need fast construction timelines with even faster design schedules – all without sacrificing quality design and construction.
“A one-off local design team for each project/location may be more cost-effective, but you will likely end up spending time and energy explaining your vision, goals and design standards repeatedly,” says Callie.
With the right long-term MEP teaming partner, they have a strong understanding of your design goals and can execute it efficiently and effectively in any geographical market. Your advocate and liaison will:
Be a natural extension of your team who you trust to communicate on your behalf through design and construction.
Appropriately apply your standards – no matter what project issues arise – to keep you “out of the weeds” and give you peace of mind.
3. Design Has NOT Been Integrated or Standardized
Commercial projects involve a number of vendors and contractors who speak and create construction documents using their own “design language” (e.g. different terminology, symbols, layouts, etc.) – making design consistency a challenge. Without coordination of these different “design languages,” an overlay approach is taken where each firm’s “design language” is stacked on top of the other without translation in both spoken and written form. The ripple effect leads to confusion or misinterpretation of your design intent, lack of project coordination, and decreased constructability.
Through vendor and subconsultant coordination, and reconciliation of their various design standards, a strong MEP teaming partner can reduce the number of "design languages," simplify the chaos, save time, and reduce the risk of errors with an integrative approach.
“Clients typically have long-standing providers for their data, security and AV systems," Katelynn shared. “We incorporate all of their designs into our drawings to identify design conflicts and issues, facilitate necessary revisions on behalf of our client, and take the extra care to create one cohesive set.”
By taking the “noise” out from the start, and establishing and upholding design and branding standards, you’ll achieve stronger outcomes:
Project stays on schedule and on budget
Execute leases as planned
Fully integrated and optimized design
Move-in on time
Limit deltas
Reduce issues, stress and conflict between vendors and subconsultants
“Unexpected delays can hit construction at any time and you’re going to have to call an audible while still adapting standards appropriately,” said Katelynn. “We understand why the standard (for your designs and brand) is the standard and are able to adjust to for market conditions or space constraints.”
By “speaking your design language,” each project can start with the correct baseline of standards built in – saving time and money because there’s no need to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel.
“This allows us to invest your design dollars where it matters,” added Callie. “Instead of creating standards over and over again, we can now dedicate our time and energy on the customized design aspects of your project.”
Case Study
Collaboration Elevates Design
The RSM Fort Lauderdale office was designed with 25-foot windows and sloped roof structure.
The showstopping lobby meant the architecture and interior design needed to shine. Because the MEP team was integrated early in the process, it was discovered that the main duct that ran through the proposed Lobby area could not be moved. This resulted in the architecture, interior designer, and MEP teams working together to modify the ceiling plan and enclose it without sacrificing the high design.
“We take our role in that seriously to integrate our designs with the architect or interior designer’s vision rather than overlay a utilitarian design that will just ‘work,’” said Callie.
4. The Risk of NOT Understanding Existing Conditions
“Not having a thorough understanding of existing conditions or having a well-coordinated document set can often lead to spatial issues during construction,” said Callie. “This results in change orders and construction delays.”
Work with an MEP team who sees the value in scanning existing spaces and overlaying test fits as soon as possible. Benefits include:
Identifying issues with the existing space or building shell that have a negative impact on your design means you can fix it now instead of fixing it later during construction. The latter usually costing more and pushing out your completion date.
Closely reviewing high design areas against existing conditions. Working together with architects, immovable objects that negatively affect the aesthetic can be designed around.
“In order to integrate a new design into a space, we have to thoroughly understand existing conditions,” added Katelynn. “There may be an ideal design if we were starting from scratch, but we strive to reuse what makes sense in order to save you construction cost.”
The Benefits of Working with a Trusted MEP Team
As a commercial business expanding to new locations, you have likely faced challenges such as navigating local regulations, sourcing new partners, and educating design teams about your brand standards. All of this can be time-consuming and expensive.
By involving a strong MEP team early in the process, you can streamline communication, reduce risks, and keep your projects moving forward efficiently. Callie and Katelynn’s approach ensures a seamless integration of design and construction, helping you achieve your business goals while maintaining your brand’s identity.
