Director of Mechanical Engineering

Director of Mechanical Engineering

A large firm in Texas is looking for a Director of Mechanical Engineering, with Experience in the design of hospital, data center and other commercial projects' HVAC systems. Experienced in AutoCAD 3D and to help implement BIM.

This position has been listed by OM5 Dallas and their recruiter Sean McDermott. Email Sean or call him directly P: 214.261.1209 Sean is a recruiter for the commercial construction industry.

If you have a Revit job or Revit project opportunity that you want to submit for review and posting; please email me the details through this blog or through my Revit JobCaptain Squidoo page.

If you are applying for a Revit job opportunity, please consider reviewing this article first: Revit Jobs-Employment-Project Postings

Design Manager - Construction Company

Design Manager - Construction Company
Overview:

Our client is one of America’s oldest and largest construction firms – and since 2002 has been 100% employee owned. Unlike many firms of our size, we are True Builders; a fact which our clients appreciate since they continually come to us with their most complex building challenges.

Client has built in nearly every state, with projects ranging in size from $1 million to $500 million in a wide variety of markets including healthcare, university, laboratory & science, K-12 education and heavy/civil. We have projects throughout the country.

Client's Texas Division is currently seeking a candidate for a Design Manager role. The Design Manager develops expectations for content and quality of design at various stages of the construction project and ensures timely completion of design associated with design build projects.


The Design Manager has the responsibility to accurately and fully inform management of designated projects’ overall design status and quality of design, including potential liabilities and/or concerns.

This individual will work closely with Client project teams and have primary interface with Client Preconstruction Directors, Client Construction Directors, Client Quality Director, third party Design firms and Peer review consultants.

Responsibilities:

• Define, schedule and monitor Design deliverables on projects – may be Design-Build projects or Construct only


• Develop & Maintain Design Schedule & Preconstruction Schedule


• Define key measurable milestones / metrics with project team, owner & design team


• Identify potential obstacles / problems and develop work arounds


• Coordinate design reviews, coordination reviews, constructability reviews, pier reviews


• Monitor project scope and trends


• Develop value alternatives


• Maintain design issue / action item log


• Maintain Design RFI’s and Design RFI Log


• Implement ClientQuality program & procedures as applicable in the design process


• Oversea existing conditions survey & as-built coordination as required per project


• Investigate, review and manage impact of new technology in design such as Building Information Modeling (BIM)


• Update Client procedures (Precon, Field, etc…) to incorporate best Design Management techniques


• Present Design Management training at various Division training opportunities such as Project Manager Training, Project Superintendent Training, and Management Development Program Training


• Implementation of Client Quality program and procedures, verifying critical quality elements are incorporated into the Design Documents and are part of the Construction Activities


• Build effective and strong relationships with Risk Management/Legal


• Build effective and strong relationships with Executive Management/Business Unit Leaders/Key Division Management


• Build effective and strong relationships with Key Owners/Architects/Engineers


• Document Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Qualifications:

• Good verbal and written communication
• Excellent Facilitator capabilities
• Process oriented
• Proven experience with Implementation of Focused Initiatives
• Focus on Key Design and Quality Process Characteristics (Define the End Goal, Work Done Right the First Time, Each Individual is Responsible, Verification - Not Inspection, Long-Term Focus, and Improved Results in Design Document Quality). Not Focused on Just Completing Checklists or Writing Plans
• Understands design, construction and operations
• Hands-on field experience in design and construction
• Enjoys training others
• Team builder
• Specific technical expertise in building enclosures or mechanical systems is desirable
• Good computer skills, including proficiency in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and software programs (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Access, etc.)
• 5 plus years experience in management positions managing and coordinating Design disciplines
• BS in Engineering or Architecture required.
• Professional Engineer or Registered Architect preferred
• History of Affiliations with Professional Organizations preferred (i.e. AIA, CSI, ASHRAE, etc…)

This position has been listed by OM5 Dallas and their recruiter Sean McDermott. Email Sean or call him direct P: 214.261.1209

If you have a Revit job or Revit project opportunity that you want to submit for review and posting; please email me the details through this blog or through my Revit JobCaptain Squidoo page.

If you are applying for a Revit job opportunity, please consider reviewing this article first:
Revit Jobs-Employment-Project Postings

Revit Protects Homebuilders' Design Services

A homebuilder-designer's biggest uncaptured pre-sales/design costs can come from prospects that expect them to design their house plans without a contract.

In that scenario, the homeowner may take those "free house plans" to a different homebuilder for pricing; naively thinking they're getting a better deal.

Here are a few suggestions I've given homebuilders to showcase the value of their design services. My homebuilder clients began using these in 1990; when the first 3D CAD floor planning software packages appeared in the market.

It protects the homebuilder's investment of design time while assisting the homeowner during the design qualification stage.

Its a win-win for the homeowner who obtains a valuable visualization tool to qualify both the builder and their new home floor plan design.

The most obvious, do NOT design or redesign client/prospect house plans for free. Provide the client with a design service fee structure that is independent of construction bid/fees. Provide a sliding fee structure as the client requests more detailed plans.

Provide homeowners with printed Revit 3D isometric/perspective floor plan views rather than the traditional 2D floor plans views. They are unscalable and non-duplicable for another builder to create construction drawings.
Revit 3D house plans provide homeowners with a dramatically better understanding of their design. 3D house plans subtly reflect a higher level of value on your organization when compared with other builders.

Revit's whole house 3D floor planning tools (walls, doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, dimensions, etc) expedite the creation of house floor plans. The entire house (all floors) is designed and coordinated in a single file.

Homebuilders' design services provide homeowners with a financially valuable service during the design process. Their construction expertise helps design a more valuable house for the homeowner that also meets their budget.

Related Articles

Our Home in Revit

Big Thanks to Our Contractor

What's the Real Risk if We Don't Use BIM?

"Are we operating on the leading edge or the bleeding edge?” is a consistent risk question many firms ask as they evaluate the use of BIM within their organization. Justifiably, the firm's reputation and the branding of the firm's design talent may be at risk with any new process.

So when this article came in today, it seemed refreshing to have a legal view on the "perceived" and "real" issues regarding risk mitigation and liability issues for the use of BIM.

Mr. Lowe, attorney-at-law provides some insightful and positive counterpoints that asks; "what's the risk if BIM is not used?" He is a construction lawyer in the Philadelphia office of Duane Morris LLP, is also chair of AGC's PIAC BIM Forum Legal Subcommittee and an active member of AGC's Contract Documents Committee.

His opening comments (points) set the stage for an enlightening article which features work from Mortenson Construction and Turner Construction projects that utilized BIM.

A 3D model offers more specific design information than 2D drawings. Given that the world is 3D and not 2D, how can that additional specificity be a bad thing for project liability?

Most of those skeptics don't realize that the risks are no greater (and sometimes smaller) in the 3D world than in the traditional 2D world.

First, the 2D world is hardly free from risk. Decades worth of construction litigation has proven this point.

....as a practical matter, the use of 3D modeling fosters a broader collaborative effort, especially when the contractor is invited into the process early. Design reviews and clash-review meetings bring everyone into the same room, working to solve a problem. This significantly reduces everyone's risk.

Buckling Up Risks

The construction community and its insurers should embrace 3D modeling to further reduce risk on complex projects.

Web site: http://www.duanemorris.com/

A Contractor's BIM Blog

Check out a contractor's BIM blog that has some history. Authored by Laura Handler, her posts are written from a contractor's experience and perspective using BIM. I enjoyed her latest 2 posts that outline her experiences importing SketchUp files into Revit.

We continue to see the value of creating early communications with builders at the front of today's BIM project. Previously defined as a downstream user, the role of the contractor now moves upstream as a valuable stakeholder to the design teams. A role that helps define attainable schedules, budgets, and efficient construction methods.

We sponsored an October BIM/Revit AGC-Wisconsin learning event. I reported on my company blog the valuable BIM experiences from one of our guest speakers who works for one of Wisconsin's largest commercial contractors.

In July, I created a whitepaper for the AGC-Wisconsin's Constructor Magazine. It documents the tangible use of BIM in the Construction Process. It will provide you with insight to specific BIM features that contractors have used on my client projects. This "BIM in the Construction Process" whitepaper and a link to a free BIM whitepaper from AGC-National are posted at the end of my report.

Big Thanks to Our Contractor

We're making plans to move into the home I designed in Revit within the next week. As a note of thanks we took out a personal ad in our local newspaper to thank our general contractor, Jim Helms owner of Quality Built Homes, Inc. for his efforts. We punctuated that personal ad with a webpage that featured him and a few of the subcontractors that brought this project to life.

I've been photographing and creating video snippets of the project weekly since we started in August. I should have a rolling photo gallery posted soon using a product called FilmLoop.