Avoid delays on recovery-funded projects

The glass and glazing industry is starting to see the trickle-down of government recovery money, but it is not without a price. These projects are tagged with important features that glaziers will do well to be aware of. Most of the projects are for Department of Defense installations or GSA, and have blast resistance requirements.

A significant percentage of the recovery money ends up in the hands of architectural firms responsible for design and construction oversight. The design budgets are nice and fat, and many of the architectural firms hire blast-load consultants to provide design input, write specifications and review submittals during the construction phase. So now the typical submittal has to jump through an additional hoop. The blast-load consultants are usually eager to make their value known, requiring every “t” to be crossed and every “i” to be dotted.

Sometimes, the blast-load consultants are not altogether familiar with glazing systems, and this results in a nightmare of rejections and resubmittals. Submittals that are rejected require time, effort and often a tangible dollar amount to be resubmitted.

Projects with recovery earmarks are good business when you understand their process, and glazing contractors who want to cash in on the recovery money should be prepared for the additional efforts that are now necessary. Stay tuned for my next blog, where we’ll cover some of the items typically required in submittals for blast-resistant glazing.

--By Stewart Jeske, P.E., president, JEI Structural Engineering