Fan-Fair For The Common Man

On bigger developments or more complex projects, is it fair for the common or garden installer to call for a spec check before the brown stuff hits the fan?

RISA is usually called in long after what might have started as a relatively straightforward technical issue. But most window and door installers do make ‘that call’ until they are already on the back foot and facing the prospect of a damaged reputation and possibly legal costs.

Lee Galley, the inspection manager at RISA told Installation Eye: “RISA can also be involved on a complex project at the start. Early technical input can be invaluable on more those projects, particularly where specification, exposure, design interfaces or contractual requirements introduce additional risk.”

Dave Mechem, Managing Director, RISA and FENSA, said: “If we can get in at the very beginning of a project if you've got something really complex that's going on, that early intervention will allow us to spot problems before they happen.”

Housing projects

One of the most useful opportunities for early RISA input is during the specification and planning of larger or more complex contracts, where a small error can be repeated across many properties.

“The specification of a window or door is really important,” said Galley. “If you start off on the wrong foot, you're going to end up in a dispute situation.”

Mechem added: “An example of that is a large housing association contract I visited in the Midlands a few years ago, where the survey information had missed the requirement for safety glass next to a door and that detail had then been repeated across every property.”

“If one piece of safety glass is missing, it's a problem that can quite easily be fixed. In this case, there were hundreds of houses and hundreds of units that needed to be changed.

“It got very expensive very quickly.”

The importance of location

Installers must also consider whether the products being specified are appropriate for the environment in which they will be installed. This is particularly relevant in coastal and highly exposed locations subject to severe weather. RISA regularly encounters window and door installations that are not appropriately specified for the conditions they face.

“We can check those things up front to help installers establish whether the chosen product is capable of meeting the demands of its intended environment before it reaches site,” said Galley.

With the specialist knowledge needed to make important specification decisions often held by more than one person or organisation, RISA can also play a key role in bringing this information together. “There is specialist knowledge that, a lot of the time, the developers themselves and the architects don't have,” said Galley.

“There is sometimes a disconnect between the people that are actually purchasing these windows and the people that actually make those calculations about their air tightness and water resistance values, such as the systems companies, for instance. RISA can sit in the middle to help link those parties together.”

Picture: RISA should not simply be viewed as a dispute resolution service. Its services can be utilised on complex specifications to reduce the risk of escalation.

www.risaltd.co.uk