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Light industrial, distribution, offices and clinics
A valley of working buildings whose plant was generally specified for a different tenant. The first job is a list of what is up there and what it actually serves.
One sheet per unit, and a folder that survives a change of manager
Every unit located and identified by model and serial number, matched to the area it actually feeds, its measured condition recorded, and dead or abandoned plant marked as dead. On a building that has changed tenants twice, some of what is up there will not be connected to anything.
Then the readings that matter commercially: airflow and static pressure, refrigerant charge, economiser operation where one is fitted, filter condition and the pressure drop across it, belt and bearing condition, condensate drainage, and a combustion analysis on gas heat.
The result is a folder rather than a note in somebody’s phone. The single most common reason a commercial building is expensive to run is that nobody can say what happened to it, and that is a records problem before it is a mechanical one.
Four kinds of premises, four different problems
Distribution and storage
Heat in a tall building is a stratification problem before it is a capacity problem: the warm air is at the roof and the people are on the floor. Destratification fans, ventilation, roof treatment and spot cooling at the fixed work positions will usually move the number at head height further than plant would, for a fraction of the cost. We measure both and put the figures side by side.
Light manufacturing
Here the heat is being made inside the building, by machinery, compressors, ovens or process equipment, and that changes the answer completely. Extraction at the source beats cooling the room it escapes into. Where extraction is dealing with fumes or dust rather than heat, that is an industrial hygiene question and we will say so rather than take it on.
Offices and medical suites
Usually zoning rather than capacity, and usually worst on a west elevation in the late afternoon. We measure the zones separately at that hour. Clinical spaces get documented filter changes and measured ventilation in a form an inspector will accept; formal certification to a clinical standard is a specialist engagement and we will say so.
Retail and restaurants
A door standing open is a trading decision and not ours to argue with; we will put numbers against an air curtain, a schedule change and simply accepting a figure on the bill. In kitchens the first measurement is make-up air against hood exhaust. We do not clean hoods and we do not certify fire suppression.
What we do in premises
- Written plant survey
Every unit found, identified, measured and mapped to what it serves, with abandoned plant marked as dead.
- Planned maintenance
Timed around the building’s year, with the same readings each visit and a written record per unit.
- Repair and replacement
Repair diagnosed and costed first. Replacement planned properly, with the curb, the opening and the crane established before anything is ordered.
- Ventilation and destratification
Fans, extraction and make-up air, measured before and after so the change is a number rather than an impression.
- Zoning and controls
Sensors where the complaints are, schedules set to the hours the building is used, economisers checked for whether they still move.
- Records and handover
A plant list, a maintenance history and a drawing of what serves what, in a form the next manager can use on their first day.
Work we turn down
| We decline | Who it belongs to |
|---|---|
| Central chiller plant and cooling towers | A different discipline with different tickets, and we are not going to learn it on your building. |
| Proprietary building management systems | We will work with the controls in front of us and tell you what a schedule is doing. Programming a manufacturer-locked system belongs to whoever holds the licence. |
| Commercial refrigeration | Walk-ins, display cases and ice machines are adjacent and are not the same trade. |
| Hood cleaning and fire suppression | Separate licensed jobs. We do the air balance around the hood. |
| Process extraction for dust or fumes | Where extraction is a containment question rather than a comfort one it needs an industrial hygienist, and we will say so before starting rather than after. |
| Clinical certification | Where a space must be certified to a clinical standard we hand it to a specialist rather than sign something we are not qualified to sign. |
| Out-of-hours replacements | A replacement is a planned job. Anybody offering one tonight is selling a decision you have not had time to make. |
Tell us the building
What it is used for, roughly how many units are on the roof, when the busy months are, and where the complaints come from. 1176 Roadrunner Way, Simi Valley. Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm.