A clear scope and early decisions on commercial builds 

When AV delays occur in commercial jobs, it’s easy for subcontractors to blame the equipment. Most of the time, the cause is coordination. There are common issues we see arise during commercial builds: AV partners arriving after the trades have already developed their drawings, and unclear scopes and communication guidelines. 

When AV needs surface late, the general contractor and electricians have to reopen walls and ceilings. They have to re-sequence crews and expand timelines and budgets. This can all be solved by bringing in a good AV partner early in the process. We’ll help you define AV requirements from the start, and we’re the go-to contact for you and your client when anything doesn’t go as planned. Here’s what that looks like on a job. 

Begin Your Project With a Clear Scope 

If you’re going off an owner-provided list of AV requirements, you’re not getting a full view of their needs. They know what they want the result to be. They don’t always know the pathway and power details needed to make them work. When you go through someone like Integrated AV for your projects, you’ll get a clear list of everything you need and who owns what. Our plans include details on the items above, plus conduits and finishes.

We submit this for review with the building owner and all other subcontractors. There needs to be a clear sign-off on who owns what before we proceed with ordering equipment or beginning any work. This design review needs to happen at the very start of the project, before rough-in, when a lot of trade decisions have already been locked in. 

What Needs to Be Decided Before You Start

It can be difficult for contractors and designers to know exactly what needs to be scoped for AV work. What needs to be decided in this stage before any coordinated work begins? 

• Cable pathways and ceiling finishes: Pathways are cheap to install before walls and ceilings close, but awkward to fix afterward. Decide ceiling finishes at the same time, so AV devices and cable routes can be chosen to work with them. 

• Cable color for exposed runs: In open ceilings and exposed areas, pick a color that matches the finish before anything is pulled.

• Equipment room: Settle its location and size early. It needs power and cooling, plus network access. Trades need to know about those requirements before assigning the ideal space to something else in the design. 

• Power and network: Dedicated circuits and the right outlet locations should be included on the electrician's plan before rough-in. Network drops and capacity belong in the IT or low-voltage plan.

• Equipment placement: From commercial automation devices to screens, we outline where all equipment will live once it’s ready to install. 

We can create a quick checklist for your team to go through during the approval phase to ensure nothing gets missed. We’ll tailor the checklist to your project, as there may be different requirements for a restaurant AV system compared to a conference room. 

How to Keep Your Project on Schedule 

Once the initial documentation is approved, we’ll partner with you to review your construction schedule and establish milestones for each trade, such as rough-in and ceiling close. Your AV partner should have one designated point of contact (include this in the actual design documents) to keep the other trades updated on the milestones and quickly flag any delays. 

That same point of contact takes care of site walk-throughs with the GC and other trades. Any issues seen during walk-throughs go on a punch list, and the final as-built drawings record what was installed. Since this contact has been on the site from start to finish, they have all the information needed to answer quick field questions. If an electrician needs clarification on where a video wall will go in a lobby, they get that info from both the documents and that on-site contact. 

What that means for you is one person to call when a question comes up on site. If any changes affect the budget or timeline, you’ll be the first to know. 

Enhance Your Next Build

AV goes smoothly when you have an AV partner involved from the first design review, with a written scope and one contact who knows the project from start to finish. To bring Integrated AV into your next build or learn more about our AV services, fill out our contact form.