Installation Diary

 

Introduction

As a Gold Partner, DBCC has been working on the Swindon Showhome Project since the beginning.
Nowadays just as every home buyer now expects central heating; our clients are now demanding all the latest benefits that technology can offer including lighting control. Therefore it is essential we get involved at an early stage, preferably as soon as drawings are available to give us plenty of opportunity to prepare, get our designs fine tuned and get to know the other players.
This week the project schedule reached the 1st Fix Electrical stage and it has been our first opportunity to get the team on-site and actually start the installation, turning designs into systems and plans into realities.

Setting Out

The week started with some quiet reflection and preparation. Our system layout drawings were used for SETTING OUT. Each system was mapped from the paper print-outs onto the physical walls, ceilings and floors. This allowed us to build a cable routing infrastructure from the central HEAD-END location to every TOUCHPOINT throughout the house; every electrical socket, audio-visual wall plate, i-Pod connector and telephone/PC wall plate. The result was clearly marked routes and destination points for the carpenters and electricians to work with (which, by the way, is one of the reasons why we can happily work with your contractors or supply our own teams).

Woodwork

Once the house had been SET OUT the carpentry team was sent in to do its magic. As a timber-frame building it is important to add the additional support structures for the steel back-boxes. These I-Supports (named because of the shape) are fitted at each location requiring a back-box and the different types allow the boxes to be fitted flush or extended so that the plaster-boarders can cut the right holes in the right place, and leave the others neatly hidden ready for the future.

Cable routes were also drilled to provide quick and easy cable installation by the electrical team. In anticipation of the plaster-boarders arriving with their nail guns, metal plates were fitted in vulnerable surface locations to protect our cables, (those boys don’t hang around for us to test our cables after they are finished, better safe than sorry).

INFO! DBCC ensure all supporting structures are drilled within building regulations and structural calculations.

The HVAC and Central Vacuum installation teams arrived during this stage but we all managed to work together to ensure everyone had enough space to install their systems. This is where good PROJECT MANAGEMENT and COMMUNICATIONS can pay real dividends.

The last item for the carpenters was TV supports. Pre-planning at this stage where TVs are to be located means heavy LCD and plasma screens can be installed at a later date with the knowledge that they will be securely fixed to the walls

DES’s TIP. Introduce all these guys to each other as soon as you can and avoid the first-come-first-serve I’m alright jack attitude to installing their own equipment without consideration for anyone else. The more systems you are installing the less space is available, and in the end they are all YOUR systems.

Cabling Infrastructure

The electrical boys arrived mid week with everything they needed to finish the 1st Fix, except the MAINS DISTRIBUTION BOARD, (something always goes wrong but the trick is to not let it effect the rest of the work as delays cost money). In this case a decision was made at the last minute to change the board to a flush mounted model; true it will look very nice; the problem is they didn’t have one in stock. The solution was to install a TEMPORARY MAINS BOARD which on a typical project is something we would install anyway to provide power to all your other trades, so not too much of a problem after all.

The electrical team had already received the latest design drawings showing the location of every light fixture and TOUCHPOINT. They also have the CABLE SCHEDULE which lists every cable to be installed into the house.

INFO! These documents show the cable type, locations, and labelling references and are useful for checking everything is installed, connected and tested. The schedule cross-references the drawings providing a suitable double-check for the site team.

So with a van-load of cable to install into a pre-prepared routing infrastructure all we needed now was to actually install it. Each cable type was installed in turn in each room and checked off the list to ensure nothing was missed. For this project we are installing;

• Lighting systems including Lighting Control, Lighting Circuits, programmable dimmers, motion sensor switches and programmable window treatments. Lighting control is the number one technology that self-builders are demanding for their new projects and key to the look and feel of the property

• Entertainment systems including whole-house distributed audio-visual, LCD TVs supplied by Toshiba, surround-sound Cinema room with HD TVs and In-Wall hidden speakers, projector system connected to games console in one of the kids bedrooms.

• Communication systems including PC (LAN) and telephone networks and broadband Internet access.

• Security systems including motion-clever motion detectors, multi-zone alarm system with remote access and monitoring, IP CCTV cameras with motion detection and direction control.

• Access Control systems including Video Door Entry and Electronic Swipe systems.

• Standard electrical wiring including double switched sockets, cooker and shaver outlets and 5A table lamp sockets. Power is also required by other systems to which we are interfacing including HVAC and Central Vacuum systems.

Wow! As you can see there was a fair amount of cabling to be installed so accurate documentation and clearly labelled cables were a vital part of 1st fix.

Both ends of each cable was clearly labelled as per the documentation and left in a suitable state to help when the 2nd fix arrives and to help the plaster-boarders do their work.

When it was all done and dusted each cable was tested to ensure everything was where it should have been, and undamaged.

It is a simple formula that if you don’t have the cables installed, you cannot easily install the technologies we talk about above. The problem for most self-builders and developers at the early planning stage is that they have so many decisions to make that thinking about “technology” can be overwhelming and decisions tend to be put off.
Using our experience and knowledge of the self-build market we are able to walk clients through plans and discuss with them exactly how the house will be used. We take inputs on what sort of technologies they are looking to install and suggesting systems, that from experience, we know will enhance a property.
This approach means the decision making is reduced to a minimum. Up front the only decision that has to be made is whether to include a lighting control system. Pre-wiring takes care of the rest of the systems and will allow actual product decisions to be taken at the appropriate time further down the line

And that was that ….. but we will be back!