Last month, I described how the air and water testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB) contractor is brought into a typical construction project. In summary, it involves contracting with a TAB contractor early in construction and then bringing that TAB contractor onto the site to perform the balancing work at the end of construction. The entire construction phase spans these two milestones, and the TAB contractor is most often not involved during this phase when designs are clarified and system changes are made.
It goes without saying that the installing contractors must bring the TAB contractor up to speed regarding relevant requests for information and change orders before the TAB contractor can meaningfully balance the systems. In addition, many balancing specifications are generic in nature and do not necessarily stipulate the project-specific balancing requirements and documentation needed from the TAB contractor.