We contacted Square D.
They confirmed that commissioning was not included in their quote to us and quoted us a price (not unreasonable) for tech to come to the jobsite. They said of course the somebody, the EE preferably, would have to provide the appropriate settings for the tech to apply. The owner had requested, directly to the EC, that the "safeties" be checked. Square D's response was they did not know what was being referred to but would be happy to perform whatever tests the owner wanted performed. That seems in direct conflict with some of the responses I've gotten here.
I'm sorry if EC's here are offended by the practice of owners providing equipment. You're right about the basic philosophy behind it. To minimize cost, something most companies try to do, owners are more and more breaking a project like this into what seems to be logical components. On the one hand, you need hardware. Hardware comes from hardware manufacturers so you may get the best price for hardware by going directly the manufacturer (not a universal truth at all, depends on the manufacturer and their sales policies, but frequently the case).
On the other hand, you need installation. Installation is performed by skilled trained technicians and engineers that specialize in installing particular parts of the system. That can generally be split into specialized, mechanical and electrical. The idea that contractors are being somehow screwed over by this process implies that making money only from your expertise at installation isn't viable. I can assure you that we work with contractors day after day in all the locations we work in that seem very content to take on projects on that basis. If you're doing electrical, you still get to buy and resell the wire, the conduit, many of the smaller items such as local disconnects, wire tray etc etc. You will not get to supply many motor starters (they're all included in prefabricated systems purchased by the owner) and in some cases large switchgear. The mechanical contractor is in the same boat. He will buy and resell pipe, fittings, valves, supports etc. He will not supply major equipment such as pumps (all part of prefabricated systems purchased by the owner) or single large ticket items like cooling towers and chillers.
Not all contractors seem so bitter about this process. If you are good at installation, you can make plenty of money doing installation. I don't know about your area, but commercial building is in the toilet where I live. Industrial projects are still happening all over the place and can provide plenty of work for professional, competent installation experts. Most of our projects mean months of continuous work for the mechanical and electrical contractors on the job.
Because of our purchasing power and our well established relationships with most of the major manufacturers of all the big ticket items, we often purchase those items and resell them to the owner. We can do that, lower his cost and still make some money on the equipment ourselves. What he gets in return in addition to lower cost is single source responsibility for the function of the entire system. There will never be a meeting around a conference table where everybody points their finger at somebody else. If it's part of the system and it's not working, it's our responsibility to solve that. We get great service from our vendors when we need it because we only ask for it when we really need it. We don't ask for assistance in selecting the equipment or picking the optional features. We know what equipment we want and what features we want it to have and we order it.
An exception to that is some electrical equipment. At the equipment and motor control level, we know a lot because nearly all of the equipment we deal with has motors and controls. For switchgear, we are not experts in picking it or in deciding what extra features are true value added items and which ones are just bells and whistles. But we are not afraid to ask and we are inherently skeptical because of our many years of watching owners get taken to the cleaners when they buy major equipment directly. I've seen some gold plated equipment out there with features that will never be utilized or, even worse, actually end up having a negative impact on functionality. That comes from inexperienced purchasers dealing with salespeople that have their own commission in mind rather than the best value for the buyer. So when an owner, for whatever reason, invites us or requests us to source switchgear, we know who to call (not always Square D, they were probably chosen in this case based on availability as much as price) and we have relationships with some key people that know us and know how we work. If you want us to buy an extra doodad, you have to be prepared to justify it. If it's justified, we'll either buy it or at least recommend it to our customer. If you can't convince us that it's justified, we'll just pass.
I came here looking for feedback from experts in installing switchgear because there was obviously an issue with it on this project. That issue hasn't come up before even on projects where we supplied the switchgear so I was looking for impartial (as opposed to Square D) feedback on the issue. I appreciate the useful feedback from a few here and apologize to any contractors that are offended by the fact that I asked the question. We're not trying to screw anybody, contractor, owner or manufacturer. We like truth and know that you often have to seek answer from multiple places and then sift them to get the whole truth. Nobody is lying. Everybody is looking out for their own best interest. For us, our best interest is a totally satisfied customer. Over 90% of our business is repeat customers, some of whom we've been working with for 20 years. We provide great service to them, solve problems for them and save them money in the process. So they keep coming back. Many contractors that we have worked with over the years, both mechanical and electrical, also seek us out because they like working with us on our projects despite the fact that they may not get to buy and resell any big ticket hardware. They know we won't try to screw them and we will do everything we can to help them complete a quality job. That is our goal and their goal.
