Background
The Home Owner Protection Act in B.C. requires 2-5-10 New Home Warranty Coverage on residential new construction. The New Home Warranty providers generally require a professional building envelope engineer be involved in the design review and field review of construction on new multifamily residential construction projects.
The District of West Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and White Rock require the services of a building envelope professional on single-family and multi-family residential construction projects. Also, the City of Vancouver requires the services of a building envelope professional on multi-family construction projects.
bamtec specializes in professional building envelope engineering services to all types of residential, commercial, industrial and institutional construction projects.
We have successfully completed building envelope engineering services on hundreds of construction projects including condominiums, townhomes, commercial buildings and single family homes.
Developers, architects and other construction professionals recognize the value and benefit of adding bamtec’s hands-on knowledge and building envelope professional expertise to their design team.
Building Envelope Engineering Services
Our typical building envelope professional services on new construction projects include design review and field review of the exterior building envelope. We provide professional recommendations respecting assemblies and components for conformance with Part 5.4 (Air Leakage); 5.5 (Vapour Diffusion) and 5.6 (Precipitation) aspects of the BC Building Code or Vancouver Building By-Law.
At the beginning of project design, we work with the client and architect to develop appropriate assemblies for the exterior walls, roofing, waterproofing, windows and doors.
Once the exterior building envelope assemblies have been decided and construction documents are being prepared, we assist the Architect by providing review and recommendations of construction details and specifications of those assemblies.
Review and recommendations for below-grade waterproofing assemblies and specification may also be provided if requested.
Most projects now require conformance to the Energy Step Code, we assist the Certified Energy Advisor and Architect by providing recommendations for wall assemblies that are cost effective and meet the thermal requirements of the project’s energy model.
During construction, we assist the Architect in review of the exterior building envelope installations. We provide periodic visual on-site review of the exterior building envelope for substantial conformance with the project design documents. We also prepare a field review report for each site visit. Our report includes observations with photographs, and tracks any outstanding items to be addressed.
During the project, we review and comment on the contractor’s shop drawings, product data and samples relating to the exterior building envelope for substantial conformance to the project requirements.