Working with Design and Construction Services

If your college or division has a Building Coordinator, s/he will help you initiate aProject Request; if not, simply access the "Requesting Services" section of this web site to submit an on-line request or e-mail Facilities Management a description of the project - including building and room number(s) - along with your name, phone number and e-mail address.

After receiving your Project Request, Design and Construction Services (D & CS) will assign a Project Manager to meet with you as soon as possible to review your project and develop a project budget. For simple projects, a project budget may take as little as two weeks; for complicated projects, a project budget could take months.

Some projects may require the approval of one or more Campus Committees listed below. The Project Manager will advise you if this is necessary; if so, it will be your responsibility to obtain this approval.

• Space Committee approval is needed for any space changes that involve adding or removing walls or changing the space's "use".
• Aesthetics Committee approval is needed for any projects impacting common areas such as corridors, lobbies or a building's exterior.
• Budget Committee approval is needed for any project exceeding $20,000 (regardless of funding source)

Some projects may require consultation, review, and/or work by other RIT Departments (e.g. Campus Safety, ITS or ETC), some projects may require approval by the Town or other reviewing authority, and some projects may require hiring an external consultant (e.g. Architect, Engineer or Acoustical Consultant); the cost for any external consultant must be paid for by you. Usually external consultants are first hired only to perform a "study"; this study examines design options and usually results in a "range of magnitude" cost estimate (which includes the cost of complete design services).

If you wish to approve a project budget, (and assuming all required Committee approvals have been received) you will need to send written or e-mail authorization to proceed with the project. Unless your project is being centrally funded, you will also need to provide D & CS with an account number to bill all project costs to. D & CS can not begin any work until this account number is received.

Once you authorize a project, the Project Manager will schedule the work (at a mutually agreeable time). During the construction process, the Project Manager will notify you of anything that might affect the project cost or schedule and should schedule a "walk through" with you at the end of the project.

When preparing a project budget, the Project Manager will include funds to cover "unforeseen conditions". These funds are intended only for otherwise unbudgeted work required to complete the original intent of the project; the Project Manager can not use these dollars to fund new or additional work. In the event the cost of dealing with an "unforeseen condition" exceeds these contingency funds, you will be asked to fund the difference.

You are only billed the actual cost of the project - i.e. unused contingency funds are returned and there is no cost for D & CS personnel. The Project Manager can update you on project costs at any time, however the final billing generally takes 2 + months after completion of the actual work.