Disputed Final Report After a Change Order
A TAB firm completed balancing on a 200,000 sq ft office building. Two weeks before substantial completion, the owner's contractor added 14 new VAV boxes on floor 4 under a change order that was never issued to the TAB firm. The TAB firm's final report covers the original scope and shows all original boxes within tolerance. The contractor now demands the TAB firm sign a certification stating the entire building is balanced per the design documents, including the 14 new boxes, at no additional fee. The TAB firm's technician has not tested the new boxes. The project is on a tight schedule and the owner is pressuring for the certification. The TAB firm's contract states the scope is per the original drawings and that additional work is by change order.
1. What should the TAB firm do, and why is signing the certification unethical and risky?
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The TAB firm must not sign a certification covering untested work.
Why:
- Ethics/professional standards: Certifying that work was tested and balanced when it was not is a false statement. TAB certification implies the firm performed the testing and the results meet the design. Signing without testing misrepresents the facts to the owner and any authority having jurisdiction - a violation of professional ethics and potentially the firm's certification body's code of conduct.
- Technical risk: The 14 new boxes change the system's airflow and pressure balance; the original boxes may no longer be in tolerance once the new boxes are commissioned. An untested system cannot be assumed balanced.
- Contractual/legal risk: The contract limits scope to the original drawings and requires a change order for additional work. Signing outside scope exposes the firm to liability for deficiencies it never tested.
- Liability to the owner: The owner relies on the certification; a false certification could expose the firm to claims and damage its credibility.
Correct response: decline to certify the new scope, document the scope limitation in writing, and require a change order to test and balance the 14 new boxes.
2. Draft the substance of the written response the TAB firm should send, and describe how to handle the schedule pressure.
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Written response should:
- State the facts: the original scope was tested and balanced per the original drawings; 14 new VAV boxes were added under a change order not issued to the TAB firm; those boxes have not been tested.
- State the limitation clearly: the firm can certify only the original scope. It cannot certify the new boxes or the whole-building balance until they are tested.
- Request a change order to perform the additional testing and balancing, with a defined scope, schedule, and fee.
- Offer a path: propose a schedule to test the new boxes and re-verify the affected original boxes, so the owner gets a complete certification as soon as possible.
- Document everything - issue the response in writing, copy the owner and engineer, and keep records.
Handling schedule pressure:
- Do not let schedule pressure override the truth of the certification.
- Offer to mobilize quickly and prioritize the floor-4 work so the schedule impact is minimized.
- If the owner insists, escalate to the engineer of record and the firm's principal; the firm's professional obligation is to report accurately, not to sign under duress.
- A short delay for proper testing is far less costly than a false certification discovered later.