Well I have the report or to say an article from Hospitals Feb 1, 1977
published by the American Hospital Association - No the date is not a typo.
So the date is the first things that jumps out so pricing needs to be dated.
It's written by Patton and the Director of the Division of Architectural
Services for the State of Kansas.
It describes a very large hospital not unlike we'd think today.
The article is scarce on detail we could "learn" from. To that end here are
some interesting items.
I paraphrase "Most industries face double inflation...labor and materials
are expected....for the past 10 years new safety regs have been added...So a
smoke detector costs more and more of them are required...double inflation."
Or perhaps those setting the budget didn't keep up with the times, sound
familiar today?
I paraphrase again "After being 10 mill over budget on a $50 mill project
(in 1977 dollars) the State Arch investigated other facilities for
ideas....hired FPE (Patton)...substituted new sprinklers for conventional
sprinkler systems...smaller pipe saved money...also provided composite
safety plan."
I was riding BMX bikes and playing Little League in 1977 anyone have an idea
on what new vs. conventional means. EC I don't think existed. I don't
think old style vs spray style was the issue. Could mean pipe schedule vs.
calcs to trim pipe size? Any ideas? But see below sounds hard to believe
the cost of smaller pipe saved that much when at least today labor is the
expensive part.
Continuing "sprinkler primary safety tool...eliminated excessive fire
protection...fire proofing...alarms....others were modified.."
"Basement only standard sprinkles in original bid...$403,000, 140,000 sq.
ft. (in 1977 dollars)....new sprinklers throughout $431,136, 850,000 sq.ft.
(I don't know if that includes the bsmt or not) plus saving on all other
fire items....$5 mill total savings to project."
Even back then sounds like someone really screwed up in the specifying the
first time around. Overall I'd say it's very pro sprinkler, especially for
the time. Further considering the time it's perhaps an early example of
performance based design, alternate methods which really saved the big
portion of the money. Although, I still have doubts about the sprinkler
costs above.
Chris Cahill, P.E.
Fire Protection Engineer
Sentry Fire Protection, Inc.
763-658-4483
763-658-4921 fax
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mail: P.O. Box 69
Waverly, MN 55390
Location: 4439 Hwy 12 SW
Waverly, MN 55390
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Cahill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:40 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: RE: Wow
I have one coming as well. Note he said it was DESIGNED for $0.35. I'm
sure he meant designed and installed but on face value that's not what was
written. Of course it doesn't say what year either. Maybe in 1950's
dollars when you really needed 4 heads in a 16'x16'room because the EC
technology wasn't around.
We'll see.
Chris Cahill, P.E.
Fire Protection Engineer
Sentry Fire Protection, Inc.
763-658-4483
763-658-4921 fax
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mail: P.O. Box 69
Waverly, MN 55390
Location: 4439 Hwy 12 SW
Waverly, MN 55390
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