And, it typically involves a low-bid situation with a guaranteed maximum price. Large, slow fans are substituted with smaller, faster fans. Downblast rooftop units are installed instead of horizontal distributing units. Fewer, larger vav boxes are used. Variable-speed drives are replaced with inlet guide vanes, leading to rumble.
Vibration isolation is value-engineered out.
The attendees had many horror stories to relate of chillers and other types of large, noisy equipment installed without proper isolation over, say, courtrooms and penthouses. In the courtroom cases, the judges demanded that the work be fixed, which cost more than it would have to stick to the original design. There is an association dedicated to formal value engineering. SAVE International, Northbrook, IL, offers training, certification, networking, and more to its members in 35 countries. Out of the loop, counting beans An attendee wondered how many so-called value engineering plans are shown to the acoustical firm for evaluation before they are put into practice.