A clean room enables that nothing your research company works with will ever be contaminated or cross-contaminated. If you are discovering that your current clean room is no longer adequate for your facility’s needs, and you need to build a new one, how will you choose who designs it and who builds it?
Not Just Any Construction Contractor Will Do
Can most construction contractors build buildings and additions? Sure they can, but you shouldn’t hire just any contractor. Hire a specialized contractor that does only commercial and/or industrial construction. In the case of a clean room, you are going to want a contractor that has made it his or her life’s work in industrial construction. This is the contractor that will not only know what a clean room is, but will also have experience building such rooms.
Big Projects Require an Architect
Whether you hire a contractor that has an in-house architect, or you hire an industrial architect in addition to the contractor, you will need an architect. Contractors work off of the blueprints provided by an architect. No blueprints mean the contractor isn’t going to know how much of this or that material is needed, what size to build your clean room addition, or where the electrical wiring and gas connections should be.
Like the contractor, don’t hire any architect. Hire one that knows industrial planning. That person will have the knowledge and experience needed to develop the perfect blueprint from which the contractor can work and build your ideal clean room.
Awards and Accolades
While it isn’t necessary to hire professionals with awards and accolades, it doesn’t hurt. It means that their work portfolios and past projects contain outstanding work that was worth the recognition. Ask to see photos or examples of the work that won them the awards and any projects they did that they are particularly proud of. It will give you a really good idea of what you are working with and how they may work for your needs.
Licenses and Certifications
Do not hire any contractor without a license. Ask to see the license and make sure it is current. Ask for proof of insurance as your research company is not responsible for anything that happens on the job with the contractor’s crew. If the contractor has any certifications that are directly related to industrial construction, ask to see those too. It can make a big difference in deciding who your industrial contractor will be if one contractor has more certifications than the other and those certifications are pertinent to your clean room project.
Meeting Deadlines
Can the contractor meet your research company’s deadline? When you know exactly when you need your clean room ready to use, your contractor has to meet that deadline and be on time. You can check to see if a contractor has met deadlines in the past, or has been frequently late. If the contractor’s “late rate” is quite low, that is a contractor worth considering. Consistent late completion dates mean you don’t want to hire that contractor, regardless of the contractor’s promise to finish on time. Being bonded might help, but only if the contractor is willing to be bonded.
Bonded
Being bonded means that the contractor agrees to meet all contractual deadlines and a private investor backing that ensures that the contractor follows through. Failure to complete a project as contracted and agreed under bonding means that the contractor may lose a large portion of the expected income for the project, or may be fired. On a major project like your clean room, you may want a contractor to be bonded as a means of added insurance.
Following Strict Clean Room Guidelines
From start to finish, you want everyone constructing that clean room to be following the strict clean room guidelines. This means that special suits are worn to prevent germs, body secretions, hair, and other human contaminants do not become part of the clean room construction (i.e., in the walls, on the floors, etc.).
If you hire the right contractor, the contractor knows that any crewmember in violation of these guidelines should not be allowed back on the project. Everyone has to be very careful. You should verify with your contractor the knowledge of these guidelines prior to hiring.
