Congratulations! You are going to be installing a rainwater harvesting system as part of your mechanical contracting scope. Do you know exactly what you are getting? Is the system conceived as a whole or a collection of disparate parts? Will you purchase the components from multiple vendors or from a single source? For that matter, what does the “entire system” mean? These answers may not be apparent at the time of bid submission but you will need to know them in order to have a successful conclusion to the project.
Rainwater harvesting systems are showing up in increasing numbers of commercial projects, especially when the end uses are for indoor nonpotable applications, such as toilet flushing and cooling towers. Many mechanical contractors are first-timers at installing rainwater systems and they face a number of new challenges.