Scope of Works for an Industrial Job: Which Service Do You Need?

A scope of works is the written description of what a contractor is to do: the work, the standard, the place and the dates. The hard part is rarely the document. It is working out which trade the job needs, because most industrial work mixes several. Here are the six kinds of work a plant usually buys, and what to put in the scope so that quotes come back ready to compare.

Describe the work first, then name the trade

Start with what has to exist, change or keep running when the job is done. “Replace the stainless line between the feed tank and the process vessel” is a better opening than “we need two pipe fitters”: the first gives a contractor the material, the route and the purpose.

Then ask what has to be made, fitted and welded, and what has to keep running meanwhile. The answers point to one or more of the services below.

The six kinds of work, and what each is for

• Welding. Joining metal. Ask for it on its own when the item or pipe already exists, or when you need welders on site. Material and process decide which welder you need.
• Boilermaking. Building equipment from plate and pipe: pressure vessels, heat exchangers and tanks. Choose it when a new vessel has to be made to your drawing.
• Industrial pipework. Installing and welding pipe runs, from fit-up to the last joint. Choose it for a new line, a replacement or a tie-in.
• Structural steelwork. Frames, platforms, walkways and equipment supports, fabricated, erected on site, or both.
• Mechanical installation. Placing, aligning and connecting equipment, with its pipework and supporting steel.
• Industrial maintenance. Keeping existing plant running: inspecting, servicing, repairing and replacing parts.

When one job needs several services

Take a new stainless storage tank with a feed line and an access platform. Boilermaking builds the tank, installation sets and aligns it, pipework brings the line in and steelwork supplies the platform. Welding runs through all four, and each part may need a different welder qualification.

You can buy that as one package or as four, provided someone owns the joins: who fits the nozzles, who supplies the supports, who tests the line. Delays come from those gaps far more often than from the trades themselves, so write the scope for the whole job and mark what is in and out.

In the shop or at the plant

Some work can be done away from the plant and delivered finished, such as a vessel, pipe spools or a steel frame. Some has to be done where the equipment stands: tie-ins to lines in service, erection, repairs. Say which is which, because transport, lifting and access follow from it. We fabricate to your drawing or specification and, where the job calls for it, our crews travel to your plant.

Two ways to buy the work

You can bring welders, fitters or technicians to your site for as long as the job lasts, or buy the work itself and let the contractor take it on. Either way we work as a contractor, with our own people and our own supervision, while you set the access, site rules and dates. Our article on contract labour for industrial plants goes into the difference.

What to put in the scope

Send what you have: a sketch beats waiting for the perfect drawing.

1. The work in plain words, with drawings, isometrics or sketches.
2. Materials: grade, thicknesses or diameters, and who supplies them.
3. Standards: the design code (for example EN 13445 for unfired pressure vessels or EN 13480 for metallic industrial pipework), the EN 1090 execution class for steelwork, and the testing required. If welders must be coded, name the standard, process, material, thickness range and position: EN ISO 9606-1 covers steels, part 2 aluminium and ISO 9606-5 titanium. Our article on coded welders lists what to check.
4. Dimensions and weights of anything to be lifted or moved.
5. Dates: start, length of the job and any fixed window, such as a planned shutdown.
6. Site conditions: access, available lifting, and any work at height, in confined spaces or involving hot work.
7. Safety paperwork: the induction, permits to work, risk assessments and method statements your site asks of contractors. In Spain, companies working on the same site have to coordinate their safety measures, so documents go in both directions.
8. Testing and acceptance: who does the non-destructive testing or pressure test, and what counts as finished.

Next step

If you already have a job in mind, tell us about it with the points above and we will reply with a proposal. To see the six kinds of work together first, go to our list of industrial services.