A question that our team frequently receive is “How do we install a new lighting & liner system during the indoor season?” Below is a basic outline of a typical life cycle of our Sports Interiors projects.
For over 30 years Sports Interiors has been successfully installing both our Indirect LED Lighting system and Reflective Liner System into tennis and athletic facilities across the country. A question that our team frequently receive is “How do we install a new lighting & liner system during the indoor season?” Below is a basic outline of a typical life cycle of our Sports Interiors projects and how we can work with your club to complete the installation with minimal disruption to your operation.
1. Consider all options and decide on the best solution for you
Our team will walk you through the benefits of our systems and financial savings available to your facility and create a customized solution to obtain your goals. Once a plan is agreed to you will be assigned to one of our project managers that will be your point of contact through the entirety of the work.
2. Schedule the project
Your project manager will initially reach out to introduce themselves and explain the next steps planned for the work at your facility. The first and most important detail at this stage is when the project will take place. Our team will work with you and the facility team to accommodate any and all potential challenges that we face with the dates decided for the project work. When doing a light fixture installation we like to ask for at least one court to be made available to us at all times so that we can efficiently work through the installation. Similarly if we are providing a new liner for your facility we would again ask for at least one court to be made available for our project team. If your project includes both LED Lighting and Reflective Liner we would look to have 2 courts available at stages of the project in order to allow for the quicker lighting work to continue with progress while the Liner follows up. Once the lighting work is completed we would revert back to one court.
While we are working on any space there can be no play or activity while we are working. If your facility would like to access the active areas at the completion of each work day our team can clean up the area and remove our equipment from the playing surface but while work is active there can be no usage of the courts for the safety of your members and staff.
A typical work day for our team is 10 hours and a 8am – 6pm is common for us to request from any upcoming project. If there are days where events are taking place or activities that cannot be moved we would ask that these be highlighted as much in advance as possible and we will work to accommodate those into our project schedule.
Once a project date is determined and hours are set we will share a project schedule with all key stakeholders involved in the project as a frame of reference. We would note that while it is our goal to maintain the schedule set out in any project schedule there are frequently unforeseen conditions or circumstances that can occur that will require adjustments to the schedule. In the event of this we will make changes in real time and update all key stakeholders of any changes.
3. Equipment/material delivery prior to project start date
Sports Interiors will coordinate delivery of our LED Lighting system and/or the Reflective Liner material for no later than the start date of our project. In some circumstance’s material may need to be delivered prior to the project start date and this will be communicated with all key stakeholders so that the facility is prepared for its arrival. For both our Lighting and Liner material we would ask that we house the inventory inside the club to guarantee its safety and functionality. Prior to the project beginning the Sports Interiors project manager will work with the facility staff to locate a small area inside the facility where material can be kept for the life of the installation.
In the event of delivery on the day of the project start our team will take full responsibility for unloading and moving all equipment from delivery vehicles into the facility.
4. Arrival of the Sports Interiors team
The Sports Interiors installation team will arrive to your facility at the agreed upon time on the project start date. Prior to work beginning your Sports Interiors project manager will share with you the contact details for the Project Supervisor on the job site and they will be your on-site contact through the entirety of the installation. If you have any questions, concerns, or issues you can always engage directly with your project manager however if you need something urgently or specifically at the site (moving of equipment, question on material location etc.) you can connect directly with the on-site contact.
5. Demo and installation of Sports Interiors system
When work begins the Sports Interiors team will occupy one tennis court or specified location at your facility and all SI team members will work in the same space. This area will NOT be accessible to members or facility staff during active hours for their own safety and well being. Each type of project installation works slightly differently, depending on what is being installed.
For general preliminary planning purposes you can use the below generalizations for thinking through your potential project installation:
(a) Typical installation timeline of our LED Lighting system (swap and replace of existing locations) = less than 1 day per court
(b) Typical installation timeline of our LED Lighting system (demo and piping of new conduit) = 1 day per court
(c) Typical number of tennis courts needed during Lighting OR Liner only projects = 1 court at a time
(d) Typical number of tennis courts needed during Lighting AND Liner projects = 1/2 courts at a time
Our on-site team will communicate with the noted club point of contact daily to provide regular updates to the staff and allow for court access to be granted back to the club if the work is moving ahead/behind schedule for any reason. We generally look for a fluid transition between court changes and ask that the club also have this mindset while we do our best to give courts back as planned and move to the next available space.
6. Waste removal
Once the installation is completed and a walkthrough has been conducted with the facility stakeholders our crew will remove all excess material, waste, and equipment from the job site. In addition any rented equipment such as scissor lifts and/or dumpsters will be called off and coordinated for pick up as soon as possible.
7. Project close out
With the work finished and the job site cleaned up our offices will conduct any final rebate paperwork or job site analysis and send this information through for review and consideration.
