Relevance of Electrical Services Engineers in Construction and Building
Services
NAJEEM O. ADELAKUN1, MATTHEW B. OLAJIDE2, SAMUEL A. OMOLOLA3
1Department of Works and Services
Federal College of Education Iwo, Osun State
NIGERIA
2Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering
Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State
NIGERIA
3Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering
The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State
NIGERIA
Abstract: - It is now a common phenomenon in building services that some builders/clients call for the services
of the electrical contractor/technicians to carry out an electrical installation without the provision or availability
of standard electrical services drawings, at times due to the negligence of the builder/client about the
importance of electrical services drawings or in other to reduce cost, which is detrimental and hazardous to the
building, pieces of equipment installed or the occupants in the future. This paper analyses the relevance of
electrical services engineers in construction and building services. A well-structured online survey was adopted
and shared with different engineering platforms where building and construction professionals are to know the
practice at various building and construction sites, and a total of 230 responses were collected, the data
collected were examined using the descriptive statistics method with good pictorial representation. The result of
the survey shows that 20% of the respondents complained about the absence of electrical services drawings,
38% complained that the electrical services drawings provided are not practicable, and 42% of the respondents
talked about the availability of relevant electrical services drawings. The analysis from this study confirms that
several electrical installations were carried out without the provision of practicable electrical services drawings,
especially in domestic installations. It is recommended that the services of qualified electrical services
engineers should be employed for standard electrical services drawings, which will give detailed information
about the method of wiring, the suitable size/type of distribution, and the protection scheme for lighting and
power installations in conformity with the appropriate standard and regulations for effective and well-balanced
electrical services.
Key-Words: - Building services, construction, design, installation, electrical, service engineer
Received: September 28, 2021. Revised: October 24, 2022. Accepted: November 19, 2022. Published: December 31, 2022.
1 Introduction
The rate of accidents and electrical safety-related
issues in building services has prompted the need
for a holistic approach to tackle and correct the
anomalies in building and construction services. A
building edifice is just a carcass without the
infrastructures that made it livable, secure,
functional, efficient, and comfortable for social and
recreational activities [1-3], this service is not
achievable without a proper building services
engineer. However, building services engineers play
a pivotal role in the design of a building with major
services such as mechanical, electrical, and
plumbing popularly called MEP services.
Consequently, designs for building installations
involve various calculations based on several factors
which include; the type of building, the purpose of
the building, and physical building parameters [4].
Ideally, standard electrical services drawings must
be provided before any electrical installation is
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DOI: 10.37394/232022.2022.2.34
Najeem O. Adelakun,
Matthew B. Olajide, Samuel Α. Omolola
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carried out [5]. Electrical services drawings are
sometimes referred to as wiring diagrams that
provide visual representations describing electrical
systems or circuits. Similarly, it is also known as the
process that involves planning, creating, installing,
and testing electrical equipment following the
appropriate regulations. Electrical services include
lighting, power, automated control, heating, load
distribution systems, operation of machines, etc [6],
it serves as a guide to electrical
contractors/electricians or other workers who will
use it to achieve energy efficiency management and
for easy maintenance services when the need arises.
However, energy efficiency is a concept that
involves the utilisation of energy-efficient loads in
the most economical way for efficient service
delivery [7, 8], for effective energy efficiency
management, the electrical service engineers must
analyses the power requirements of the
equipments/appliances in the building before
specifying the suitable electrical installation method
to be adopted [9]. Consequently, the adoption and
enforcement of standard energy codes will reduce
energy consumption and mitigate the impacts of
climate change [10, 11], and money saved on energy
bills by consumers and businesses can help the
economy grow [12]. It is alarming that some
builders/clients call for the services of the electrical
contractor/technicians to carry out an electrical
installation without the provision or availability of
standard electrical service drawings, this is
detrimental and hazardous to the building,
equipment installed, or the occupant in the future. It
is pertinent that all electrical services engineers
should possess the following major qualities as
shown in Fig. 1. for the effective delivery of world-
class services drawings.
Fig. 1: Qualities of an Electrical Services Engineer
2 Materials and Methods
This paper analyses the relevance of electrical
services engineers in construction and building
services. A well-structured online survey was
adopted and shared with different engineering
platforms where building and construction
professionals are to know the practice at various
building and construction sites, and a total of 230
responses were gathered from the online survey.
The descriptive statistics of data analysis method
was adopted to evaluate the data collected and
examine the need for electrical services engineers
with good pictorial representation.
The study aimed to answer the following
research questions.
• How often is electrical services drawings
provided?
• How accurate is the electrical services
drawings provided?
• Do you think there is a need for electrical
services drawings before an electrical
installation is carried out?
3 Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows the characteristics of respondents
with three major variables; the respondents’ age
which is classified into three groups, the
respondent’s gender, and the respondents’ area of
specialisation.
Table 1: Characteristics of the Respondents
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Najeem O. Adelakun,
Matthew B. Olajide, Samuel Α. Omolola
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Fig. 2: Percentage Showing Age Range of
Respondents
Fig. 2 illustrates the age range of respondents in
percentage. 64% of the respondents were above 30
years of age, with 33% of the respondents between
the age range of 21-30 years, compared to 3% of the
respondents below 20 years of age. This shows that
a substantial number of the respondents are above
30 years of age and fall into the categories of
experienced personnel.
Fig. 3: Percentage Showing Gender of Respondents
Fig. 3 displays the percentage of respondents by
their gender. With 88% of male respondents while
only 12% of the respondents are female. This shows
that a larger percentage of male respondents
participated in the survey. This can be attributed to
the fact that fewer female is into construction and
building services.
Fig. 4: Chart Showing Respondents' Area of
Specialisation
Fig. 4 illustrates the chart of respondents with their
respective areas of specialisation. 142 of the
respondents were Electrical engineers, followed by
civil/building engineers with 38 respondents, while
19 numbers of respondents were architects, 16
numbers were Quantity Surveyour, with only 10
safety personnel, and 5 respondents were from other
fields related to the construction and engineering
sector. This shows that majority of the respondents
Variable
Frequency (n = 230)
Percentage (%)
Below 20
8
3.48
21 - 30
75
32.61
Above 30
147
63.91
Male
202
87.83
Female
28
12.17
Architecture
19
8.26
Civil/Building
38
16.52
Electrical
142
61.74
Quantity Surveyour
16
6.96
Safety
10
4.35
Others
5
2.17
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are electrical engineers which is good for robust and
detailed feedback about what is obtainable at
different construction and building services.
Table 2: Respondents’ View to Research Question
A
Fig. 5: Percentage of Respondents View to Research
Question A
Fig. 5 illustrates the respondent's view to Research
Question A on how often electrical services
drawings are provided. 56% of the respondents
stated that electrical services drawings were
provided occasionally, 23% stated that relevant
drawings were provided always, and 21% of the
respondents complained about the absence of
electrical services drawings which makes the
electrical contractor/technicians to use their
discretion in carrying out electrical installation
services. It was observed that the majority of
respondents complained about the absence of
electrical services drawings mostly in a domestic
installation.
Table 3: Respondents’ View to Research Question B
Fig. 6: Percentage of Respondents View to Research
Question B
Fig. 6 illustrates the respondent's view to Research
Question B on how accurate is the electrical services
drawings provided. The result shows that 20% of
the respondents complained about the absence of
electrical services drawings, 38% complained that
the electrical services drawings provided are not
practicable, and 42% of the respondents talked
about the availability of relevant electrical services
designs. The comments from the respondents show
that some electrical services engineers with
computer-aided design and drafting knowledge have
little technical know-how or practical knowledge,
while those with technical know-how about
electrical installation services cannot use computer-
aided design and drafting software.
Table 4: Respondents’ View to Research Question C
Fig. 7: Percentage of Respondents’ View to
Research Question C
Research
Question
Always
Occasionally
Not
at
all
Total
Number of
Respondents
How
often
electrical
services
drawings
provided?
52
130
48
230
Research
Question
Always
Occasionally
Not
at
all
Total
Number of
Respondents
How
accurate
is the
electrical
services
drawings
provided?
97
88
45
230
Research
Question
Agree
Disagree
Undecided
Total
Number of
Respondents
Do you think
there is a need
for electrical
service
drawings
before
electrical
installation is
carried out?
199
5
26
230
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Najeem O. Adelakun,
Matthew B. Olajide, Samuel Α. Omolola
E-ISSN: 2732-9984
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Volume 2, 2022
Fig. 7 illustrates the respondent's view to Research
Question C on the need for electrical services
drawings before an electrical installation is carryout.
The result shows that 87% of the respondents agreed
to the need for the provision of relevant electrical
services drawings before any electrical installation
is carryout, 11% of the respondents were undecided
whether it is important or not, while only 2% of the
respondents disagree on the need for electrical
services designs before electrical installation is
carryout. It can be deduced that those with a
contrary opinion on the need for electrical services
designs are those with over-dependence on their
electrical contractor/technicians or in order to save
the cost of consultancy services which most times is
detrimental and hazardous in the future.
4 Conclusion
It is evident that electrical services engineers play a
vital role in the construction and building services,
the personnel will ensure compliance with relevant
electrical building and installation codes and also
eliminates tendencies of overloading the existing or
future load demand. The result shows the majority
of electrical installations carried out in domestic
buildings were without electrical services drawings,
while those with electrical services drawings in
most construction and building sites just requested
for it without any proper supervision or enforcement
by the electrical service engineers that prepare the
drawings. It is recommended that the service of a
qualified electrical services engineer should be
employed for standard electrical service drawings in
order to give detailed information about the method
of wiring, the suitable size, and type of distribution,
and the protection scheme for lighting and power
installations in conformity with the appropriate
standard and regulations for effective and well-
balanced electrical services. Consequently, the
electrical services drawings will make maintenance
work easier from an informed point of view and
enable professionals and regulatory bodies to advise
the public appropriately on energy efficiency and
conservation.
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Matthew B. Olajide, Samuel Α. Omolola
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Contribution of Individual Authors to the
Creation of a Scientific Article (Ghostwriting
Policy)
Najeem O. Adelakun carried out the analysis of the
data.
Matthew B. Olajide worked on the methodology.
Najeem O. Adelakun & Matthew B. Olajide
organised and worked on results and discussion
section.
Samuel A. Omolola worked on the conclusion.
Najeem O. Adelakun & Samuel A. Omolola was
responsible for the proofreading of the manuscript.
Sources of Funding for Research Presented in a
Scientific Article or Scientific Article Itself
The authors received no financial support for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article. Furthermore, on behalf of all authors, the
corresponding author states that there is no conflict
of interest.
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(Attribution 4.0 International, CC BY 4.0)
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
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DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE
DOI: 10.37394/232022.2022.2.34
Najeem O. Adelakun,
Matthew B. Olajide, Samuel Α. Omolola
E-ISSN: 2732-9984
260
Volume 2, 2022