Building owners are continually perplexed with new buildings that do not perform as expected. They acquisition a design and construction team to build their vision, their dream, yet many times they are left with buildings that leak, lack performance, or require continual maintenance from day one. Our industry is challenged to provide owners with a building that meets their project requirements and perform as they directed. Unfortunately, lawsuits and insurance claims are continually part of the construction process as the result of falling short of the owners’ expectations and requirements.

In this course we will dive into how to produce and provide performance specifications that meet the owners’ expectations, maximize the success of the design and construction teams, and reduces risks for all three parties of the design team (owner, architect, & construction team). We will discuss how to provide a performance specification that is clear, concise and comprehensive yet simple and targeted to achieve what the owner really wants – a leak free building that performs!!

Learning Objectives

1. How building enclosure failures are a billion-dollar annual industry and the reason why the industry needs performance specifications that define performance, functional, and technical requirements.
2. Understanding the owners’ directives and properly executing the owner’s project requirements as part of the performance specifications.
3. Maximize success by writing clear, concise and comprehensive performance specifications with high performing and sustainable building enclosures in mind.
4. Define construction performance requirements within the specification to mitigate risk, ensure quality assurance / quality control processes and attain the defined directives of the owner’s project requirements.
5. Buildings that Perform – What the owner really wants from the design and construction team and their understanding of design, performance, warranties, and durability of the building.

Melissa I. Payne, BECxP, CxA+BE, CDT
Building Enclosure Consultant and Forensic Investigator, Midwest Enclosure Consulting

Melissa I. Payne focuses on offering building enclosure third-party services. She founded Midwest Enclosure Consulting, September 2022, to offer owners, design, and construction teams with expertise in building science, building envelope solutions, forensic investigations, as well as building performance assessments and construction onsite inspections.

Ms. Payne joined Tremco CPG Inc. November 1, 2018, as a Construction Management
Specialist. She then managed the Enclosure System Solutions Team and administered the MyTEAM Leak-Free Warranty Processes and Services till April 25, 2023, at which time the company decided these services would no longer be offered under Tremco CPG, Inc. Prior to joining Tremco, she provided building enclosure commissioning and consulting service and conducted forensic investigations on a multitude of projects while at Miller Engineering, P.C. Prior to developing and heading the building enclosure division at Miller, she served as the Owner’s Representative on both capital and non-cap construction and restoration projects for City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, a municipal utility company.

Ms. Payne maintains high involvement in the design and construction industry as a nationally recognized speaker. Since 2016 she has been a guest speaker for Drury University School of Architecture. She served a three-year term on the Southwest Missouri Construction Specification Institute (SWMO-CSI) Board and is a chapter member since 2003. She has been a member of the International Code Council since 2013. Ms. Payne is Past Chair and a founding member of the Ozarks Regional Chapter of the Building Enclosure Council (BECOR), a committee of Springfield-AIA, currently a member of National Institute of Building Science, and a Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) member since 2019. She is a member of the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) and has
presented as a guest speaker for national ABAA symposium tours and national conferences. She is also a member of IIBEC (International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants, Formally RCI) and a published author for their national Interface magazine and serves on the Certification Committee for the Certified Building Enclosure Commissioning Provider (CBECxP®) Program. Ms. Payne is also an ISO/TC 163 Committee member of ISO (International Organization for Standardization), 21105-20106 Thermal performance in the built environment – Building envelope performance verification and commissioning BECx.