The Stage That Makes the Building Work
You know how a factory can look finished from the road and still be unable to run one machine? The shell is only half the job.
Behind the walls, the building has to deliver power to machines, carry water and process fluids, drain waste, move air and protect against fire. Factory detailed engineering is the stage where we design all of it.
We’re Factory Builder Malaysia, the factory and warehouse building arm of QDB Ventures Sdn Bhd, a Cheras-based contractor that builds in Selangor. This stage is the core of our detailed engineering and M&E works service. Here’s what the work covers, how it ties to your building and machinery, and why it comes before any quotation.
Piping, Mechanical and Electrical Design
Detailed engineering covers four service areas:
- Electrical: incoming supply, three-phase distribution, distribution boards, lighting, small power and machine connections
- Mechanical: ventilation, extraction, air-conditioning for offices and any process cooling
- Piping: water supply, process piping such as compressed air, and drainage including process drainage
- Fire services: hydrants, hose reels and sprinklers where required
It is scoped to the building design and to how the building will be used.
Each area also comes with Malaysian rules that shape the drawings:
- Electrical: Under the Electricity Supply Act 1990, a competent person registered with Suruhanjaya Tenaga (ST) must handle the installation. TNB connects supply only after the installation passes inspection.
- Fire: According to FactoryHub’s guide to Bomba fire certificates, a single-storey factory above 2,000 m² needs sprinklers plus hose reels, and sprinklers are designed to MS 1910. UBBL by-law 225(2) also requires at least one hydrant within 91.5 m of the fire brigade access point.
- Drainage: The government’s Environmental Essentials for Siting of Industries in Malaysia (EESIM) guideline says polluting industries must provide an on-site treatment system, such as an industrial effluent treatment system. Process drainage therefore needs a treatment plan, not just a pipe to the drain.
- Ventilation: The Factories and Machinery Act 1967 sets health provisions for factories where workers face wet or dusty processes, heat or harmful substances. That is why we plan extraction early.
The Link to Building Design and Use
M&E design depends on two things: the building and what happens inside it. The building gives the routes, spaces and structure for services. The use gives the loads.
Two examples show the difference:
- Packing warehouse: light, small power and fire protection
- Production line: heavy power, compressed air, process drainage and extraction
That is why machinery details matter so much. If the machine list changes after we calculate the loads, the supply, board sizes and drain points all change with it.
The load assessment also decides whether you need single-phase or three-phase supply. It is the first thing an ST-registered contractor works out before applying to TNB. Our guide on deciding machinery early explains what to prepare.
Drawings Produced
We produce four drawing sets for a factory project.
| Drawing set | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Electrical | Supply, single-line diagram, distribution, lighting, power points |
| Mechanical | Ventilation, extraction, air-conditioning |
| Piping and drainage | Water, process piping, drains and falls |
| Fire services | Hydrants, hose reels, sprinklers (to MS 1910), alarms |
These drawings feed the building plan submission, the quotation and the installation on site. For factories, the plans can be submitted by a Professional Engineer with Practising Certificate (PEPC) instead of an architect. According to the Institution of Professional Managers (IPM), this follows Circular No. 009 of 2 June 2020, issued by a joint committee of the Board of Engineers Malaysia and the Board of Architects Malaysia.
Coordinated drawings avoid clashes on site
Pipes, cables, ducts and steelwork compete for the same space. Coordinating them on paper is far cheaper than moving them on site.
Malaysian research points the same way. A 2025 Universiti Sains Malaysia journal study on BIM clash detection found that catching clashes early can significantly offset the cost of the modelling itself.
Why It Comes Before the Quotation
A quotation is only as good as its scope. If M&E is guessed, the price is either padded for risk or full of provisional sums that change later.
| Guessed M&E | Detailed engineering first | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Padded for risk or full of provisional sums | Built from listed quantities |
| Scope | Gaps found on site | Inclusions and exclusions written down |
| Approvals | Thinner plan submission | More complete plan submission |
Doing the detailed engineering first lets us list exactly what is included and excluded. It also makes the building plan submission more complete, which helps approvals.
Compliance is part of the scope too. FactoryHub notes that a fire certificate (Perakuan Bomba) is compulsory for designated premises under section 28 of the Fire Services Act 1988, and it must be renewed every year. A fire system designed correctly from day one makes that first certificate far easier to get.
One Team From Design to Installation
Because the same team designs and installs the M&E, nothing is lost between drawings and site. Questions on site are answered by the people who did the design. For power planning in particular, read factory power supply and TNB.
If you own industrial land in Selangor, factory detailed engineering is the best first step before you ask for a price.
Send us your machinery list, land details and rough layout. We’ll tell you what your M&E scope needs to cover.