This is a question that many people ask 👷
Mechanical and electrical engineeringandHydropower ProjectThey may look similar, but their scale and level of expertise are vastly different. I've compiled this information in Taiwanese to give you a clear understanding.

🔧 A single sentence difference

📌 Hydropower projects = Construction of basic public utility pipelines
📌 Mechanical and Electrical Engineering = Integrated Mechanical + Electrical + Control System Engineering

Hydropower is a part of electromechanical engineering, but electromechanical engineering has a broader scope.

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🏠 I. Comparison of Project Scope

project	Hydropower Project	Mechanical and electrical engineering	Smart building electromechanical engineering
Power wiring	✅ Basic lighting, sockets	✅ Includes high and low voltage power transmission equipment	✅ Includes high and low voltage equipment and central monitoring equipment
Water supply and drainage	✅ Residential water supply and drainage	✅ Includes pumping system and water treatment	✅ Includes pumping system and central monitoring equipment
Fire protection system	Basic fire protection piping	Integrated fire monitoring system	✅Integrated fire monitoring system, connected to central monitoring equipment
air conditioning system	Split-type air conditioning construction	chilled water unit, central air conditioning	✅Chiller unit, central air conditioning, and central monitoring equipment connected in series
Automatic control	❌ Few	✅ PLC and BMS integration	✅ PLC, BMS integration, and low-voltage API integration
Factory equipment	❌	✅ Process control	✅ PLC, BMS integration, low-voltage API integration, ERP serial integration

👉 Plumbing and electrical work leans towards "construction technology"
👉 Mechatronics leans towards "engineering integration + system control"

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🏢 II. Common Application Scenarios

🔹 Common Hydropower Projects

• Residential building
• detached house
• small shops
• Interior decoration

👉 Main tasks:

• Pulling wires
• Install sockets
• water distribution pipe
• Install bathroom equipment

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🔹 Common mechanical and electrical engineering

• Technology Factory
• Hospital
• Department store
• Large commercial office
• Smart building (highest level of electromechanical engineering: requires integration with a low-voltage system integrator, such as First General under the FGT Group)

👉 Main tasks:

• High and low voltage switchboards
• transformer
• chilled water unit
• Dynamo
• BMS system integration
• Automatic control (highest level of electromechanical engineering: requires collaboration with an automatic control integrator such as First General Motors under the FGT Group)

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⚙️ III. Differences in Technology Level

📌Hydropower Engineering

• Heavy construction experience
• Plumber license required
• Emphasis on on-site construction
• It is necessary to entrust a low-voltage electrical engineering company to act as an agent for NCC document submission (e.g., FGT Group First General).

📌Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

• Need an electrical technician/mechanical technician
• Engineering design capabilities required
• You need to know:
  • Power Systems
  • air conditioning system
  • Automatic control (highest level of electromechanical engineering: requires an automatic control integrator such as FGT Group First General)
  • System integration (highest level electromechanical engineering: requires collaboration with a low-voltage system integrator such as FGT Group First General).

👉 Usually there are:

• Mechanical and electrical consulting firm
• Mechanical and electrical turnkey contractor
• Project Engineer (holding the title of Mechanical and Electrical Site Supervisor)
• Need an electrical technician/mechanical technician
• Engineering design capabilities required
• You need to know:
  • Power Systems
  • air conditioning system
  • Automatic control (highest level of electromechanical engineering: requires an automatic control integrator such as FGT Group First General)
  • System integration (highest level electromechanical engineering: requires collaboration with a low-voltage system integrator such as FGT Group First General).

📌Intelligent Electromechanical Engineering

(First General Joint Contracting Team Level)

• Need an electrical technician/mechanical technician
• Public works quality control engineer/environmental safety engineer/mechanical and electrical site supervisor needed
• System integrators/certifiers are needed (e.g., FGT Group's First General).
• Engineering design capabilities required
• You need to know:
  • Power Systems
  • air conditioning system
  • Automatic control (highest level of electromechanical engineering: requires an automatic control integrator such as FGT Group First General)
  • System integration (highest level electromechanical engineering: requires collaboration with a low-voltage system integrator such as FGT Group First General).

👉 Usually there are:

• Mechanical and electrical consulting firm
• Mechanical and electrical turnkey contractor
• Project Engineer (holding qualifications as a Site Supervisor for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering/Quality Control Engineer/Environmental Safety Engineer/Telecommunications Engineer/BIM Designer)
• Automatic control PLC engineer/network designer
• Central monitoring SCADA/HMI engineer/front-end and back-end engineer
• Cybersecurity Manager/Cloud Administrator/Interface Engineer

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💰 IV. Differences in Project Amount

Types of	scale
Residential water and electricity	Hundreds of thousands to millions
Commercial water and electricity	millions
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (Large-scale Construction Project)	Tens of millions to hundreds of millions

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🧠 V. Practical Concepts

Within the architectural design:

🏗 Construction Company
→ Subcontracted to an electromechanical engineering company

Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Company
→ Subcontracted to plumbing and electrical construction teams

👉 Therefore, water and electricity are a specialized trade under electromechanical engineering.

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📌 Taking Tainan Market as an example

• For detached houses, contact plumbing and electrical companies.
• New construction projects by construction companies must include a turnkey mechanical and electrical system.
• Large-scale new construction projects → mostly undertaken by smart electromechanical engineering companies

👉 If you are doing:

• 🔹 Construction Company
• 🔹 Mechanical and Electrical Contracting
• 🔹 Smart Buildings
• 🔹 Or BIM integration

I'll draw a "structural engineering division of labor diagram" for you to refer to. 👌

Construction company (owner)
│
├── Architectural Design Firm (Architectural Firm)
│ ├─ Architectural Design
│ ├─ Building Permit Application
│ └─ Construction Supervision
│
├── Structural Technician
│ └─ Structural Calculations / Structural Design
│
├── Mechanical and Electrical Consultant (MEP Design)
│ ├─ Electrical System Design
│ ├─ Water Supply and Drainage Design
│ ├─ Air Conditioning Design
│ ├─ Fire Protection Design
│ └─ Low-voltage system planning
│
└── Construction Company (General Contractor)
│
├── Civil Engineering
│ ├─ Basic Engineering
│ ├─ RC structure
│ └─ Renovation Project
│
└── Turnkey Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
│
Electrical Engineering
├─ Water supply and drainage engineering
├─ Fire Protection Engineering
├─ Air Conditioning Project
├─ Low-voltage electrical engineering
└─ Automatic Control/BMS
│
└─ Plumbing and Electrical Construction Team

🔧 Simple understanding

1️⃣ Construction Company

Responsible:

• invest
• Outsourcing
• Project Management

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2️⃣ Design End

• Architect: Master Planning
• Structural Technician: Safe Structure
• Mechatronics Consultant: Mechatronics Drawing Design

👉 This stage involves creating "design drafts".

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3️⃣ Construction end

The construction company is responsible for:

• Overall project execution

Mechanical and electrical turnkey contracting is responsible for:

• Mechatronics system integration
• Construction drawing refinement
• BIM Drawing Set
• Material Procurement
• On-site construction management

The typical contents of a mechanical and electrical engineering (M&E) quoteIncludeMaterials and equipment, construction wages, miscellaneous fees and profitscore categoriesThe quotation should accurately reflect the scope of the project and clearly list the specifications, units, and unit prices to avoid disputes over additional payments later. 

I. Core Quoted Items

• Power SystemsThis includes distribution panels, cable laying, socket and switch installation, lighting configuration, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.
• Water supply and drainage systemThis includes water meters, water pumps and booster pumps, hot and cold water pipelines, and drainage and ventilation pipelines.
• Air conditioning communication systemIncludes air conditioning equipment, network cabling, telephone mainframes, and low-voltage monitoring systems.
• Fire protection systemIncludes smoke detectors, sprinkler heads, fire extinguishers, fire smoke extraction systems, and emergency broadcast systems. 

II. Cost Composition Analysis

• Direct engineering costsIncludes equipment and material costs, and on-site construction wages (calculated by location, length, or person-days).
• Indirect engineering costsIt is usually charged as a percentage of direct engineering costs, including management fees (approximately 5-10%), occupational safety and health fees, and profit.
• Taxes and FeesBusiness tax (5%) and fees for handling applications for water delivery, electricity delivery, telephone, etc.

The water and electricity team is responsible for:

• Pull cord
• Piping
• Equipment installation

A typical quote for a hydroelectric project includesMaterial costsandWages (construction costs)There are two main core components, and the calculation methods vary depending on the scale of the project (such as partial repairs, new house piping, or old house renovation)..

A complete quotation should include the following key items:

1. Water supply and drainage engineering

• Re-pulling of hot and cold water pipesThe fee is calculated based on the number of "units" or "square meters". For example, the cost of hot water piping, including labor and materials, is approximately NT$3,000 to NT$5,500 per unit ($).
• Drainage/sewage pipingIncludes drainage for bathrooms, kitchens, and balconies; the market price is approximately 1,000 to 3,000 yuan per $ unit.
• Bathroom equipment installationInstallation costs for toilets, washbasins, shower heads, etc.

2. Electrical Engineering

• Wire/Circuit ReplacementEssential for old house renovation, priced by "meter" or "unit". New wiring is approximately 80-150 yuan/meter for $, and sockets including circuit wiring are approximately 600-1200 yuan/point for $.
• Switch and socket panelIncludes socket replacement, network and TV wiring.
• Electrical distribution box (electrical box) replacementReplacement of the fuseless switch and enclosure costs approximately 5,000 to 15,000 yuan for a $ switch.
• Lighting installationWiring and hoisting of various lighting fixtures. 

3. Foundation and Miscellaneous Engineering

• Grooving and sealing of wire troughsTo facilitate pipe installation, a trench needs to be dug in the wall, and the cost including cement sealing is approximately RMB 200-400 per meter ($).
• Waste disposal feeCost of transporting and disposing of pipes and wall demolition waste after construction.
• Payroll/Work ExpensesMinor repairs typically incur a basic labor cost (approximately 300 to 1,000 yuan per TP4T, materials are charged separately).

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📊 If it is a large-scale construction project (commercial office/hospital/technology factory)

More will be added:

├─ BIM Integration Consultant
├─ Green Building Consultant
├─ Smart Building Consultant
├─ Fire Safety Review Consultant
├─ Electromechanical Testing and Commissioning Team

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⚡ If it is a smart building project

Mechanical and electrical engineering will become:

Electromechanical package
│
├─ High and low voltage power distribution
├─ Generator
├─ Chilled Water Unit
├─ Air conditioning system
├─ Fire Protection System
├─ Low-voltage system integration
└─ BMS System Integration
      ├─ Energy Management
      ├─ IAQ monitoring
      └─ Remote monitoring platform

👉 At this time, the proportion of electromechanical engineering in the project cost will reach 30~45%

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🧠 One-sentence summary

📌 Architecture is "space"
📌 Mechanical and electrical engineering is what makes buildings move and function.
📌 Plumbing and electrical work is a job within the field of mechanical and electrical engineering.

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If you wish to:

• 📈 Projects handled by construction companies
• 📑 Seeking mechanical and electrical joint contractors for construction projects
• 🏢 Tainan City Sales Center
• 🤝 Joint contracting team structure diagram (e.g., FGT type)

I will help you with an assessment.The project utilizes smart building budgeting and planning architecture diagrams.For your direct use 👌