The day the contractors got stupid(er)

[draftermatt]

Thus far today has been interesting. From the boss attempting to make a piece that didn't exist, then getting mad when there were no drawings on it, then getting madder when I told him that's because there is no such thing.

To the bosses wife who comes in once a week and basically yells at me for not doing more IT stuff (like computer making noise, buy a new one is my new motto).

I'm sorry, your husband underpays me, I'm crazy busy doing the job he actually hired me for, I don't have time to tear apart the QC guys 8 year old computer to see why it sounds like an airplane taking off and is showing interesting patterns on the monitor.

But I digress.

It started with 2 calls wondering why I had moved their delivery dates. Well you see, you've been "ready in 2 weeks" since Christmas, I didn't have much faith in you, and I have (literally) 7 people who want delivery on Feb 23, some people have to slide, and I dislike you the most. Ta da!

Then I had to deal with an engineer who's never worked with our product before, but thinks he knows more about it than we do... That one's too long and technical to get into though. But use your imagination.

Then I had to write this letter:

I’ve been told by field personell that you have requested the boiler flue opening be enlarged from 12”x12” to 16”x16”.

This is the first time we’ve heard of this requested change. In fact our approved E-1 drawing states “12”x12” opening for 10” Diam. Boiler Flue Every Floor” please see attached.

We made this unusual slab at your request.

Please do not direct our subcontractor to do extra work.

See the guy tells my people he told me to make this change (he didn't) and that they need to cut it. However they didn't want to without clearing it with me first, since they'd end up billing me for the extra work. I didn't cause it, I'm not paying for it.

Then I get a guy who built his building 2" too high, and now rather than lower it (easier than it sounds) he wants me to make up the 2" in the flight of stairs that I've already made.

Side note, no Architect is going to allow someone to change floor and ceiling heights without asking, and this is a national hotel chain, they aren't going to agree to this.

He and I go back and forth a bit as I explain to him that he'll end up with a stair that has a 1/4" difference from the front of the tread (where your foot hits) to the back, which is bad.

So he decides he wants me to recast the stairs (only after I explain to him why I've already made them, he's a guy who was "ready" a month ago so I hurried up and made the damn things and now I'm storing them.

Then the Architect finally wakes up and basically tells him to fix his screw up, ha ha.

We'll see what happens though.

[QASlave]

So, exactly how does one shorten an already built building? That sounds, odd. (Not that I don't believe you, it just sounds like it'd be a major pain in the ass.)

[Sheldonrs]

This is right up there with "Do we raise the bridge or lower the river?" and "Do we put a fence around the cliff by the ski resort or an ambulance down in the valley?".

[draftermatt]

So, exactly how does one shorten an already built building? That sounds, odd. (Not that I don't believe you, it just sounds like it'd be a major pain in the ass.)

What happened is that he set all of his steel beams 2" too high, but he hadn't built his walls up yet (which is stupid, but I digress).

So either the steel manufacturer screwed up and made the connections too high, or they just set them incorrectly.

The easiest thing to do would be to take down the steel and put it back up to the correct elevations, which depending on which of the screw ups it is, depends on how easy it is.

Like I said, typically the architect or owner of the building will demand that the steel be taken down and set properly as they've now lost 2" of ceiling in their lobby.

[Interior Desecrator]

Silly draftermatt, don't you know that the contractors never actually read the drawings or the notes on them? It's so much more fun to rush around and try to redo things after the fact, when the issue could have been easily remedied at the outset of the project! Sorry, that's the kind of week I've had!

We have a joke in our office that, when you ask a contractor when they'll be ready, the answer is always "in two weeks!" It doesn't matter if they said that two weeks ago. It's always two more weeks! And those are the ones who usually act like they're in the biggest hurry.

[QASlave]

See, I went and ASSUMED that the wall had been built. Bad Me. Still, resetting a bunch of steel would STILL be a major pain.

[draftermatt]

We have a joke in our office that, when you ask a contractor when they'll be ready, the answer is always "in two weeks!" It doesn't matter if they said that two weeks ago. It's always two more weeks! And those are the ones who usually act like they're in the biggest hurry.

Preaching to the choir there.

The biggest "hurry up, hurry up" guys I've had recently just delayed from March 15 to May 5, and now they don't understand why we're just a tad irritated with them.

[protege]

Somewhat-related college story for you all. When I was in school, I'd volunteer at their museum in the mornings. Why not, as my first class was usually around 10. Anyway, as the curator and I were moving some things around, he couldn't resist telling me about the drain in his office. Keep in mind that the museum is in the building of the main building.

The drain is right in the middle of his office. It looks like any other drain in the building. However, it's a bit different. How, does liquid go up? Well, actually it does! What? Well, since the drain isn't actually *connected* to anything, when water flows through it, it goes down about 4 inches or so, then hits the concrete subfloor, and backs up...into the office

That's not the only contractor screw-up. They screwed up the theater floor as well. When the first floor was being built, months were spent leveling the ground, pouring the foundation, and putting in the auditorium section. Right about then, they discovered that they'd left out a support beam. In the middle of the freshly-poured floor. Meaning, all of that had to be torn up and redone

[Interior Desecrator]

Preaching to the choir there.

The biggest "hurry up, hurry up" guys I've had recently just delayed from March 15 to May 5, and now they don't understand why we're just a tad irritated with them.

Wow! That tops my most recent pain-in-the-neck. We had one lady who absolutely HAD to have her C.O. by the middle of January. Yeah...we went by the jobsite last week, and they've still only got stud walls. The cabinets are sitting in our warehouse, ready to go!

[Cia]

The IHS* were building a new hospital out on the Sisseton/Wahapeton Tribal Lands and they forgot to send out bids for the telephone system. They discovered this after the building was completely finished. I bet the techs had fun pulling wire while taking the IHS's name in vain.

Usually for us an electrical will tell us they are ready for terminations next week, send a tech out and it turns out that the electrical isn't even close to being finished and actually wants us out there to help them with their work and to fix any of their screw ups.

We give a fifth of liquor to any electrical that has a perfect final inspection. I believe we've only had to buy alcohol 6 or 7 times in the past 37 years.

*Indian Health Service

[draftermatt]

Wow! That tops my most recent pain-in-the-neck. We had one lady who absolutely HAD to have her C.O. by the middle of January. Yeah...we went by the jobsite last week, and they've still only got stud walls. The cabinets are sitting in our warehouse, ready to go!

This particular job is 5 buildings and over 600,000 square feet total. Our contract is for well over 3 million. This is easily the biggest job we've done.

To get the job we had to swear on a stack of bibles that we would not sell anymore work for the period of March-July so that we could concentrate solely on their job so they wouldn't have to wait for deliveries.

So yeah...

[draftermatt]

We'll see what happens though.

Forgot to update this.

The reason for the Architect's note to fix the steel was because in order to fix it in the stairs we would have ended up with an 8" riser (the step up) which isn't allowed.

So we had to compromise with 7 7/8" which will end up being 1" short, however my guys in the field can fix it.

The contractor originally wanted to make the door way have a step. Can you imagine walking up a flight of steps, turning to go out the door, and tripping over the sill because the floor outside is 2" higher?

[dalesys]

...any electrical that has a perfect final inspection.

The electrician who connected the lighting control console to the dimmer cabinet at the Northern Alberta Centennial Auditorium (Edmonton) (circa 1974) was a sure bet to not get the booze.

About 200 low voltage control lines...
And this idiot figured that the first wire they grabbed was #1. And the next was #2. Lather-Rinse-Repeat.

At each end.

[Ironclad Alibi]

We give a fifth of liquor to any electrical that has a perfect final inspection. I believe we've only had to buy alcohol 6 or 7 times in the past 37 years.

Fire water as a contract incentive on Indian lands? What would John Wayne have said about that?

(And where's my union rep? I want to renegotiate my incentive awards!)