I encountered the worst one ever.?ÿ Construction documents missing dimensions and the dimensions for the foundation were to the nearest inch.?ÿ Architect provided the CAD drawings those did not match the typed dimensions by 0.01 to 0.04'.?ÿ Also walls that I presumed should be in line were out by .10' to 0.25'.?ÿ I refused the layout until I was provided with plans that mathematically closed.?ÿ The Arch asked what mathematical closure is.?ÿ I explained and he provided a PDF with all the dimensions to the nearest inch with a 2" bust in one direction.?ÿ Dimensions changed by up to 3" from the permit set.
All the while the Client is CCd and the Arch is stating how the concrete guys don't care about 1" here or there.
Then he responded that in all his 32 years of working in 4 countries he has never had a surveyor question his plans to the extent I have.?ÿ I do not want to know who he has been working with for those 32 years who would layout plans with missing information.
Then he responded that in all his 32 years of working in 4 countries he has never had a surveyor question his plans to the extent I have
Sounds like the same guy I had to call. He had no clue what I was talking about and had a holler than thou attitude with me. I finally asked him which wall i should drop the 1.3' from. He hung up on me. This was a single family mid-size residence.
Not surprised at all.
Like the time there was a building addition that wasn't square to the existing building.?ÿ It was tied it in at one of the exiting corners but left it dimensionless where it would connect at the other.?ÿ
I called the architect and asked what the dimension was, and he said that it was "field fit", "whatever it ends up being"
Reminds me of a project where Harley Davidson, PE from Texas designed some steel for a small commercial building here in central Indiana a few years ago.
Welcome back, Thad.?ÿ Good to hear from you.?ÿ It has been quite awhile.?ÿ We need more info out of the Northeast.?ÿ Entertainment, too.
i number of years ago a company i worked for took on a project building a hotel out of logicblocks.?ÿ when we got on site the first floor of the hotel was done with hollow core on for the second story flood.?ÿ Once we started measuring the main floor we found why the previous contractors had been sent packing.?ÿ the main floor hallways in some spots was out 4 inches over an 8 ft wall!!! unreal what some people think is acceptable.?ÿ
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@james-vianna 1.3 *feet*?!? ????
Architects should be required to pay a fine, for that sort of thing.
Step one whenever staking architectural plans is to add up all the interior dimensions including wall thicknesses etc. along the lengths & widths of the building (tedious & painful) and see if they equal the overall dimensions shown on the plans.?ÿ They rarely do but if it's only a tenth or two long I'll let it slide and stake the overall dimensions.?ÿ If it's more than that I'll alert the architect & if the building is at minimum setbacks/zero lot lines & he blows me off I'll state the building cannot be staked without violating setbacks etc. & I'll have to alert the inspector(s).?ÿ Two things then can happen, either he'll stiff me and shop another surveyor or he'll turn into good cop, thank me profusely for discovering the error and submit revised plans with the foot or more lopped off somewhere in the interior.?ÿ
BTW I'd *never* cc the owner if I'm a sub of the civil engineer or architect because of our contractual relationship limitations.?ÿ Alerting an inspector is OK because we all have a duty to them.
I've other stories but this post is already too long .?ÿ .?ÿ .?ÿ?ÿ
@holy-cow?ÿ
Entertainment...?ÿ I do not have much of that.?ÿ I have been working on cool stuff though.?ÿ I made webmaps. https://www.ese-llc.com/ ?ÿ Click the buttons and see all the gis stuff.
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@spledeus I sure do appreciate a clean & intuitive website!
How have you been? The Leica is still in the field as far as I know. Say hi to your lovely wife for me! ?????ÿ
@shildebrand Nice to hear, most people get lost.
"bad architectural plans" is a redundancy
To the arkeyteck. "To the degree your plans mis-close, your design contains components of the above drawing. Now, which one of us is going to decide where the mis-fit goes? Do you want me to make a guess, and throw it someplace, or do you want to fix it?"
Thank you,
N
We just got a set of architectural plans for a proposed hotel in a hoity toity mountain town.?ÿ Evidently, the architect had never heard of building setbacks as the design showed one face of the hotel about six inches from a boundary line.?ÿ The amount of drafting time to produce those plans would far exceed the five minutes needed to pull up the applicable building regulations that show a fifteen foot setback.?ÿ?ÿ
I stopped asking architects to fix their errors because their responses elicit a level of rage within myself that is unhealthy and possibly a threat to my livelihood.?ÿ Now I just calculate the time/money it would take me to fix the problem, multiply that number by 1.5 and then email them the additional costs estimate accompanied by a red-penned copy of their plans.?ÿ I never ask them to make a decision, I tell them that I'm removing the 0.5ft jog in the wall or I'm making all the angled walls 120 degrees.?ÿ They'll still be rude, but usually not quite so condescending.?ÿ My running hypothesis is that a marked up set of plans establishes the reviewer (me) as dominant, whereas describing the same in an email does the opposite.?ÿ?ÿ
@spledeus someone said this the other day and it really made stuck with me about being intuitive.?ÿ "people don't really appreciate how much work you have to do to understand something well enough to explain it simply"
Notes like this kill me. Sure wish I could use them sometimes.
ALTHOUGH EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE IN PREPARING THE PLANS AND CHECKING THEM FOR ACCURACY, THE OWNER/CONTRACTORS FOR THIS PROJECT MUST CHECK AND VERIFY ALL DETAILS, FIELD CONDITIONS AND DIMENSIONS AND BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SAME.?ÿ XXXXXXXXXXXXX WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR THIS PROJECT.
OWNER/CONTRACTORS SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING ALL CONSTRUCTION IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL STATE AND LOCAL CODES.
Why bother with an architect?