Question for those in construction or engineering

[Coosbaylumber]

I sort of like waht Teeds mentioned, for back a few years ago, I was working as a P.M. for a civil engineering business in the bay area of Northern California. We only had eight persons there (on and off) the whole day long, but the boss landed a proposal for a large contract. We were to then survey, engineer and issue contract bid items to the various firms, all before Oct. 1st.

As a part of the engineering, (we did not do all of it) we were expected to coordinate the activities of two Mechanical engineers (small ten person firms), two architects (biggie 100 plus person firms), a landscape architect (small five person firm), and one electrical engineer (small ten person firm). Plus the standard individuals from the active developer who was paying the bills, a new construction supervisor, a project supervisor and one project coordinator (who promptly went on vacation for five months leaving me with the new post). I got hired at 8PM one Friday night and worked past midnight that very same day as the firm was quite well behind on schedule on a number of bids.

For next three days (about 12 hours each), I coordinated the office computers to talk to one another, plot out the same type and looking drawing, and then to each of the engineers above, for they all wanted to produce same looking drawings as we were doing. A line color 87 on one computer came out as 1/8" wide and on another was spotted gray and thin. Found out it was like beating your head against the wall, for the Landscaper was more accustomed to working in the dirt, and he telephoned very 45 minutes (day or night) with a "How to" question on Acad.

The architects did not beleive in Acad, used theirown home designed system, and thus when we received their DXF work via Internet, had to go through some lengthy conversion, and often was missing some linked file. (Oh, you don't have that one?) Took longer getting to "see" their work than in using it. Many of the firms were not on same wavelength, as I often shipped them a copy of the site boundary, building and tree psoitions often (did they move?). Of which I think they did not understand CAD.

We worked on the XREF system, and it was very helpfull in all this, but often got a call from a Super at one of the firms, saying they had not even downloaded the work of three days ago, yet can I change...

Our problem was not so much in the conversion of their work but the internet used to be quite unreliable at the time. Once done I would send out TWO runners. One via an auto, and a second via BART as never knew if there was a crash on the freeway to slow delivery down. I dialed and dialed, and often like 90 minutes later got through, so I could ship out an update to the sub-contractors. They in turn would either USPS mail me or send a runner my direction with a disk on their emergency update to the plans.

Most annoying situation was in the telephone calls that came in with "Your CAD is No good"

"Wadda you mean No Good?"


Wm.

[Bill Tillman]

Wow, this post has really evolved over it's life. And as someone who has been in construction as a drafter, hands-on laborer in the field, architect, project manager, superintendent...and now in my 50's, most of you reiterate what I've come to know especially about the commercial construction industry...

1. It's not always the best idea that gets the nod from the decision makers.
2. The push for speed has long since superceeded the push towards quality and accuracy. But remember if you don't have the time to do it right, how are you going to find the time to do it over...(Enter the labor unions).... Shhhh, did he really say that!
3. Most decision makers don't really have their facts straight when they make their decision.

I know it's an easy thing to say, "Just say No", but there will always be those times when you're thinking of how to keep a roof over your children's head and food on their table which will make the need to say "yes" to an impossible request somehow the only thing you could do. And each of us will face this at one point or another along your career path. It's troublesome that the decision makers seem to just keep asking people down the line until they get the answer they want and then call everyone else a fool. I think we all know this routine well. But like I said in my first post to this thread...they had the same thing going on back when the pyramids were built.

[Teeds]

Good points, Bill.

It appears we took the same path to adulthood. For all practical purposes the only career I have ever had is construction.

As a peon/grunt/drafter for a large engineering firm, I ...

• Ran the prints, when ammonia was king and paper cuts burned,
• made coffee when asked,
• traced endless design layouts onto linen with ink, learning the "art" of drafting at the feet of true masters of the art,
• did design layouts that others traced for me,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

As a laborer/carpenter/super for a general contractor, I ...

• laid out buildings and built batter boards,
• dug the ditches, built the forms, tied the steel and poured the concrete,
• framed and sheathed the buildings,
• hung the sheetrock, taped and bedded, painted, hung ceiling grid,
• hung doors, morticed hardware, trimmed,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

As the estimator for a general contractor, I ...

• bid half finished sets of plans that had been issued "for construction",
• made sure that the supers were not procuring more than I estimated they needed,
• covered the costs, if I made a mistake in estimating, by hiding costs inside of change orders,
• learned which subs were going to be hard to deal with and added money to all their bids,
• learned which Architects were going to be a PITA to work with and added money to all bids that I submitted to them,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

As the project manager for a general contractor, I ...

• have agreed to build what the owner and architect "envisioned" although half the time they didn’t even know what the drawings showed the design to be,
• priced endless changes to projects,
• agreed to impossible schedules that everyone "knew" could not be met, all in the name of "getting the job",
• argued endlessly with the owner of the firm for additional manpower,
• argued endlessly with the supers as to why they had SO many people on the job
• prodded (cussed?) Subcontractors to get them to man a job, even though we were running late and we had delayed them countless times already,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

As a custom mill shop owner, I ...

• turned dreams into reality for clients that had absolute trust in my judgement,
• argued with construction estimators over project costs,
• cussed architects because they thought they knew how to build cabinets better than I did,
• cussed general contractors because of job delays that often forced me to not take on other work,
• drew shop drawings that we all knew no one looked at,
• tried to always hire the best employees I could,
• tried to always make a profit, so I could get paid as well,
• cleaned up the shop after everyone left and then took home sets of drawings so I could bid work,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

As an Architect in the corporate architectural world, I ...

• have designed and detailed buildings for people that generally only care about the bottom line ... how soon and how cheap,
• have argued with design architects about details that will not work, cannot be detailed, cannot be bid and/or built,
• listened while designers and owners talked ad nauseam about getting just the right shade of color on precast architectural concrete, never mind that the precast contractor had endlessly tweaked the mix to the point that all the panels looked the same,
• have told workmen that I do not design things that cannot be built and if they cannot build something I have drawn, I will,
• learned CAD at my own expense, many years before it was adopted by my firm except for "very complex" projects,
• worked endless hours of unpaid overtime to manage my own projects and stay ahead of the people in my studio,
• and generally did ANYTHING asked of me to learn the profession.

Then I realized that I would never be a partner at the firm I was with and resigned ... that was 10 years ago ...

Now, as a self employed architect that focuses on historic restoration, downtown revitalization, and economic development, I ...

• spend my days trying to convince clients that I am not a "bank" and that they should pay me,
• have taken a huge cut in pay, but gained my smile back as a result of being able to control my own direction and growth,
• have the freedom to work with people that want my help, some of which even pay me ... LOL,
• when I am managing projects, I try and keep the owners from getting too far into the pockets of the people that actually do the work in the field,
• and generally still do ANYTHING asked of me to learn more about the profession.

Additionally, self employment has allowed me the freedom to be more whole. I am the President of the Texas Motorized Trails Coalition and I am working diligently to increase OHV opportunities here in Texas.

As a member of the human race, I always try and remain humble and remember that there are many here on earth far smarter than I. Additionally, I seek them out.

Most importantly, I thank God for the opportunity to be of service to humanity and hopefully make some money doing so!

At 58 (today! whoo hooo), I look forward to many more years of learning what makes things tick and what I enjoy.