December 21, 2009
Guest blog post by Scott Stafford
This past week we had an opportunity to bid on an elementary school in Virginia Beach. The job interested us because it featured multiple wall cladding products and we thought we could offer an attractive combination package. In essence, we would have provided nearly everything on the exterior but the storefront and masonry. Ultimately though, we declined to bid on the job due to the poor quality of the architectural drawings. The architect’s failure to provide adequate information dissuaded us from pursuing the project, and I would bet a steak dinner that numerous other qualified subcontractors, on a variety of trades, decided it wasn’t worth the hassle as well.
I know we’ve all dealt with this before, but for entertainment purposes, here are some “lowlights” of the drawings:
- There are literally no column lines shown on the elevations or the
- The material legend is shown on the first sheet of elevations only, meaning that one must constantly keep flipping back and forth to figure out what they’re seeing on subsequent pages. Ditto for the sections. The drawings only label the numbered products on the first sheet of the sections.
- There are more occurrences than I can count of an area of the building calling for one product in elevation, but labeling a different product in section. Further, there are even instances where what is labeled in section is actually drawn as a third product. Which is correct? There is a wide variance in costs by material Do we guess conservatively or aggressively?
- There are hardly any joint lines for the wall. This leaves us to play architect and try to decide what would look best from an aesthetic standpoint. Are our competitors looking at it the same way? Who knows?
I could go on, but I’ve already wasted too much time on this project and I think you get the idea. The bottom line is that if we were going to bid this project, we would throw so much “fluff” into our price in order to protect ourselves that we would never end up with the job. Any smart subcontractor would do likewise, meaning that the folks who end up with the job are likely desperate for work and are not the highest caliber of subcontractor. In this way, the architect has done the owner a huge disservice.
That’s enough negativity for this week. There’s always another job to bid and the next set of drawings will certainly be better. On a brighter note, on behalf of The Miller-Clapperton Partnership, Inc., I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.