The owner, builder and BO are quick to hold me responsible for my design if anything goes wrong, and/or to try to hold me responsible even if the fault wasn’t with my design, in which case I get to spend my time and money defending myself and proving it was not my fault. So, if you require an engineer’s involvement and stamp on the plans, the construction should be in accordance with those plans. If you or the builder want to change the design, you better be an engineer and carrying O&E insurance, and be willing to assume responsibility for the project. You are always quick to use a DP as an insurer of last resort when you don’t know how to interpret these damn overly complex codes, and with that goes an obligation to follow those plans unless you can show that something about those plans is really wrong. And, I don’t just mean that we could argue for days about an extra comma in that paragraph, I mean the intent of that paragraph.
Mtlogcabin is right on the money about footings, they may be sized to control settlement, in which case you assume the responsibility for any future differential settlement. I-Jsts. in hangers off a beam or wall act quite differently than the same I-Jsts. standing on the beam or wall, and someone has to account for that in the original design, and you assume the responsibility for that if you change my design; I don’t give a damn about what the I-Jst. manuf’er’s. drafter thinks, he just knows how to use their CAD software. On these engineered floor and roof truss systems I would be charging you for shop drawing time and would expect them to come through my office. I have no doubt that those people know the little details of their product better than I do and can size and detail it quicker than I could, but they don’t know my design as well as I do, and they didn’t sign the drawings or assume any responsibility except for their product. Many times on the complex floor plans and roof systems we are dealing with these days, I want to see their connection details, btwn. trusses and the like, and their reactions so I can finally size columns down to the found. Someone has to assume responsibility for coordinating the whole design, that’s what you hire a good engineer for. And, that lack of coordination btwn. trades and suppliers is where many jobs go wrong. I’ve been involved in plenty of litigation on these kinds of issues, in good part because nobody looked at the shop drawings and coordinated them with the original design intent. No doubt, there are plenty of things which can be changed with little consequence to the final performance of the building, but with all due respect, if you want an engineer involved so you can sue him/her if something goes wrong, you have some obligation to keep that DP in the loop when you want something other than just deep pockets.
Over the years I’ve had very little trouble with BO’s, I’ve usually been able to explain what I was trying to accomplish to their satisfaction. But, with the turnover in building depts. and the rate of change of the codes, that’s often more difficult these days. In fact I’ve been called in many times to mediate and design a fix for a problem when a builder and inspector were at odds over the code or a building condition. They have generally recognized that I value my reputation and licence, and have no reason to stick my neck out a mile to save a builder or supplier a buck if it might come back to bite me. I think the whole building industry and process would be vastly improved if we got back to working together rather than as semi-adversaries. If you need a DP on a job, to cover your butt, then you have some obligation to do things in a way other than just use them for their stamp, and to pay for that service. Because otherwise, you are all too quick to say this is IRC we don’t need a DP. If you don’t need (insist on) a DP on the job, then you don’t have to call us if you want to make changes to the construction plans. I actually prefer the call coming from the builder’s attorney after he’s in trouble, you would be surprised how much happier they are to pay for Professional Engineering help at that point in time. And, to think, only yesterday he knew everything and didn’t need any engineering advice. We get so soon old, and so late smart.
