Major lawsuit over the Obama presidential center

[Yikes]

California requires the structural plans to list all the inspections that will be required by the SEOR or their designated observer, including both special inspections, continuous inspections, and periodic / milestone inspections
It does not require the SEOR to list all inspections to be performed by the city.
City inspections are not in lieu of SEOR-required inspections.

 

[Yikes]

And by the way, an engineer's observation is mostly meaningless. Perhaps they have value with bridges and dams, high rises and power plants but we require them for mundane projects like houses and shopping centers, which is a waste of money.

Story time:
Back in the 1990s there was a large type V-A dormitory built on the campus of a university located in California. Within a few years they were noticing water damage inside the exterior wall stud bays. After stripping away the stucco, they found that the stucco contractor had reverse-lapped the building paper, forcing the rain water into the shear wall instead of away from it. The OSB shearwall crumbled like a granola bar. That said, the owner had paid for a full-time inspector specifically to review all exterior envelope issues, and all inspections came back as compliant.

When the inspector was pressed to explain how the building paper got reverse-lapped when he provided full-time inspection, he confessed that when he first showed up to the jobsite and saw that the stucco subcontractor was well-known and well-respected in the industry, he got back in his pickup and essentially fabricated his inspection reports.

 

[ICE]

I showed up for the first footing inspection of a university dormitory. It was large by any measure. There were hundreds of anchor bolts. The contractor didn't even wait for me to exit my truck before handing me the Special Inspector's report and the engineer's observation. Both had approved the work. The plans specified 3/4" diameter anchor bolts and I could see that 5/8" had been used.The contractor threw the plans and I drove away.

The same engineer observed the framing of 3x studs and plates with 20 penny sinkers. The engineer found the work to be "in substantial conformance with the construction documents." When I asked for 20d they became upset. The engineering company created the plans that they can't read..

Trust but verify.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

This is typical here. We will do the inspections if the RDP didn't call for the special inspections, but we rarely have problems on commercial jobs.

When engineers get involved we end up seeing way more rebar than we would see on an IRC house. I have no idea if that reflects poorly on our IRC houses or if the engineers just build in that much cushion. It is presumed to be drastic overkill by the contractors.

The building department should be doing a final formwork and rebar inspection even if there are special inspections. Somewhere in either chapter 1 or chapter 17 it says that special inspections are in addition to the building department's inspections, not instead of. And if the application package doesn't include a statement of special inspections -- why is there a permit? A statement of special inspections is a required submittal for a permit.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

When the inspector was pressed to explain how the building paper got reverse-lapped when he provided full-time inspection, he confessed that when he first showed up to the jobsite and saw that the stucco subcontractor was well-known and well-respected in the industry, he got back in his pickup and essentially fabricated his inspection reports.

I have too many such stories to even start ...

I hate testing labs.

 

[steveray]

City inspections are not in lieu of SEOR-required inspections.

And vice versa.....

 

[redeyedfly]

And vice versa.....

So many building departments are moving to reduce staff inspections and rely on special inspections.

 

[Paul Sweet]

Virginia requires special inspections for all state building projects. There are several well-qualified special inspection firms in Virginia, so that hasn't been a problem. When I was a project manager I always looked at the special inspector's reports. They would flag non-conformance, and do a re-inspection when the Contractor said it had been corrected.

The A/E would show up a couple times a month for a job meeting and observation. They didn't have the time or fee in their contract to get into the weeds like a special inspector could, but they would catch many discrepancies. The regional state fire marshal would do a thorough inspection of fire alarms, exit & emergency lighting, sprinklers, fire doors, and other life-safety items. The state building official didn't have the manpower or time to inspect hundreds of projects hundreds of miles from Richmond, so they limited their inspections to open-wall, above ceiling, and final inspections.

 

[Genduct]

Obama Library: Behind schedule, over budget and mired in lawsuits

A federal lawsuit was filed earlier in January, accusing a New York-based construction company of discriminatory actions.

www.newsweek.com

Concrete subcontractor is suing the structural engineer, Thornton Tomasetti, alleging racial discrimination and unreasonable interference in performing their work.

Thornton Tomasetti is one of the best structural engineering firms in the world. They do major projects internationally. Anything is possible, but I find it difficult to imagine that they would act on the basis of racial bias on a project as visible as the Obama Presidential center. This could be a case to watch.



I fail to see how they can blame lack of M/E/P coordination on the structural engineer. That's a real stretch. As for the "unexpected" project specifications -- I wonder if they were created after the concrete sub had signed a contract, or if the concrete sub assumed some lesser standard specifications and was then caught by surprise when they actually read the specifications they had agreed to follow.

JEEZ, and here I thought that is why we insist on shop drawings to catch those "Minor" inconsistencies in the MEP world where ductwork seems to want to occupy the same space as DWV Plumbing or sprinkler pipe that has been hydraulically calculated. What waz I thinkin?