When is a submission from an architect pathetic?

[jar546]

In my humble opinion, it is when:

1) There is a bar/restaurant with an apartment above that is changing hands and being renovated. The renovations are without permit or inspections and they are within 2 weeks of opening.

2) The apartment catches on fire and causes structural damage to the 2nd floor and roof 2 weeks before scheduled opening.

3) Smoke and water damage affect 100% of the 1st floor bar.

4) There is no paperwork from the state or local authorities showing a previous C of O

5) Then the architect submits drawings that have a cover page and A1 & A2 stating this is a Level 1 under the IEBC and is only a repair so just put it back the way it was with no accessibility (none previously) but he did add some emergency lights and exit signs inside.

Almost every paragraph begins with "building previously approved" but they are unable to produce any documentation from the state which has records back to 1927.

I am going to call him again today to ask him if he would show this work to his peers and if the architectural review board would approve type of work.

 

[jar546]

This is not an architect bashing by any stretch, it is a specific bashing to one particular person who happens to be an architect.

Amount of times the phrase "Previously approved" was used.

Cover page: 2

A1: 10

A2: 24

Seeing how these are all of the pages of the submission, 36 seems to be a bit overkill which means he knows he is doing wrong by trying too hard.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Sounds like they won't be opening in two weeks. Good luck with it.

 

[jar546]

Let me clarify something. They were within 2 weeks of opening then had a fire. We only found out about them opening in 2 weeks when I called the architect about his post fire renovation submission.

 

[mark handler]

Does sound a little excessive.

I would use an existing and proposed drawing, rather than "Previously approved".

 

[jar546]

The other issue is accessibility. We believe that up to 20% of the renovations must be specific to accessibility to bring it up to standard in both ADA and ANSI. The insurance tapped out at 250K and so there is no reason why they can't have a small ramp and 2 bathrooms with 20% of that. We asked for a breakdown of the proposed accessibility renovation costs.

 

[fireguy]

Fire cause? Non-permitted or non-inspected modifications done prior to the fire?

 

[jar546]

Fire cause? Non-permitted or non-inspected modifications done prior to the fire?

yep, unknown cause

 

[Yikes]

Please clarify: are they claiming that the bootleg renovations were actually "existing", and due to the fire now qualify as a repair?

 

[jar546]

Please clarify: are they claiming that the bootleg renovations were actually "existing", and due to the fire now qualify as a repair?

Kind of. The architect did not know the previous work was without permit and there is no C of O on file with the state.

 

[peach]

A better question might be "when are they not?"

 

[Yikes]

See related topic: when is an architect's payment from a client pathetic?