The slow, ongoing decay of good EE plans
The slow, ongoing decay of good EE plans
I've been doing this for 30+ years. If I had $100.00 for every time I've been in a meeting, discussing things that were left off of the EE stamped plans, I wouln't still be working, I wouldn't be putting money in an account in the Cayman Islands, I would own the Cayman Islands.
The most classic EE statement is: "Well, it had to be done anyway, so the Owner would have paid for it anyway if it was on the plans, so the Owner will pay for it now" and then he looks at the Owner. Sometimes that is 18 months after he drew the plans and 12 months after the job started. Or the EE draws site and service entrance plans based on what SCE does, but the job is in LA DWP land ,or Burbank, or Pasadena. No owner anticipates that the EE won't know what the POCO will be demanding, yet the EE often does not submit to the POCO, and simply writes a CYA waiver that "all bidders shall comply with all POCO requirements, and include all POCO fees, costs, etc." even if the POCO takes 6-8 weeks to provide those fee rqmts. and the bid is due in 2 weeks.
Starting about 25 years ago, I dedided to bid the plans exactly per the drawings and specs, and then list the ommissions and corrections that would be required to install the plans to the current NEC and all other applicable codes--list them in generality, with out costs per line item, and clearly state that they were not included in the bid I submitted. I have been very pleased with the results, many GC's or Corporate Clients get that "heads up" on bid day and the fact that I forwarned them at bid point, instead of playing games, lets them know I am being upfront and fair right from the start. Often they get other bids with no such warnings, and after calling the other bidders to ask why the E & O weren't listed as excluded, I end up in a meeting with the Owner, GC and (often pissed off) EE, and I'm the only one who is asked to submit a "complete, compliant bid". That's when I hear the EE say the above phase so often.
Doesn't the EE understand that the Owner wants the full, accurate price at the start of the bid award, not a long running battle of blame placing over the term of the buildout? I wish once, just once, an Owner would require an EE to accept responsibility (as in "Pay For") for any Errors or Ommissions on the plans, instead of passing the buck to the EC. Then we would start to see really complete, detailed, and yes "perfect" plans again, and the phone book specs frankensteined from 10 previous projects would be properly reviewed and edited to fit the project being bid.
In this era of word processors and CAD drawing, EE's could use those tools to make each project's drawings/specs really align with the project needs. But noooooo--all I ever hear is that the Owner beats the EE up on the pricing to the point that there is no money for proper plan review and coherent specs---and anyway, the Plan Checker will catch it, and if he doesn't the EC has to be smarter and more detail oriented than the guy sitting on his ass in an air conditioned office looking at a computer screen and with access to all the codes at his fingertips.
Excuse the rant--but this is why 90% plus of my work is design build now. (And yes, I have a BS in Nuc Engr. from 1974). If I'm gonna do the EE's work, I might as well be the EE. And to hear the EE's tell it, they don't get paid very much anyway--the Owner gets exactly what he pays for.