Written by LetsBuild
Last updated October 18, 2023
Some of us, when we were free-lancing and getting project turnaround roles, walked into site offices and found them to be paper-works chaos! Everything, included drawings, were just heaped up on desks, filing cabinets, chairs and even on the floor. Slotting in getting this chaos sorted, along with getting a good idea of what was going on across the site, could take as much as a fortnight!Now where this was most “challenging” as in “Oh, bl**dy h*ll! What am I going to do about that?” was when drawings revisions were found that had arrived but had never even been unfolded! It was always a pretty fair assumption that the relevant subby had never been given a copy so work had been completed to drawings which were three issues out of date!
Read Here: Don’t Pay the Price of Outdated Drawings
A simple example of what happens if the latest drawings aren’t complied with is a window in a house. The window design changes before the window is even delivered – not a problem. Just change the order with the supplier. The incurred cost is simply a phone call and a bit of a written message, letter or e-mail, confirming the change. If nobody bothered to look at the drawing specifying this change, though, it is a very different story!
The PVCu original window arrives and is fitted and the glazing goes in. Externally the sealant goes around the frame and then the brickwork is rendered. Internally the window cill is fitted, the walls and the return are plastered and then emulsion is applied. When someone just happens to notice that it is the wrong window then everyone can just visualise the profit on the build pouring down the plug hole” The window and glazing have been paid for and the replacements have to be paid for, too. External render has to be cut out, and then made good. Internal plastering has to be cut out, probably, or at least made good after the replacement is fitted, then the decor made good, plus a replacement cill.
I’m not going to sit here calculating actual relative costs of this wrong window going in, but I’d guess them to be of the order of:-
- Work to latest construction drawing = £0.50
- Don’t work to latest construction drawing = £1000.00
– at those kind of prices, if it was every window in the house, someone would be looking for a new job!
There is even an inevitability that some work isn’t done to the latest drawings in traditional construction. The Architects get the latest drawings printed off and pops them in the post to site. That, traditionally with this larger type of item, takes three days to arrive. Assuming the site management is on the ball that then gets posted off to get multiple copies printed for distribution to those who need to know on site. Another week, gone by, at least! Round that up for simplicity and we can say that, traditionally, a fortnight is spent working on superseded drawings before anyone gets the latest construction drawings to work to! Re-work; cost up; profits way down!!! – and no come-back on the Client.
So how do we make sure that all work is only done to the latest construction drawings? Well obviously by making sure that the skilled tradesmen actually doing the work get that latest drawing instantly it is released. Well, in today’s technological world that is dead simple!
Make the decision that GenieBelt is to be used on the project and, instantly the revised latest drawing is issued, everyone involved has it on their PC, tablet or smart phone! If the wrong window does go in then it isn’t your company that is £999.50 out of pocket, it is the plonker that fitted it. He finds he is tat much short of his family’s holiday money for the year!
