c/construction-management

Old foreman told me to never trust a blueprint until you walk the site. Ignored him once, cost me $5,000 in rebar we had to rip out on a job in Raleigh.

My foreman Frank back in '08 always said that. I was young and thought I knew better, so I ordered the rebar layout straight off the plans for a slab pour. Didn't check the actual grade and setback markers on site, and the whole foundation was off by 2 feet. Had to cut and re-tie everything, wasted a whole week. Anyone else learned a hard lesson from ignoring a simple piece of advice from an old timer?

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the_shane•1d ago

Found a way to track subs' daily progress without bugging them every hour

Been running a 12 unit townhouse project in Portland and got tired of chasing foremen for updates. Started having them take a single photo of their main work area at 10am and 3pm. Upload to a shared folder. Takes them 15 seconds but I can spot problems before they get big. Seen a lot less rework since I started this 2 months back. Anyone else do something similar?

c/construction-management

Old foreman told me to never trust a blueprint until you walk the site. Ignored him once, cost me $5,000 in rebar we had to rip out on a job in Raleigh.

Found a way to track subs' daily progress without bugging them every hour

Spent $2,800 on a used excavator grapple and it paid for itself in 2 months on one job

That $300 laser level I bought last month already gave me trouble

Had a concrete pump hose blowout on me last Tuesday, what a mess

Went back to an old job site I built 10 years ago

A superintendent told me to stop walking the job with my head down looking at plans last month

Just found out lumber prices are down 40% but my clients are still quoting pre-pandemic rates

Hot take: I chose poured concrete over pavers for my driveway

Figured out why my concrete crew kept messing up the slabs

I finally stopped arguing with my framers over a 1/4 inch gap

Showerthought: Why do we still trust verbal change orders on site?

Spent 4 hours fighting a subfloor leveling issue that should have taken 30 minutes

Swapped a weekly paper trail for a shared digital log on our last build and the superintendent stopped missing punch list items.

Paid $800 for a fancy laser level that died after two weeks on a Pittsburgh job site

Spent $800 on a laser level and it was a total waste for framing work

Walked a job site with the architect and found out we've been reading the drawings wrong for 3 months

Used crushed limestone instead of gravel for my driveway base in Kentucky

A sub called me out on my rough-in order and it saved my butt on a big job

Ditched the traditional ladder for a PivotPro on my last commercial job

I stopped using digital takeoff software after a $2,000 error on a bid in Omaha.

Appreciation post: The super who showed me how to read a blueprint properly

Had a Monday that just would not quit on a job site near Spokane

The old superintendent who told me to stop using paper logs

Had to pick between two excavator brands for my crew last month