Current peeves

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Author Message Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEED Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 279 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 04:50 pm:    I guess I am especially cranky today, hence this post. Current peeves • Email with no content in the subject line; • Emails with no project identified on the subject line, but have a topic listed; • Emails with the project identified on the subject line, but no topic listed; • People who forward emails and change the subject discussed in the body of their text, but don’t identify the new topic in the subject line; • Coworkers who categorize all RFI responses as clarifications; • Contractors and Owners who designate every RFI response as a change; • Contractors try to get a submittal processed as an RFI; • Owners who change the project scope late in production (or during construction) but don’t provide more time to do the work; • Contractors who cannot submit a construction schedule (including submittals); • Contractors who ignore their submittal schedules; • Coworkers who try to make changes to the CDs solely through submittal reviews or RFI responses; • People who keep asking the same question. Again, and again, apparently because they want a different answer (or they have the memory of a colander); • People who get upset if you send them a record of the phone conversation or meeting (“Don’t say that I told you that I agreed to do that!”); • Coworkers who “shop” for samples for new projects in the CCA submittal files of active projects. No sooner than a sample disappears then we need it for the review of a submittal; • Owners who will not “sign-off” and approve progress sets. As far as I am concerned, unless the Owner approves in writing the progress set then work has to stop (second pet peeve: PMs who want us to keep working in such circumstances: “We’ll work it out.”); • People who ask if you are busy, and when you say yes, emphatically, still keep talking; I guess I should stop before I depress myself. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 945 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 04:55 pm:    The life of a specifier. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1027 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 05:18 pm:    Short list today? Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEED Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 280 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 05:35 pm:    Ken: I started today in a pretty good mood. I am hoping going to the gym will help workout my attitude before I get home. No reason to take an attitude home. David J. Wyatt, CDT Senior Member Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt Post Number: 160 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 08:23 am:    Keeping in mind, of course, that if we solve all the problems we might not have jobs! Dave Metzger Senior Member Username: davemetzger Post Number: 675 Registered: 07-2001 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 09:26 am:    Or conversely, if we're retired we don't have those problems :P Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 946 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 11:04 am:    I don't think we need to worry, David. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 927 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 11:55 am:    Since I am an independent specifier, some of this does not apply to me, but most of it does. I am particularly intrigued by the idea of people taking the submittal samples for use on other projects. J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1028 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 05:32 pm:    Peter, sample stealing is a very fun pastime. When I was still doing CA I insisted on a 4-drawer file cabinet for each project just to lock up samples. Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEED Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 282 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 06:06 pm:    Ken: "fun" for who? Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 568 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 06:28 pm:    Sometimes I will notice a designer who is using the same sample for several unrelated projects. Glued one day to the sample board for a new building lobby and then next day out comes the exacto knife to cut it off and glue to the sample board for a law firm conference room. David R. Combs, Assoc. AIA, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Advanced Member Username: davidc Post Number: 5 Registered: 02-2015 Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2017 - 08:55 am:    One of my biggest: Staff who - after having been given a TOC to mark up, and being reminded of the POLICY that the spec writer needs it and the basis-of-design product selections back three weeks prior to the spec deadline - promptly proceed to disregard that requirement (and give the spec writer NOTHING), and then ask two days before the deadline if their spec is finished yet. Darn right the answer is 'no'. David R. Combs, Assoc. AIA, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Associate Principal Regional Director of Operations Guest (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, January 16, 2017 - 08:00 pm:    David...and then you're "labeled" as not a "team-player" especially when it comes time for annual performance reviews! Been there, done that, and suffered as much too. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1031 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - 09:55 am:    Sorry Ellis, I was being sarcastic again. I know it's unlike me :-) David, I now make a point of copying my higher-ups on my follow-up emails where I remind everyone on the team that deadlines are X number of days or weeks away and that I have not yet received sufficient information to start working on their project. I then officially remove myself from the project and start work on my next deadline. Excellent fun, especially when I have a team I like working with. My bosses back me every time (but still sometimes ask me to find a way to get the errant projects out). Thankfully we do have other Specifiers on staff that can usually help pick up the projects that have been unresponsive. One of the benefits of working for a large firm that has professionals on staff as well as those who haven't quite figured out why they're here. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1701 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2017 - 02:39 pm:    One of my oldie favorite was when coworkers would not have made a decision during design, and comment "we'll pick it up in submittals." Sure fire way, of course, to not get what you want and have no way to get what you do. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 576 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2017 - 03:05 pm:    A constant peeve is finding who on a project team is designing a building versus who is designing a platonic ideal design for a building, the later demonstrated by the following quote from the Principal of a firm I worked for: "Okay, I understand that the way it is now drawn does not meet code. But I want to submit it this way as a record of our design intent". David R. Combs, Assoc. AIA, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: davidc Post Number: 7 Registered: 02-2015 Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2017 - 08:04 pm:    So your intent is for your design to NOT meet code then, right? And you wish to memorialize it (this colossal failure to meet the standard of care) as such to the client, right? No problem; go for it, Big Guy. . . Ken- I am fortunate to have moved beyond being the spec writer that sends those emails, to become the higher-up that gets copied on those very emails. And it goes without saying that I indeed have the spec writer's back. We reiterate the protocol occasionally, but a small few still think its a mere lofty goal to shoot for, rather than a common courtesy borne of necessity due to having so many projects to tend to. David R. Combs, Assoc. AIA, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Associate Principal Regional Director of Operations Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 952 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2017 - 10:39 pm:    Steven, you should send that to Architexts. George A. Everding, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 846 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2017 - 09:06 pm:    "Codes are for sissies." My typical response whenever a young architect asked me if I had seen the Code Book. David G. Axt, CCS, CSI ,SCIP Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1545 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2017 - 12:58 pm:    David G. Axt, CCS, CSI, SCIP Specifications Consultant Axt Consulting LLC Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 579 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2017 - 02:05 pm:    There is the code, but there is also the Alternative Code. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 937 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2017 - 03:53 pm:    And the Contract Documents are really vague suggestions rather than contract requirements. J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEED Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 286 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2017 - 04:03 pm:    I don’t know which is more frustrating: Contractors who say “that is not what we bid” even if the CDs were very clear on what was required, or Designers who say “we’ll fix it during submittals.” Dale Hurttgam, NCARB, AIA,LEED AP, CSI Senior Member Username: dwhurttgam Post Number: 128 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Friday, February 10, 2017 - 01:02 pm:    I have an addition. We ask our Project Architects to make either a hard (mostly electronic now) Material Data Book for reference for the project and for basis for specifications. Many insert a whole brochure or data sheet and think they are done - no model selection, option selection or other necessary indications to clearly identify the product or system to be specified. Ellis C. Whitby, PE, CSI, AIA, LEED Senior Member Username: ecwhitby Post Number: 287 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2017 - 03:12 pm:    Dale: too true. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 953 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2017 - 03:21 pm:    As it is, as it was, and as it evermore shall be... David J. Wyatt, CDT Senior Member Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt Post Number: 169 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - 08:48 am:    Dale, How ironic it is that we on the design side do the very things we excoriate contractors for doing when making submittals. In thinking about this, I recall Kurt Vonnegut's assertion, "How embarrassing it is to be human!" Brian Payne, AIA Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 69 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 12:21 pm:    Today I was told by a PM that they were concerned that I had made assumptions when writing the spec for their project. Facepalm! Liz O'Sullivan Senior Member Username: liz_osullivan Post Number: 223 Registered: 10-2011 Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 12:34 pm:    Oh, wow, Brian. That is amazing. Sometimes I don't ask questions in time, and sometimes I don't get answers in time, and have to make some assumptions at the last minute. When I do, I try to summarize in an email the last-minute assumptions that I made - anything that the project architect wouldn't be able to figure out the reason for. Sometimes there's 1. Sometimes there are more like 10. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1058 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 01:10 pm:    As opposed to issuing works of fiction because designers either can't make decisions or won't communicate them? J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 944 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 04:16 pm:    Specifiction? J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP