PUNCH LIST INSPECTION OF EXTERIOR BUI...

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Author Message Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 960 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Monday, May 13, 2024 - 05:24 pm:    Recently, the question below came to my specifiers group. "When you have a tower, what is the most typical process for punching the exterior on the high floors? Human on swing stages? Binoculars? Drone? Just observed from the ground? Nothing is defined by the contract." How can a final or punchlist inspection be specified? James Sandoz, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: jsandoz Post Number: 380 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 09:16 am:    I'm tempted to suggest a jet pack just because it would be fun. :-) Seriously, somewhere in the closeout procedures section you could specify perimeters for observations to create the punch list. It seems a good idea to establish a reference point like "within 10 feet of the work being observed" and perhaps closer for critical items like sealants. How that is accomplished surely involves input from the Owner (including his or her counsel), the Contractor, and the design professional making the observations. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1628 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 09:40 am:    Progress photos and videos (but someone has to actually look at them and understand what they are looking at). Drone based observations are very effective for making visual studies of conditions and is a lot safer than hanging off the side of the building. In situ testing would seem like the minimum QC testing suggested including AAMA 501.2, 502, or 503 depending on the project and conditions. James Sandoz, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: jsandoz Post Number: 381 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 07:40 pm:    I meant to write "parameters" not "perimeters." That's what I get for giving up coffee and trying to communicate before 10:00am. Ken is correct that drone camera resolution has made great strides. A decade ago I worked for a forensic firm that made great use of drones in its work at the Texas Medical Center where access by any other means is very challenging. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 790 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 05:26 pm:    This subject suggests the related subject of examination of facade conditions while establishing scope of work in renovation/refurbishment projects. It's a pretty good idea to get a good look at the movement and perimeter joint sealants on any building 10 years or older. Phil Kabza FCSI CCS AIA SpecGuy Specifications Consultants www.SpecGuy.com phil@specguy.com John Bunzick Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1930 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 04:51 pm:    When I did the CA for an masonry restoration of a high rise (24 stories) 30 years ago, we did the punch list on a rolling basis as the work was done and the contractor had staging up. Worked quite well. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1629 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 06:46 pm:    John, I wonder if the Contractor's insurance company would allow that nowadays. Definitely required a lot of trust, especially if you rejected their work the day before. John Bunzick Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1931 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, May 24, 2024 - 04:33 pm:    I think the insurance issue would be there regardless of whether you are on the staging or elsewhere on site. Given that CAs are regularly in all corners of a site, somehow there has to be an acknowledgement of this. Of course, my employer had insurance, too. In more recent years, visitors had to take the contractor's multi-hour safety course to be allowed on site, which makes tons of sense. The jobsite I was on that made me feel least safe was a greenfield site when earthwork had started. There were several excavators and dozers working, along with dumptrucks moving around, with the constant beeping of backup alarms. A person suddenly feels extremely small in this environment! Steven Bruneel, Retired Architect Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 727 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Monday, May 27, 2024 - 04:10 pm:    I recall riding a window washing platform up and down the sides of a tall building we had completed trying to track down the source of a leak. I felt safe riding on the platform. But this was in San Francisco, and when the platform was a low as it could go on the davit cables, it was still 10 feet above a steeply sloped sidewalk. Climbing over the platform edge and easing a foot down to the top step of a folding step ladder was the scary part. In a suit no less. John Bunzick Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1932 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - 03:56 pm:    Ah yes, scary work platform experiences - you brought it all back to me. That same high rise I just mentioned was accessed via a mast-climbing work platform (we called it a Dunlop lift). I had ridden up doing an inspection, and it got stuck at the very top. The contractor slid some planks from the platform to the parapet of the building, across which I had to crawl, more than 200 feet above the ground. It was, let's say, exhilarating!