Masonry Magazine August 2000 Page. 26
Eliminate Most of the Rebar and Grout From Your Masonry Walls
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cause, takes it. The contractor is the last one to arrive at the party and -after reading the specification -feels anything but welcome. This is where things begin to go awry -and where our answer to question number one above begins to materialize: no, it appears that the architect and contractor are not on the same team.
ROLLING ALONG
But, let's assume we get past the bidding stage (as we so often do) and the contract is awarded. From the successful contractor's viewpoint - particularly if he's recently made the leap from residential to commercial construction -forming a new relationship with an architect can be perplexing. Suddenly, there are new rules -lot's of new rules -and there's far more pomp and formality than before. Alien phrases like critical path, submittals, shop drawings, liquidated damages, and mock-ups find their way abruptly into our contractor's previously blissful blue-collar daily routine and -to make matters worse - one morning, after the construction has started up, he arrives to find the following memo resting on his fax machine. It's from the project architect (* Author's note: this is an actual memo that I received on a recent project.):
MEMO: (To the contractor)
"From this point on, we (the architect and his firm) will no longer be accepting direct phone calls from sub-contractors or suppliers on this project. All future correspondence shall be submitted, in writing - via the general contractor - for the remaining duration of construction. Upon receipt of this correspondence, we will respond in writing within 3 business days. Thank you." Our contractor is now mortifyingly aware that he's not in Kansas anymore.
THE ARCHITECT
But perhaps there's no need for our contractor to panic just yet. After all, architects do have their purpose-and a tremendously difficult and complex task to perform. So, it's understandable that they must be careful. Just for a moment, consider the scope and logistics of compiling and creating a discernable and logical set of working drawings and specifications for-say a $1,000,000 office building construction. Then, consider further that the entire project probably found it's