Masonry Magazine February 2001 Page. 16
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Bate the architect's concern for project schedule. Designers are sometimes frustrated that too few of the masonry products are available in a reasonable schedule. Designers will refrain from being dependent upon an industry that limits their material choices with schedule constraints. Sometimes it is as if you go to the restaurant and order your meal, the chef goes out to catch the fish and pick the vegetables, then comes back and asks you if it is alright if the asparagus is served a half-hour later than everything else. Is this acceptable? A three-month delay in occupancy may equal the entire profit margin in a new office building. Suppliers must become better at predicting marketplace demand and reducing delays, even for less frequently ordered items.
While designing the building the architect must make assumptions regarding the capability of the masons that will be on the project. Challenging details will deserve commensurately higher labor costs. Similarly, simpler details and basic standards of workmanship described by the masonry industry should not come at a premium. The masonry industry has established standards of workmanship, but it is not clear that masonry training programs incorporate these findings into their curricula, or that masons are uniformly provided with this training. Masonry skills competitions also typically emphasize speed in laying brick and block, but do not address other critical aspects, such as cavity drainage details, ties, movement joints, etc. Training programs for apprentices as well as experienced masons must prepare masons for today's more sophisticated assemblies. Mason skills certification has been debated for years without resolution. Without a standard by which proficiency can be measured, designers have no means of stipulating the skill level expected, resulting in the contract being awarded to the lowest bidder. Only later is it clear that the mason is not sufficiently skilled for the project. Consumers seek the lowest price for the product that has the features that they want. The car that we drive may not have been the cheapest car one on the market, but it may have been the one that combined the performance we wanted at the best price. Designers who want higher quality workmanship want a means of stipulating that in their construction documents and bid packages, and will expect to pay a bit more for it.
An excellent network of professionals, knowledgeable about masonry detailing, specifications and construction processes already exist in many areas. Designers find these to be quite valuable, but remark that they are often specialized in one aspect of the industry, such as the brick, block or mortar industry that they represent. Designers and owners need to know how the whole wall will work, not just one element in it, and increasingly expect to get needed information from one authoritative source. Questions about the corrosion resistance of various masonry ties, the compatibility of several different masonry products in a wall, or the detailing of the compartmentation of a rain-screen wall may not be adequately addressed by the existing network. Masonry construction is attractive because it historically has been less likely to yield
16 MASONRY FEBRUARY, 2001