The Joys of Hired Consultants
-
So, we got a contract to build 4 miles of 69kV transmission line into a neighboring town, and the powers-that-be decided that we need to hire a registered PE company to oversee the design. Great idea! The first drawings we saw were preliminary - not fit for construction - at a meeting of principals meant to be a final design review. We were promised final drawings by Monday, but the engineer never specified which Monday. That was in July, and we still haven't seen final drawings. But every drawing submitted as a final candidate has kept me busy full time just identifying and correcting errors. Wrong part numbers, mostly, but quite a few details that would have made it impossible to construct at all. We let contracts for substation steel structures and steel poles, along with concrete pads for some items. We just spent the last ten days pouring nearly 1 million pounds of concrete, finishing late Saturday and, I must say, the concrete company (Evergreen Caissons of Colorado) did an awesome job. Everything was done exactly right, as specified by the engineer. I would recommend them anytime! But this morning I received final drawings for the substation steel structures; the engineer sent the concrete company different drawings than the steel company got, and they don't match. Not by a long shot - 15' vs 6' post separations.:doh: And the $40k circuit breaker we ordered arrived this morning. Guess what doesn't match the concrete pad we spent a bunch of money pouring?:sigh: Whatever happened to drawing checks? When I did a design as an engineer I made few mistakes - my designs worked first time, almost every time. But what mistakes I made the customer never saw. I would have died of embarrassment to have a customer find an error in my work, so after I went over everything with a fine toothed comb, I had coworkers do the same before anything got released. The customer should never see your dirty laundry - ever! Next time I'll do the design myself, have my boss check it for engineering details, have the line foreman review it for buildability, then hire a consultant for one last review. No more time and money wasted on a so-called expert!:mad: So, what nightmares have you been fighting lately?:rolleyes:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Boss says "use this tool". Boss is an illustrator and college dropout, we are college educated programmers. We say, tool is not necessary and will slow down development. Boss, says "I like this tool". We get requirements to start coding, no mention of the tool in requirements. Application is 75% completed the very expensive tool is never bought "blabbing purchasing creetons". Illustrator boss hires contractor with very speciallized skill in The Tool. Cost of contractor and tools pushes half million. Programmers on project just shut out Tool Man and play the passive resistance card, the application is completed. Now we are awaiting our punishment for project completed on time and under budget, but we are state government and in state gov spankings are light.
MrPlankton