For me, it was freeing to learn that not every project will go well, and they don't have to. Just like relationships, not every client is compatible. We all have skeletons in our closets. I move on to the next one, and learn what I can from it, if there's anything to be learned in the first...
I agree with @ANE91 's approach of taking tons of photos. I do that too. I think it's good practice and reduces the chance of coming back to the site for missed information. I just don't necessarily tell the client about it, and only share a handful of them when needed. The liability thing is...
Sorry, I don't have any specific reading about this. It follows from the same principles as 2D photography. Some firms limit their 2D photography to only a few places to limit exposure to liability. I personally don't do this, only heard it from others.
360 photography is the best, but it doesn't replace 2D photography. It's a supplement. I use it to hone in on details I might've missed with 2D photography. (I also have strong opinions on 2D photography - basically that one should use professional equipment instead of cell phones - but we'll...
I don't rubber stamp anything. It's not an ethical or regulation concern for me; it's just so many headaches. I'm an aspiring minimalist and only try to take on good projects with as few problems as possible (one of the reasons why I rarely do small residential). The money isn't worth the...
Thanks for all the responses! I will consider those wedges in the foundation design (which I'm doing). Most importantly, I'm going to have a long talk with the contractor and owner to make sure this is done safely, bringing up a lot of your points. I appreciate the note about lagging in...
I use an enveloped approach. I use uncracked for gravity (like Celt83) because I don't think things will crack without significant lateral loads. I use cracked for lateral strength. Lateral serviceability is a mixed bag; I usually just use cracked to save time, but I also don't do high rises...
Thank you! You brought up a lot of good concerns.
The soil is average, maybe slightly above average. It's mostly medium fine sand with traces of clay and pebbles, with an average 1' blow count of 24. In my limited experience, this should be fine for a vertical cut while installing lagging...
I need to retain about 16'-5" of soil close to a house. Diagram below. I specified a tangent wall to prevent soil loss, but I'm getting hammered by the owner and GC that it's too expensive. Is it possible to use a raker/waler supported soldier pile wall in this case? I'm mainly concerned about...
I have the 2012 SEAOSC one. It's not very detailed either. It's one of those things where it's better than nothing. The visual examples do help, but it's not very in-depth.
I'm also not familiar with NBCC. But your shear walls are not less stiff, and you're not creating a weak story condition. They're just having less load applied. If I can reference a similar code, ASCE 7-16 commentary shows some irregularities including soft story, and you don't have these...
I am not confident in my wood abilities, so I end up calculating a lot of it in terms of gravity (I'm a bit more confident in lateral, having done like 250 apartments in a past job and spending a ton of time on it). I'm far more confident in concrete and cold-formed steel, for which I've made...
I'll be the first to admit that I don't actually do this, because core walls are very long and are subject to much lower axial stress from non-transient loading. It's kind of a spray-and-pray situation. I focus on equalizing the columns. It is simply impossible to do the same for core walls due...
I don't work with tall buildings myself, but in the 4-14 story range, we proportion the columns so that they have similar axial stress. Same with footings.
