Periodic Review? 1

[onteng]

During the construction of a project we are regulated to "provide periodic visits, on a rational sampling basis". Some trades such as structural steel or wood framing are fairly straight forward since we can see it on a reasonable schedule. The more difficult decision comes for concrete foundations or masonry construction. How do you determine what is reasonable? This has become more difficult in recent years with the amount of deficiencies found during our site visits.

Just looking for another perspective.

 

[jheidt2543]

Just a thought that may make your periodic site visits go much easier for both you and the Contractors. Have a preconstruction meeting for each phase of the constrcution. So, before the earthwork (or footings or slab-on-grade or strucutral steel or roofing etc.) meet with all the trades involved in the work and discuss the plans, specifications and the "whys" behind the design selections. Once the contractors understand the reasons for certain provisions of the plans and specs and what your inspectors are looking for, you will get a much better response with a lot fewer problems. Everyone is on the same page.

A good example might be wood framing connectors. While most everyone is familiar with metal connectors for wood framing, not everyone knows how to install them correctly in each situation in the field. Review what connector goes where, how it fits and how many of what size nails go where.

As far as how many inspections for each phase of construction, that depends on the size of the job, the type of project, the type of construction and the experiance of the contractors. A minimum for any job is once a week IMHO.

Just a thought!

 

[Ron]

onteng...I would suggest that in future contracts you strike the term "periodic review" or "periodic site visits". To a lawyer, periodic denotes "occurring with the same frequency and time interval", thus if you make "periodic visits" during the first three weeks of the construction (each of three successive Tuesdays at 10:00 am, for instance), and then on the 4th week you don't visit until Thursday afternoon, you might technically be in breach of your contract (you established the pattern in the previous weeks) and you might even be considered negligent since certain operations might have occurred that had covered up critical observation items on Wednesday of the 4th week....thus you didn't see them.

Use the term "random site visits" in lieu of the "periodic review". Also keep in mind that the term "review" means an assessment of adequacy, whether you mean it to be such or not.

 

[JAE]

Ron, that's a good point that I hadn't thought of - that being the issue of: periodic = regular intervals.

I'm away from a code book right now but doesn't the IBC use the term periodic in Chapter 17 under Special Inspections? I would think that if its in the code, then using the term is at least partially defensible.

 

[onteng]

Thanks for your comments.
Ron, the items in quotes in my original post including 'periodic review' are directly from our Professional Engineering Association of Ontario regulations. Not like we can strike or amend the wording.
The wording is exactly the reason for this post. It troubles me how it can be taken. We normally indicate to the client the amount of field reviews assumed in a fixed fee proposal, but it still can be undesirable when we end up charging for additional visits.
We are trying to prevent additional visits by discussing specific requirements of the design with the contractor. It seems to be coming down to trust after we leave the site. Did they adjust the reinforcing as requested? Did the contractor slice up the vapour retarder after our review to ease finishing. (You can see which trade I am alluding to)

I dont't know if there is an easy answer.

 

[Ron]

JAE...yes the IBC does use the term "periodic" for special inspections. Fortunately it also defines it as "part-time" and "intermittent", which is exactly what onteng should do in his contract.....define the term "periodic" to mean what you are actually going to do, not what some attorney will interpret that you should have done after the fact.

 

[onteng]

Ron
As I stated earlier I can not do that.
In Ontario, the PEO (Professional Engineers of Ontario) is a self regulated profession enacted by the province. The PEO has published regulations in which professionals are bound by. The wording "periodic visits" are direct quotes from the PEO regulations.
I see others see the problem with the wording.