Avoiding Costly Mistakes in Your Building Project
August 2nd, 2008 by Houston Reid
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Hiring the most qualified erector to assemble your prefab steel building is a key decision that will affect the overall success of your building project. Many different problems for your steel building project may be the fault of an incompetent steel building erector. The most obvious potential problem is, of course, incorrectly erecting the building.
You have to work with a person who is trained and practiced in the type of building you want assembled. Some erectors have training in some, but not all, steel building systems. There are some helpful guidelines in getting a qualified erector and a capable crew for your real estate project.
No one wants an erector who has done poor work in the past. Then it’s up to you to analyze their past workmanship. See that you look at an older as well as a more recent project. Investigating their prior work can reveal a lot, particularly any red flags that you may want to avoid.
Verify as well that if there were any difficulties with these projects that they were addressed and that the work was acceptable. It is very smart to see if the erector’s crew has recently attended training sessions to update their skills and if the erector is certified by a reputable steel building manufacturer to erect the design of building you need.
There is a valuable need to have someone oversee the project and serve as a liaison with everybody else at the job site. This is the duty of the project superintendent. Remember to keep this in mind, as well. Do not make it a practice to just blindly go with the lowest bidder for a project. Low bids sometimes are red flags of poor performance.
The most costly erector could have originally been the least expensive. A copy of an OSHA-approved safety program has got to be presented by the erector you are thinking about. Weekly on-site safety meetings have got to be held and the erector must be current on all safety requirements.
Locating an erector is a necessary part of the procedure of gathering all the necessary pieces in order to start construction. Yet, it is only the start and there are further concerns to deal with. Substantiate that instructions and erection drawings are accessible for the job. Either you or a professional consultant should look at all of the jobsite drawings to be sure they are complete. And, once again (it’s so important, it’s worth repeating) be sure there will be an on-site, full-time superintendent to take charge daily of the job site and take care of whatever problems that may occur during assembly. Design changes should not be allowed without cautious consideration. If you do make changes, it could complicate mattes more than help.
Lastly, you should scrutinize the work regularly and make sure that the appropriate tools and equipment are being used, that temporary bracing is being used constantly throughout the worksite, that design bracing requirements are implemented for the permanent bracing, and that the appearance will not be “out-of-plane.” The instructions and erection drawings must be accessible and on-hand for the job. So as to make certain that these job-site drawings are thorough, you must have a professional consultant take a close look at everything. These guidelines will help you toward a timely completion of your new building and years and years of satisfactory use of your new steel building.
Now that we have gone over this, do you have any questions? We imagine that you do as we have only provided a very brief overview for what is a much more complicated process and subject matter. We therefore recommend that you call a company directly with those questions. We’re not here to promote any specific company but merely to provide you with the basic knowledge to point you in the right direction.
