She didn't follow my latest design... oops!
A designer I worked with a few years ago took an assignment in a foreign country. I didn't ask, but the pay must have been enough for her to pack up and relocate. She contacted me with a request to do the design for her younger sister's bathroom renovation. I said yes and to my surprise, the sister already started some of the demolition, ordered custom glass doors and was getting bids from a few contractors.The goal was to enlarge the bathroom by taking the wall out to the adjacent closet. Okay, I get it... where do you plan to relocate the closet? They had no idea.
Since it wasn't a bearing wall, she was okay with taking a few feet from the living room in order to enlarge the bedroom in compensation for enlarging the bathroom.
I took measurements, asked 30 questions and came up with a design... It was totally different than what was in her or her sisters heads.
She said she was 'blown away' I was able to make everything fit. She loved it.
My statement was "Thanks, but it's only the first round concept. We need to confirm if what I'm suggesting is doable. Plumbing, electrical and air conditioning duct work will need to be moved."
One of the requests was to locate the main wall more toward the living room from where I showed. The problem there was the custom glass door was in production and no changes could be accepted. That means the opening for the door has to be shifted a few feet. It's an exterior wall and expensive to relocate.
I resubmitted drawings showing the enlargement/revisions while she got a price from the contractor and was going in the direction of "Let's do it" but her older sister said, wait... this needs more thought. I agreed, since my dimensions were only concept and they knew I had to return to remeasure and get exact sizes.
On Tuesday, the younger sister said she made a decision and wanted to get started right-away. I couldn't go yesterday, but made it a point to go there today.
Thinking they would start in a week or two, I was surprised to find all the demolition was done. The contractor tore up the place. The floor tile was gone, all the interior partitions removed, gutted electrical and a/c duct work hanging from the ceiling.
The "Oh shit" exception: He already built and drywalled the wall between the bedroom and living room according to the OLD SET OF DRAWINGS. The sister wasn't working with the revised set I emailed 2 weeks ago. I spotted this mistake immediately as the revision had the wall about 4 inches from the door casing and I could see it was more than a foot.
I had a set of revised drawings with me as I was going to put my new dimensions on them. Too late for that. I gave that set to the contractor who will move the wall he installed today and will work through the changes to fit the conditions.
Hopefully they won't charge her too much to move the wall, probably a few hundred in labor.
It's a good thing I caught that mistake before all the electrical, a/c and plumbing was done. Otherwise, she would have to accept it the way it was, or pay a few thousand to have the changes made.
Comments (4)
The client, contractor and yourself should be working together to eliminate and mitigate any risks that may occur during the redesign phase.
Do you version control on your drawings, along with specific naming conventions? This applies to small, medium and large scale works.
The client 'jumped ahead' and so did the contractor by building the wall from the plans supplied to him.
My drawings have dates and version/revision numbers on them. On sets going to several trades, I mark CONCEPT ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION until I get a sign-off from the responsible party.
It totally surprised me. The meeting today was to get accurate measurements as the drawings she and her older sister had were design only and not production drawings. It was mentioned in my conversations. She texted me on Tuesday confirming we were to move the wall out and I was there to decide the final dimensions.
Last Thursday, in a text message with the older sister, I asked if they needed drawings to submit to the city building department for a permit and was told 'not now' and to wait until they are closer to it.
Before I was born, my mom stayed home to raise my brother and did piecework sewing girls gym suits. They would bring her boxes of all the parts pre-cut. The boxes were numbered for the style and size. They sometimes, accidentally sent her boxes that were intended for a larger size or different style mixed in with the orders she was to put together, delaying her ability to keep up with the demand.