03/11/2019
Should I PAY For Plans?
In 1996, when I started my business in Flagstaff, Arizona, plan standards within both the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County were pretty minimal. This was pretty good for me as I had an education, but no real world experience except for working for two Structural Engineers in the City of Phoenix over the previous couple of years. Their drawings were quite educational and I still use the knowledge gained there to this day, but they were not fully inclusive from an architectural standpoint, nor did they need to be as their drawings supplemented architectural drawings.
The first two years working directly for General Contractors in the Flagstaff area was crucial to furthering my education and I was quite fortunate to work with some great ones that taught me a lot about just how things go together in the field. About the time I had a good handle on things, both local jurisdictions were changing their plan standards and they did so in accordance to what I was producing, using my plans as a template as they adopted new UBC requirements (prior to IBC). Once again, this was to be my fortune, and in my youth, let me know that I was on the right track and learning what I needed to create solid plans with cohesive and concise information.
Soon, I began to build in order to gain further in field knowledge as I felt that if I was truly to be qualified to draw plans, I should earn my credentials with bags on my hips, not a mouse in my hand.
There was some resistance at first from those not accustomed to the new building standards and plan check procedures, but I stood by my product on large projects and small; guaranteeing that my plans would save the owner money on their overall project and more than pay for themselves. This was a guarantee over those creating plans for people and builders alike that did not have the Structural Engineering education that I had as well as the experience building that I had gained. I did not make this claim over other design professionals that I did not know the specific work of.
Unlike other designers, I ran calculations to size beams and carry loads down to the foundation in lieu of using span charts. Span charts are great, but general. In many cases other than a rectangular garage with a simple wall to wall span, loads pile on top of each other, and span tables can build up quickly and generate the impression that more concrete than necessary needs to be poured, beams get oversized and other factors are involved that raise building costs substantially. My plans keep things to a minimum with sizing software that allows me to apply loads to specific areas and reduce building cost.
When it comes to details, specific rebar sizes and spacing are called out. Footings are set at proper width and depth so the answer no longer has to be, "I have been building it that way for years and nothing has fallen over yet." On my own home, I had a covered porch added a few years after the home was complete. I cam home to find an undersized beam in my back yard. The gentleman I hired told me that the beam I had sized was overkill and that, well, he had been building lids this way for years. Sure, his stuff hadn't collapsed, but in 75 years, would it sag? This one could have snapped under that following year's snow load had I let him put it in. Fortunately, had I not been there, the Building Inspector would likely have called it out to be changed to the one specified on the plans.
Nearing the end of my career in the Flagstaff area, we were cranking out 250 projects annually, including some projects that were several optioned homes for speculation builders per project, light commercial and other services such as 3D Virtual Reality walk-throughs, special inspections for Certified Structural Engineering plans, surveying, etc.
I had worked my way up the ranks, and now had the largest residential design company in the State of Arizona, producing plans from Alaska to Mexico, including Montana.
