NOVEMBER 2024 ISSUE
“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines.”
Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect
The Architect and the Owner are often given the benefit of the doubt during construction. Curious neighbors may say, “What is that framing on the side of the house all about?” Relatives may ask “Are you really going to leave it painted black?” After construction, however, the juries begin to render their verdicts. If the architect’s vision is wonky, if the program is too restricted by owner, or if the contractor is not up to par, this is where it will all become evident and you may be forced to plant vines! I like to think that vines are not necessary on the dinky House!
Whew! This is the final post following the construction administration phase – the time following it to the point of “substantial completion.” The last post, Seeing the Light, took us right up to the 2023 Christmas season. The original construction schedule had us scheduled to be complete by the end of October, and I had taken off the week between Christmas and New Year’s for the move in. As October drew closer and we still had a good ways to go, I was forced to go back to the bank and tell them I needed an extra couple of months. This happens …. a lot. By the time Christmas arrived, project completion was close enough that we opened our presents, ate our dinner, woke up the next day and started the move in. The appliances had not been installed, we still had a little tile left, the shower door had not been installed and the final punchlist had yet to be written. We also added a concrete patio leading from the Dormitory. This was a “change order” that I presented to Phil late in the process.
The countertops had just been installed, so the tile setter was working around me as I was putting together furniture in the middle of the Living and Dining area. The glass guy slipped in and installed the shower door. Susan kept busy cleaning the place, which is something that is usually subcontracted. Susan had been ordering furniture for months and storing it in our garage and a small rental storage unit nearby. Susan knows that I actually enjoy putting furniture together. She blessed me with plenty of enjoyment, We kept busy from the crack of dawn to the dead of night for the remainder of my “time off”. The transformation was pretty amazing.
Time for me to generate a belated punchlist. A punchlist is simply a room by room listing of all the things that are not complete, not working, or not to the level of refinement that should be expected. Ideally, the architect would do the puchlist when the builder thought he was substantially complete. Once all the punchlist work was completed, the owner could begin the move in. My punchlist was relatively short, partially because we did a lot of it ourselves during that week. I actually like doing things like installing door hardware, toilet accessories, and that kind of thing.
There are a couple of other things pertaining to construction administration worth mentioning. During the course of the dinky House construction, because of my dual archictect/owner role, I was at the jobsite a lot! Sorry, Phil! In my day-to-day role as just the architect, I usually visit a jobsite just enough to stay abreast of the progress of the job. That’s normally a couple of hours every other week, but sometimes more, depending on what is or is not happening. I’m there to provide another perspective for the owner and to make sure that the vision I documented on paper ends up in brick and mortar. We call these visits “field observations” and not “inspections”. It is not the responsibility of the architect to catch every mistake the builder may make or to tell him when and how to construct the project. The means and methods are up to the builder. I normally spend whatever time is required to carefully look over the jobsite, alert the builder to any deviations from the contract documents that I encounter, answer any questions the owner or builder may have, and gauge the progress so that I can make sure that the owner and I have decisions made so as not to impede progress. I normally follow these visits with a Field Observation Report. Depending on the agreement, I often review the builder’s pay request to make sure they are in line. The builder is fairly entitled to be compensated promptly for work completed and for necessary material deposits, but should not request funds for work not completed. There are rare occasions when a builder is borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Architects also make sure that a project is closed out correctly – punchlist completed, warranties turned over, and liens releases are signed. The architect is also coordinates change order to make sure they are fair and equitable. Spread out over the course of construction, there is quite a bit of effort in this phase, which is why it is normally about 25% of the total architectural fee.
So, back to the dinky House. It seems like we were finally finished, but were we really? That question will be answered in the final issue of the dinky Chronicles. Join me next month for Never Really Finished.
BONUS Material:
In the summer of 2009 my youngest daughter was preparing for college. She and our other daughter, already in college, decided that Susan needed someone other than me to nurture. Specifically, they felt she needed a puppy. The girls hounded Susan for weeks (pun intended) until she caved. My only responsibility with the new puppy was to name him, which I did, after the legendary architect LcCorbusier, or Corbu for short. I anticipated that Susan would fall hard for the cute little puppy as he peered out from his tiny crate. What I did not anticipate…. was that I would too.
Corbu quickly took over the house, then he claimed the yard. He also commanded a roving boundary, within sight or earshot of Susan. She knew him best and was the first to channel his often random thoughts, although I quickly learned the art as well. Susan was the Momby and I was simply Dad. Anytime we left the house, Corbu would jump in his crate, knowing that we might take him with us. We often did. He was the best traveler of all the children. He was so quiet that sometimes we would look in the crate to make sure he was still there. Of course he was, but he would occasionally slide under his bedding, as if he had disappeared – the Amazing Corbini!
Corbu loved to play. He would take squeaky balls to the top of the stairs, drop them, then go chase them down. If he was downstairs and Susan or I squeaked a ball upstairs, he would immediately run up and grab the ball with his mouth. He could tell them apart by their squeaks! Even though he never reached his goal of 12 pounds and had to take ten steps to match my one, he loved to “go for the walk”. Rarely did a day pass that we did not roam the neighborhood together. Neither wind nor rain nor dead of night could stop us from our appointed rounds. He was a really clever dog and could navigate the neighborhood well, and even turn for home when he started to get winded. Corbu liked to explore and go on hikes with us. One of his last was to the property where construction of the dinky House was about to begin.
To our great sorrow, Corbu died unexpectedly during the Summer of 2022. We had anticipated he would be laying claim to another place, but it was not to be. It did not feel right for Susan and I to be enjoying the dinky without his presence. We decided to commission a pop art poster and gave it the most prominent spot in the house. I know it’s weird, but It seemed right. It’s our tribute to the best dog ever!
we shape space 