The Watchdog is involved in a total renovation of a hotel as part of a conversion to another brand. For the first time in two decades, he is reviewing construction drawings.
Upon receipt of a detail from an architect, he contacted his construction consultant and asked why there was no indication on how pieces were to be affixed and installation take place.
He was told that architects today shy away from giving such instructions. They leave it to the contractor to come up with their own approach. Furthermore, they no longer stamp plans as “Approved” but rather only as “Reviewed.”
The explanation is that architects (and others) are terrified of liability claims.
To the Watchdog, this was the antithesis of how things were done in past decades. His architect and engineers were responsive to input but took full responsibility for every aspect of the construction. The architect referred to “My project.”
The dumbfounded Watchdog asked “In other words, the architect just paints pretty pictures.” The response was: “You might say that.”
The Watchdog asked “Is that what went wrong with McCaskey East… no one took responsibility despite glaring discrepancies?” The response: “Exactly.”
