The Design Plans

            Nearly every construction activity is dependent upon some previous activity being done correctly.

            For example, the installation of steel hold-downs for structural wood posts depends upon the anchor bolts being correctly placed in the concrete foundation or the concrete floor slab.

            Adequate clearance space for door casing to fit inside a coat closet or in a narrow hallway depends on the rough door openings being laid-out and framed correctly, starting with enough dimensional space given on the architectural plans.

            Wood beams in the floor framing cannot be mistakenly designed in the structural plans directly underneath the location of a bathroom toilet shown on the architectural plans, blocking the drainage piping.

            Roof rafters and ceiling joists must be laid-out and framed so that ceiling flush lights (can lights), can be centered typically above bathroom sinks.

            Thousands of other small details must be correctly implemented early in the construction in anticipation for activities that come much later in the construction.

            Because the construction is divided up among so many different subcontractors and specialized building trades, the only person in a position to integrate all the pieces is the jobsite superintendent.

            When the anchor bolts are slightly off correct layout, or placed too high or too low, or do not have all of the concrete wire-brushed off the anchor bolt threads, the concrete subcontractor may no longer be on the jobsite to hear the framing subcontractor complain about it.

            The concrete subcontractor may not even be aware of these problems when it leaves the jobsite.

            Builders need to rethink how the design plans are created in terms of the number of mistakes and problems that could be reduced during the construction, if certain things were illustrated better and included quality-control debugging information.

            The subcontracted and highly specialized nature of housing construction today could benefit from better architectural, mechanical, and engineering plans.  Plans should be the product of analyzing the construction in reverse, and then filling in the many gaps and questions that exist between the various trades.

            This requires knowing upfront the many questions and issues resolved by the superintendent and the tradespeople out in the field and proactively placing this information in the design plans.

            How to get a clothes dryer vent out through an exterior wall, or how to get a water heater vent through the various structural wood members to the roof, or the ceiling joist and beam layout to coordinate with can-lights, sound speakers, and other mechanicals for a coffered ceiling in a dining room, or how to get a kitchen range hood vent duct out to and through an exterior wall without having to frame a dropped soffit…these and hundreds of other questions could be pre-answered on the design plans, illustrated in three-dimensional views if necessary.