PSA: Stop skimping on dimension checks before you pour concrete

I was out on a job site in Aurora last week, helping a buddy with a small commercial build. The drafter on that project had the foundation piers off by 3/8 of an inch on the plan, and nobody caught it until the rebar was already in. Took the crew an extra half day to rework the layout, and the concrete truck was sitting there idling. Has anyone else had to deal with a small dimension error blowing up into a big headache like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_kim404d ago

Got burned by something similar last year on a house foundation in Lakewood. Ended up having the crew double check every dimension before the rebar even touched the ground, it added maybe an hour of work but saved us from a whole day of rework. Also started using a digital tape measure for the bigger spans, cuts way down on human error and makes it easier to catch small mistakes early. Training the guys to call out the measurements to someone writing it down instead of just reading it off themselves, that one extra set of eyes catches a lot.

graym494d ago

Man, I’ve been there with a similar thing in Commerce City a couple years ago. The footings were off by just a quarter inch on the print, and it threw the whole wall layout out of whack. We had to bust out a bunch of wet concrete with jackhammers, cost us half a day and a few hundred bucks in extra labor and material. Now I make my guys check every dimension twice with a laser before they even tie rebar. That extra hour upfront saves so much pain later, it’s not even funny.