Missed a dimension on a duct layout by 3 inches on site

I was on a job in Medford last Tuesday laying out supplies for a commercial kitchen exhaust. The plans showed a 24 inch clearance above the hood but the actual concrete beam dropped down to 21 inches. I had to stop everything and redraw two transitions right there on the tailgate of my truck. The sheet metal shop had to rush a new piece overnight which cost an extra 80 bucks. Has anyone else had to rework a layout on the fly because of a hidden beam or pipe?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewperry1mo agoTop Commenter

Three inches off? Man that's a rough day. I once spent an hour in a crawlspace in Ashland trying to trace a duct run that the prints said was straight but had a 90 degree turn hidden behind a stud wall the framers added without telling anyone. Ended up cutting the whole section out with a sawzall and patching it with a scrap piece I had in the truck. The sheet metal shop sent me a bill for a new piece too but I told them to kick rocks since the prints were wrong.

betty_scott181mo ago

Did the framers ever admit they screwed up, or was it one of those situations where they just shrugged and said "not my problem"? I've run into that kind of thing enough to know the prints are almost never the real problem, it's the guys on site who think they can just wing it.