crazy week

it has been a crazy week so far!  monday morning we were informed that one of the subcontractors on the school job, that i have previously posted about, left out a big item in their bid.  in the hallways i had designed for there to be these big acrylic trees.  they are about 10' tall and they are made out of 1/8" acrylic.  the trunk would be brown and the tree top green.  we put these in our "interior signage" bid package.  well, the company that was awarded the interior signage package apparently failed to understand that these acrylic shapes were their responsibility...even though they were listed in their specification section 4 separate times. 

what sparked all this was the general contractor calling and asking that we talk with the sub contractor b/c they had some questions about the acrylic shapes.  when i spoke with the lady she informed me that in the 20 years they have been in business they have never done anything like this and they don't know what to do.  she said she couldn't find what the shapes looked like, the dimensions, etc.  so, having previously gone back through the drawings and specification book {to double check that all the information was there}, i directed her to the drawings where every individual tree was drawn in elevation WITH dimensions.  then i had her look through her specification section and pointed out each of the 4 places where it said "provide 1/8" thick acrylic shapes, refer to elevaions for dimensions".  well, she was just beside herself and just didn't know what to do, to which i responded with,

"these would have been great questions to ask at the pre-bid meeting, not one week before the job is complete." 

to say the least, she wasn't happy.  of course i wouldn't be either if i were her because it is thousands of dollars that they are responsible for.  it continually amazes me at how contractors will bid on a job without fully understanding what they are bidding on!  and in turn it makes me want to be very unapologetic when things like this come up.  i bust my butt to make sure all my bases are covered and i's are dotted...shouldn't they do the same?  i mean we give them plenty of time to ask questions.  any of our public jobs {schools} have at least a 21 day period where the drawings and specification books are available to them to go through, AND we have a pre-bid meeting where they can clarify any questions they might have.  but yet half the time they have not even looked through the drawings or spec book before they get to the pre-bid meeting.  oh well, there is only so much you can do! 

amongst all this i have been tied to my computer working on 3d renderings for another school job.  we have a meeting friday morning where i am suppose to be showing them my concepts for their new high school office building, their renovated existing high school corridor and their two elementary p.e. buildings.  my eyes hurt from staring at the computer so long and my shoulders are probably permanently fused to my ears b/c i have bad posture when sitting for so long and working on a computer!  although, i am pretty stoked about the stuff i have come up with...hope they like it.

we did get good news this week, two of our school clients had bond issues that past tuesday night.  that is great for my firm b/c it means more work {although we are up to our eye balls right now}!  we have done some extensive master planning with one of the schools and will be able to start pretty soon on a new elementary school and a few other projects.  yay for all the local voters!

on an exciting note......two of my friends are coming to visit for the weekend from dallas!!!!!  woo hoo!  we are going to have a fun saturday full of shopping and pedicures and finish it up with a great dinner and who knows what else.  so excited!  unfortunately mymichael will have his nose stuck in books b/c he has his midterm due sunday {oh how i am so glad it is him and not me!}.  although he probably would not have enjoyed hours of shopping and pedicures...not quite his thing. 

hope everyone is having a fun/crazy/exciting week so far....it's thursday....praise the lord!