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Client asked me to hide a load bearing wall, now I double check every drawing
Ngl, I still think about that job in St. Paul last spring. The homeowner pointed at a 12 foot span and said 'just open it up, the architect said it's fine.' I pulled the prints, and sure enough, there was a pencil note that looked like it said 'non-structural,' but the beam above was a 6x12 with steel posts on both ends. I walked the whole house and found a crack running from the header down to the floor, and that's when I called the engineer. He laughed on the phone and said that drawing was for a different house, same street number but the wrong block. I charged them $300 to stop work and rebook, but honestly it was the best $300 they ever spent. Has anyone else caught a mistake like that before the wall actually came down?
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julia2862mo ago
Man, that's the kind of thing that gives you chills just reading it. Good on you for trusting your gut and calling the engineer, that crack was probably screaming at you for a reason. That $300 fee is nothing compared to what could've happened if you'd just gone ahead.
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