mowotlarx t1_jbe3frn wrote
Reply to comment by offwhitegrey in 4 hurt (one critically) at Lafayette and Canal wall collapse. Site had previous safety violations. by cla1r1t1n
>3rd party companies.
So, the construction site gets to choose their own company that they pay to "oversee" their work. And you expect them to actually act independently and keep everything in code? Sweet summer child...of course they aren't doing that at every site. They're directly paid by the people who need the go ahead to do whatever they want.
robul0n t1_jbf1ar0 wrote
You're kinda right but it goes deeper than that. Pretty much all building inspections are performed by third party companies by ownership. In theory, the inspectors and safety people are there to keep the contractor in check so the owner doesn't get sued to oblivion when someone dies. In practice, there are a lot of owners who act as their own GCs with little actual oversight.
It's even worse when you realize that a lot of building plans are drawn up by developer's in-house CAD people, and then rubber-stamped by a retired 80 year old architect or engineer that's basically sold their stamp.
mowotlarx t1_jbf2exz wrote
>rubber-stamped by a retired 80 year old architect or engineer that's basically sold their stamp.
There was a fascinating story about this awhile ago with an architect who claimed he didn't even know his name/stamp was being used to approve a massive hotel at Hudson Yards.
robul0n t1_jbf2qz9 wrote
Yep, and that was a high profile job, now imagine all the other low-rise buildings that fly under the radar.
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