motion guru
Diamond
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2003
- Location
- Yacolt, WA
We are having a number of stair cases fabricated for our new building. The office stairs need to be closed riser units with all the code and ADA design requirements . . . and along with the stairs in the shop, they all need stamped shop drawings to meet the city building codes. Not something in our wheelhouse so the contractor went to his “go to” guy to get these done.
This week the contractor emailed me scans of approval drawings and calcs. They were scans of hand drawn designs and hand calcs. I noted a few things with the railings that we wanted done differently and I marked them up in Adobe Acrobat and called the name of the company in the title block and asked if I could e-mail the prints back to them so we could discuss.
The guy said . . . “What is e-mail?” and before I could answer he says “you got a car?” and I said yes of course, then he says “get in your car and drive over here and talk to me”. So I hop in my truck and head over.
I drive up to an old building and go into a shop that put me back to when I was a teenager working in Ballard Washington . . . old press brakes, an oxy-gas torch set that looked like the one I had when in my early 20’s, dark, cramped, and an organized and neat but dirty shop. I head into the office and first thing I note is a shelf full of cigar boxes, a large drafting table, and piles of drawings and catalogs stacked around. No computer in sight and lots of awards on the walls from local contractors and schools districts for fabricated bleachers, stairs, railings, etc.
He looks at my requests and agrees and then I ask him about his business. Started in 1971 and still at it. Doesn’t like all the new fangled technology and the youth today are worthless and don’t know how to work. He is worried that all the contractors that feed him business are starting to retire. (The contractor that is building my facility is in his 70’s) . . . looks like he does great work, only has a couple employees. I wonder how many companies like this will survive as the baby boomers retire in droves in the coming years.
This week the contractor emailed me scans of approval drawings and calcs. They were scans of hand drawn designs and hand calcs. I noted a few things with the railings that we wanted done differently and I marked them up in Adobe Acrobat and called the name of the company in the title block and asked if I could e-mail the prints back to them so we could discuss.
The guy said . . . “What is e-mail?” and before I could answer he says “you got a car?” and I said yes of course, then he says “get in your car and drive over here and talk to me”. So I hop in my truck and head over.
I drive up to an old building and go into a shop that put me back to when I was a teenager working in Ballard Washington . . . old press brakes, an oxy-gas torch set that looked like the one I had when in my early 20’s, dark, cramped, and an organized and neat but dirty shop. I head into the office and first thing I note is a shelf full of cigar boxes, a large drafting table, and piles of drawings and catalogs stacked around. No computer in sight and lots of awards on the walls from local contractors and schools districts for fabricated bleachers, stairs, railings, etc.
He looks at my requests and agrees and then I ask him about his business. Started in 1971 and still at it. Doesn’t like all the new fangled technology and the youth today are worthless and don’t know how to work. He is worried that all the contractors that feed him business are starting to retire. (The contractor that is building my facility is in his 70’s) . . . looks like he does great work, only has a couple employees. I wonder how many companies like this will survive as the baby boomers retire in droves in the coming years.