Category: Staff Memos

Staff memos are memos to staff.
Purpose to annonce company policies, Process and procedures.
Emphasis is mainly on the process to follow

  • Memo #6 – Drawings not to be issued “IFC” markings without approvals

    Here is a memo we received from one of our clients. Such memos are not infrequent:

    I am pushing for stamped drawings, however from the IFAs issued there should be no changes made. I need to begin the steel ordering process tomorrow. There is a lead time on the ordering of the steel, and by that stage we should have the finalised drawings. Anything that gets altered can be held at the processing of steel stage.

    Can you please issue the full pack for the Spiral tonight.

    Thanks

    Question: what should you do?

    1. Do whatever the client says, because the client is always right?
    2. Stamp with IFC and send to the client?
    3. Ask your boss what you should do?
    4. Send the drawings without the IFC stamp?
    5. Send the drawings with an IFA stamp + a disclaimer on the drawing + another disclaimer in the same email?

    To answer this question, you need to first understand the approval work-flow in building and construction projects:

    Process in Building and Construction

    1. You do the shop drawings.
    2. You submit them for approval.
    3. The architects and engineers then approve the documents.
    4. AFTER they have been approved (not before, but after), then you can mark: “For Construction” and release the drawings.

    Please follow this process. It is very important from an insurance and legal liability point of view.

    Why is the process important?

    In every building and construction job, there is risk. If something goes wrong, then fabricators and builders are likely to start blaming people – lawyers will blame anyone who is not insolvent so they can recover the loss. If people fabricate from IFC drawings without a stamped approval, then we will not be covered by insurance: the entire firm could go under.

    When things aren’t approved: the things are likely to be in a rush, and things are likely to be poorly planned and coordinated. When the builder starts blaming you for releasing IFC without stamped approval, even though he demanded it: what are you going to say in response? We want to avoid problems and disputes at all hazards. To keep it simple:

    DO NOT MARK AS IFC WITHOUT STAMPED APPROVAL

    So what should I do?

    1. Release the drawings as IFA with the following annotation:

    Shows how to annotate when you don't have the stamped approvals
    You defeinitely don’t want to mark as IFC without stamped approvals. If the client wants to fabricate, then he must very clearly understand that he is playing with fire.

    2. Add in the following disclaimer ON THE DRAWING:

    Fabricate at own risk. No stamped approvals? Then no insurance. If anything goes wrong, for whatever reason, you’re carrying the can, not Tek1.

    Summary:

    DO NOT MARK AS IFC WITHOUT STAMPED APPROVAL

    Why? Check the insurance documentation here (internal link):

  • Steel Detailing Primers and Processes

    The following codifies our processes. It is made for the following reasons:

    (i) to educate our own staff, about what they need to know and secondly,

    (ii) to make transparent to our clients, how we operate. We are essentially inviting you into our kitchen, so you can see for yourselves how we cook, and to then decide, whether you would like to dine with us.

    1. Mistakes are expensive. (Why this is the case?)
    2. Understanding risk and liability.
      1. Understanding risk: liquidated damages, contractual obligations, insurance. Understanding the legal system in Australia, USA, UK.
      2. e.g. to NEVER issue drawings for construction without consultant approvals.
    3. Confirm important details in writing. (Why is this the case?)
    4. Understanding: the importance of accurate estimation(s) of deliveries (Why is this the case?)
    5. What do clients value?
      1. To make things as easy as possible for the client, and to make the client money. This might involve:
        1. Quick drawings.
        2. Accurate drawings.
        3. Timely feedback (i.e. what is the status of their project?)
        4. Pushing the job along.
        5. Solving problems with minimal noise
        6. If they client asks for something, we need to either: (i) deliver what they ask exactly, or (ii) give clear reasons why it can’t be delivered. If the client asks for an program schedule, it will not do to say: “yes sir” and completely forget what the client asked for.
        7. Delivering on your promise. If you say “5 minutes” then deliver in extra 300 seconds, and not, 6 hours later. (Why is this important? (the client might allocate an entire team to fabricate something in 5 minutes, and you will cost the client $10,000s of dollars if they are sitting around in the factory floor, without nothing to fabricate, because you didn’t deliver the drawings when promised)).
        8. Making things easy for the client to fabricate and/or manage their projects.
        9. Good grammar, good English, and clear communication.
        10. Extra material: to be immediately communicated to the client. (Why? So clients can recover their costs).
        11. Tender drawings vs for construction drawings to be compared and the differences reported to the client in a report. (Why? So the client can recover costs).

  • Connecting to Tek1’s Tekla License Server

    Connecting to Tek1’s Tekla License Server

    Documentation on how to do it, for all Tek1 Staff Only.

    Rules

    (1) DO NOT HAVE PIRATE LICENSES ON YOUR COMPUTER.

    Please contact me if you have any questions.

    No pirate licenses. This means genuine Windows, MS Office, and genuine Tekla licenses. In this organisation we pay developers/companies for their labour and services. We don’t steal. Moreover, I need to know the cost of operations, and costs we incur should be added to our invoicing. It is critical that our costs are accurate. If we have to resort to piracy in order to maintain profitability, then we ought to quit the business entirely and do something else.

    New Policy – Our Infrastructure

    • If you are in the office, then you should automatically connect to Tek1’s infrastructure via Meraki VPN. All you have to do is enter the correct internal IP Address.

    steel detailing: [email protected]

    For drafter: [email protected]

    Outside the Office

    • If you are accessing our VPN from outside the office, please follow the instructions in the following video:

    I will tell you the client vpn passwords and codes that you need in order to connect. Just msg me please.

    Old Policy was to connect via AWS VPN to Amazon Infrastructure


    (2) Disconnect your VPN connection when not in use. So others in our team can access. VPN connections are very expensive.
    (3) Do not share your username / password with anyone else.
    (4) Do not use these licenses for your own personal work – i.e. for Tek1 use only. This ties in closely with the first point re: piracy.

    VPN Access to our Tekla Licenses
    VPN Access to Our License Server

    Problems or Errors?

    Please read the trouble shooting page here.

    Administration Notes

    • Users must be added to the “Steel Detailing Group” to get access.
    • External users must be added to the: “External Contractors” group if they are contractors.
    • If staff should leave the organisation, they must be deleted from both groups. Access via Azure Active Directory’s portal.

  • How to do material take offs cheaply

    Take offs needn’t be expensive. If you want accurate reports and a good IFC model you can spin around, you can get it done easily, with some custom software. Now you can get your take-offs done cheaply, and with the quality being just as good.

    Check out this video, which explains it all:

     

    How we do Material Take-offs – Tek1 from Tek1 on Vimeo.

  • How to fill out your timesheet

    • Please see a generic time sheet solution below which I’ve developed – please use it for the time being before I develop a more robust solution.
    • Please fill this out honestly – 1 hour is one diligent hour of hard work. If you work slowly and take two hours – you can only write one hour on your time sheet. So it is in your interests to work as hard and as efficiently as possible. If you can think of  a way of doing something faster and/or better, please go ahead and do so – while communicating this to your team leads and Koshy as well.

     

     

    How to Use The Time Sheet from Tek1 on Vimeo.