5 MORE CASE HISTORIES REFRESHED

GBA Publications Committee

 

Learn from others. Don’t repeat the mistakes  of the past! GBA Case Histories are being used by our members for loss prevention discussions in support of professional development and mentoring. That is why GBA case histories are so valuable, and why GBA is updating them all, while adding new ones, too. Five more Case Histories have been re-issued.

GBA CASE HISTORY # 96 (download):
A Member Firm made the mistake of agreeing to work for both the owner (a school board) and its retained architect. Complicating matters, the architect refused to sign the Member Firm’s contract and the Member Firm refused to sign the architect’s. Ultimately, $1.7M changed hands.

GBA CASE HISTORY # 97 (download):
A construction-management company retained the GBA-Member Firm to perform a geotechnical engineering study for a simple structure that involved somewhat complex subsurface issues. The Member Firm later submitted a proposal to observe construction, but the client instead asked the Member Firm to sign a purchase order that included several troublesome conditions.

GBA CASE HISTORY # 98 (download):
The GBA-Member Firm signed an owner-drafted contract, agreeing to provide construction materials engineering and testing (CoMET) services “as needed,” a phrase neither party defined. Because of significant grade changes, the project required construction of three retaining walls. The member firm provided relatively few CoMET services on one of these walls, because the Member Firm’s senior field representative believed the wall was far less important than the other two.

GBA CASE HISTORY # 99 (download):
The GBA-Member Firm agreed to provide geotechnical engineering and construction materials engineering and testing (CoMET) services for a contractor hired to construct a two-story office building on a 60-foot fill slope. “The owner can’t afford to build this,” the contractor said when reviewing the Member Firm’s recommendations.” A quick review and stamping of the final grade plan ultimately cost the Member Firm $3.25 million.

GBA CASE HISTORY # 100 (download):
A civil engineer in 1992 contacted the GBA-Member Firm asking if it could provide pile-driving criteria for a hotel to be located on a site the firm had studied three years before, for a different owner. The economy was in a down cycle, encouraging the firm’s engineering-department manager – an experienced, licensed professional – to enter into an oral agreement for a $100 service which ultimately resulted in a seven-figure settlement.

GBA Case Histories are FREE to all Members.
Access GBA’s Entire Library of Case Histories: HERE