41st Street Bridge - Append to Obama's List

[TheArtist]

I remember looking at those plans for the park and thinking... They have to do survey work, ground work, leveling out of stuff, figure out where the underground electrical and plumbing is going to go, dig the ditches, lay the pipes, lots of those fountains were special order and design stuff, order the materials, getting the materials made and shipped in, figure out exactly what materials you need, who is going to do each part, get permits for each thing, then get each step to pass inspection, get all the contractors lined up and scheduled (that alone can be a bugger, You cant just say, "Hey we want this done now" those people are often booked up or have other projects they are working on. Then if you fall behind they schedule in another project and will send their workers to do that before they get back to you, etc.) Coordinating the schedule with who does what first and where, you inevitabley lose time. Then there are the missing or broken parts, someone gets sick, a misunderstanding, a redo of something, the unexpected this and that which inevitably holds things up. That retaining wall of stone near the river alone was going to take some time with ground work getting the whole site laid out, foundations for the wall, then the stone work itself. Yes, the weather also plays a roll, etc. etc.

I took one glance at all they had planned, all the work it would take, and just laughed when they gave the due date. Absolutely absurd.

I get this type of thing aaaaaall the time with my clients who are building new homes. The builder says, "Oh, the house will be ready to move into by Oct. I tell the clients I will schedule them for sometime in Dec lol. The client gets REALLY upset and says that cant possibly happen, our other house will be sold, the builder ASSURED us the home will be done by Oct. etc. Suuuure enough, practically every single time it takes at least 2-3 months longer. The builders all really know it.

The client sees the studs go up for the walls and that happens really fast so they think the rest will go quickly as well. Then things start slooowing down. Often a plumber or electrician will be scheduled for such and such a date. Then the home isnt ready for them the day they show up and the builder says, next week or in a few weeks. The plumber or electricians arent going to sit on their asses waiting. They have to keep their crews working so they go to another job or focus on a different one they are already working on. Then when the first house is ready,,, the plumbers or electricians are on another job. They pull one or two people perhaps to "make an appearance" and kind of get things underway so it looks like they are going at it lol. But then they take longer and now the tile, cabinets, finish work guys get pushed back and then they go to other jobs etc. etc. Parts arent there, or are broken, have to be reordered, something has to be redone, someone gets sick or has an emergency, another house takes priority and the builder pulls people to do that one, the homeowner makes a change not realizing the mess they are making by doing that, etc. etc. and VOILA you add on a couple months.

The nature of what was going in at that park with all the fountains and such was like looking at the perfect storm of dozens of potential "soooo gonna take a lot longer" waiting to happen lol.

[waterboy]

Yeah, you reminded me of the same process I saw happening when I worked construction decades ago. They are all independent contractors so the logistics of scheduling them and materials is monumental. After your description it does seem they were blowing some serious smoke.[]

[Red Arrow]

In addition to the items mentioned above...
The last 10% of a project always seems to take 90% of the time.