In a message dated 98-07-13 23:16:58 EDT, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< My job as a chemical process engineer got real easy real early on, as soon
 as I realized that the guy whose hands and head were into that job all day
 every day held the answer to the problem I was assigned to solve, >>

I'm intrigued by the idea that the architect who designs a building spends the
least amount of time with the building when compared with the building
engineer who is assigned a lifetime to maintaining the building. The building
engineer (what is called a maintenance man anywhere but NYC) may not know
anything more than their own buidling, and may have a lot of loosely acquired
and incorrect information about materials, and they may be responsible for all
that roofing cement spread over the back sides of the parapet, but they sure
can tell you where the problems are. It amazes me how many times I have walked
into a project to find that nobody ever talked to the building engineer.

One of the cardinal rules of looking for a water leak is to ask ther person
who is the first one to receive the complaints where they have leaks. This is
usually the building engineer because not only are they responsible for
maintenance of the building, the tenants also identify them with the garbage
disposal and therfore give them all the earthy complaints.

A while back I was sent via FAX a sheet of paper that was a request for a bid.
The paper was a poorly copied section of another contractor's proposal, only
without identification or prices. A name was written on the paper with a phone
number. It had come from a newly acquired division of a hospital we often do
work with. It was very unclear to me what was being requested and a site visit
was required for clarification.

The scope had to do with relining with EPDM some built-in copper gutters and
application of a polymer coating to copper dormer roofs.

I went to the hospital complex and found the only building that I could
identify as being the likely one, the only building I could find with built-in
gutters. I soon realized that I would need a ladder to inspect the gutters. I
then went searching for the person whose name I had. When I found him I told
him the purpose of my visit and asked if he could confirm that I had found the
correct building. Despite the fact that he had originated the inquiry he did
not know if it was the correct building. This was the office guy. It turned
out there are only three buildings in the complex, one of them a small
outbuilding.

I then asked if there was a chief engineer who would be able to loan me a
ladder. Though there was a chief engineer, he was not to be found that day and
I was asked to make an appointment. I made the appointment a week later, the
project being out of my way to get to, and on meeting with the chief engineer
I 1) confirmed that I had found the right building and 2) asked him if there
were any water leaks. He said that there were water leaks. I asked for him to
please show me.

The leaks turned out to be in an extension area of the building and had no
connection with the built-in gutters and the dormers. Inspection of the copper
gutters & dormers indicated they were in fine condition, despite the layers of
roofing cement in the gutters. The roofing cement would not have been
compatible with the EPDM. We then subsequently informed a higher contact in
the hospital what needed to be done to remedy the water leak into the building
and provided a proposal for same.

Once again the answer to the problem was in asking the fellow that received
the complaints from the tenants.

][<en