BuildBuild: Thursday…
The base slab
The basement's base slab. The steel is fixed on Thursday. The concrete is booked for Friday at 7am, because concrete is always booked for Friday at 7am.
Stage 5 · Build it · Stop 3 of 13
Hold points
The back alley's bill so far: 101 weeks · See the bill
The information · An inspection, before the pour
Some of me has to exist before the concrete does. An inspection record can't be written after the pour.
The wrong way
Page 30
The client's plan says the Clerk of Works, the client's eyes on site, inspects the steel before any pour. It's on page 30. Nobody on site has met page 30.
BuildBuild: Friday, 6.55am…
Six trucks
Six trucks queue at the gate. Priya, who looks after quality and safety, rings Dave, the site manager.
Priya: Has the steel been inspected?
Dave: It looked fine. Pour it.
BuildBuild: Monday…
Show me
The Clerk of Works asks for the inspection record. There isn't one. There are four photos on Dave's phone, three of them of his thumb.
The cores
Cores are drilled through the brand-new slab to prove the steel is there. Three neat cylinders, lined up like trophies.
Three weeks
The steel was there. It took three weeks to find out.
Priya: If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.
Clerk: Exactly.
The steel was probably fine. Probably took three weeks and a core drill to prove.
+3 weeks on the back alley's bill: A pour with no inspection record: cores through a new slab, and three weeks proving what nobody wrote down.