[ineedasername]

Where I work an old building had massive plumbing problems for years-- flooded floors.

After it happened a few times someone went back to the original plans to see if it might reveal the cause. They were shocked to discover it specified & contracted to have copper pipes. The building had PVC instead. And engineering firm was brought in to make an assessment and determined that the PVC used wasn't even rated for the type of plumbing application necessary.

No one knew how it happened, how inspections could have signed off on the discrepancy. Everyone from that time was gone, and the construction company was a ghost. It's unclear if it was incompetent oversight that allowed the contracter to cut corners or something more "inside job" in nature.

[shados]

This is unfortunately very common. The building I live in is not that old (about 15 years. I moved in 10 years ago).

We have the original plans, which were somehow never registered with the city (which has been part of the permitting process for buildings of this size since long before it was built). The codes to the fire alarms were never registered with the fire department (also a requirement). A lot of extremely visible features, like stairways, are not up to code. Every time we fix, rebuild or renovate anything, we find the builders didn't just ignore the plans here and there: they may as well be plans for a different buildings. Nothing matches except the floor plan and the amount of units/stories.

Yet the permits are on file and were all signed on. Somehow when we try to get permits for anything, the processes are INCREDIBLY strict, stricter than in any other city I've lived by an order of magnitude. But somehow, for this building, there's very nearly more violations than there are things done kosher.

It's not an isolated incident either...that shit happens everywhere. Inspectors get paid, turn a blind eye, profit.

[sofixa]

> It's not an isolated incident either...that shit happens everywhere. Inspectors get paid, turn a blind eye, profit

If something goes wrong, isn't the inspector who signed off liable? Maybe not for damages, but they'd certainly lose their credentials and job. Do they just hope it never happens while they're still at it?

[shados]

Only if someone can prove it was caused by something they should have caught. Good luck with that.

[brudgers]

My William of Occam hat says most likely the Owner approved the change. Shaving money from the materials budget saved money.

So yes an inside job as inside as inside can be.

[ineedasername]

Hard to say-- the owner was pretty damn pissed off about things too. Given what I saw if that, I could more easily imagine an underling dealing with cost overruns & agreeing to let the contractor go the cheap route.

I can also easily imagine that the cost overruns we're overstated and the contractor pocketed the extra profit.

[brudgers]

It's not uncommon for Owners to be pissed off by their own cheaper-now decisions. The Owner and the Contractor spend all day on site talking about how stupid the Designers were...which is easy because all their mistakes are right there on paper.

Anyway, the Owner's underlings are the Owner if they have the authority to approve changes.

And if you saw the Owner pissed off, then it is not unlikely that they are the sort of person who blames others for their errors.

As for the distribution of the money, everyone probably got some except the Design team...it's the sort of change that the Owner and Contractor collaborate on despite the professional opinions of the Design team. And so the Design team can wash its hands of responsibility since they did not get paid for the extra work of changing the design (which is why the design documents differ from the asbuilts).

Or to put it another way, with any substantial size building everyone was sitting around the table when the option was discussed and the Design team walked the site prior to approving the Contractor's pay requests for plumbing labor and materials.

There are lots and lots of checks and balances in even below average construction projects. Swapping PVC for copper throughout is not the sort of thing that goes under the radar.