Reading that might make you pause & re-write!

[Celeste 341]

Through NO fault of his own:

Traffic Jam May Cost Bridge Painter $24,000

A Missouri painting contractor on an interstate bridge recoating project faces a $24,000 state fine after an equipment breakdown delayed reopening of the highway in time for the Monday morning rush hour.

Thomas Industrial Coatings, of Pevely, MO, was abrasive-blast cleaning bridge supports along a section of Interstate 64 in St. Louis on Sunday night (Oct. 17) when a “big vacuum system” being used for lead-paint clean-up broke down about midnight, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said.

The malfunction forced the contractor to “do a lot of cleanup manually that they weren’t planning to do,” said Tom Blair, MoDOT assistant district engineer.

As a result, the eastbound lanes into downtown that were supposed to reopen at 5 a.m. did not open until after 9 a.m. Monday, causing delays and backups for 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles, Blair said.

$1,500 for 15 minutes

The extended highway shutdown will trigger a Job Special Provision contract clause that allows MoDOT to impose a fine of up to $1,500 fine for every 15 minutes that the contractor remained on the road past the designated work time, officials said.

Officials said Tuesday (Oct. 19) that the exact amount of the fine would not be determined for several weeks.

Don Thomas, owner of Thomas Industrial Coatings, declined to comment on the issue Tuesday.

MoDOT officials emphasized that the contractor had not caused any problem intentionally. “It’s not like they weren’t trying to get it open,” said Blair.

“From what I understand, the contractor didn’t really do anything wrong,” he said. “They didn’t overextend their period of time and try to get more done than they should. They were working away.”

Nevertheless, Blair added, the state had agreed to completely shut down the interstate each weekend in order to get the job as quickly as possible. The reopening delay, no matter the reason, inconvenienced thousands of motorists and caused a mile-long backup.

‘You Want a Contingency Plan’

MoDOT has been putting the JSP clause into all of its interstate contracts, and not just for coatings work, said Matt Budd, district construction materials engineer.

“Unfortunately, you can’t plan for equipment breakdowns,” said Budd. “But they could have had additional equipment out there, or available nearby, as a backup. When you’re doing that critical work, you want to have a contingency plan.”

Blair agreed, saying the contractor had worked well and had “gotten a lot done” on the project.

“We’re not trying to run contractors out of business,” Blair said. But “at the end of the day, our customers—the taxpayers and motorists of Missouri—don’t really care about [why a delay occurred].”

‘Part of Our Team’

The clause is intended to make contractors “realize their impact on traffic,” said Blair. “They’re part of our team when they’re working for us, and we have a commitment to motorists and taxpayers. We broke that commitment to the public, and we take that seriously.”

The clause “has in general helped” contractors keep on schedule, Blair said. “It’s a stick,” he said. “It does work. We’d rather use carrots, and we write those into our contracts as well. But we have to have a stick for certain situations.” The stick will work in this case, Blair said. “They’re definitely going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

[AustinPressureWashing 14]

Ouch! I'm definitely staying in the residential market. ha!

[tonyshelton 112]

Another forced reclaim disaster. I wonder how many crickets lives were saved by vacuuming up the paint chips.

Who picks up the chips that fall off naturally every day? Or when it rains?

[Scott Stone 604]

Whne you are bidding on those types of jobs, or even government contracting jobs in our industry, you need to have a back up plan. In all honesty, it is really hard for me to feel bad for the guy, because it seems he was ill prepared and had no back up plan. My guess is he thought he would save a few bucks, or that this was his big break and bid over his head. Kind of like a guy with one of those little hydrotek units that thinks that is sufficient to clean a garage. They aren't and trying to use one for that is really over taxing the resources.

As for the clean up, well, it was probably a term of the contract. Right or wrong, he should have been in compliance.

[bigchaz 157]

Scott if a wheel falls off your trailer and you are two hours late to a job is that your fault? The contractor did what he could to move the job along...I don't see how you blame him. Its some specialized paint vacuum, there's probably 10 in the entire state, hardly reasonable to expect he have 2 or 3 standing by waiting for a breakdown

[Scott Stone 604]

In the scope of this type of contract, it absolutely is. That is why you have back ups and plans so that you can keep a project on schedule. That is the difference between working these types of government jobs, that have a hard time line, and doing a residential or commercial job, where greater flexibility is allowed.

Even though it does not seem reasonable to you, you are dealing with people that are used to having something on stand by in case there is a breakdown. They don't care if you are a small contractor. They have plenty of large contractors on the line that would be more then happy to come in with all the equipment that is needed to complete a particular project. It is all about the competition.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Scott Stone

[Celeste 341]

One of the reasons I posted this is just to show what "small potatoes" the BBS folks are. THAT type of work is where the money is that keeps them working rather than hanging out on forums every day pissing on each other.

Another reason - to show how important contracts are and how not being prepared can cost you quite a bit.

As far as the "forced reclaim" comment - maybe you don't mind a little lead poisoning but most folks would prefer NOT to have the illnesses associated with it.

[tonyshelton 112]

Wow, a bridge with lead paint. Must be the longest lasting outdoor paint on the planet!