During my daily walk-thru of the Hunters Point South School construction site, I take photos for my weekly field report to the owner. As I compose the reports, I review all of the photos to decide which ones to include.
I recently began to notice the contractors' use of spray paint and black marker as a means of communicating with each other. No matter what phase of the job, whether it be drilling caissons or mounting toilets, contractors like to use spray paint... and lots of it. (As part of my research for this blog, I learned through the contractor grapevine that part of their intensive training requires a mandatory 7 credit courses in spray painting. Often this requires staying up all night perfecting their craft so they can present their work the very next morning for critique by well-mannered professors... sound familiar?)
So, after several months of walking the site, I began looking more closely at what contractors were painting and writing on the building in order to answer this question:
What can I learn from what contractors spray on buildings, and how can I apply this knowledge to improve the quality of our construction documents?
To answer this question, I reviewed hundreds of photographs of contractor graffiti in the hopes of capturing some tricks of the trade that could be applied in the office. Below is a sampling of job site photos of construction graffiti from various trades' foremen that I believe can provide valuable insight during the construction document phase.
Electrical Graffiti – Second only to the sheetrock foreman in the amount of spray paint used, the electrical foreman provides arguably some of the best graffiti on the job site. And it's not just the quantity of spray paint, but also what he's painting – it's truly impressive. Notice how specific the electrical foreman's directions are to his crew.
The graffiti above exemplifies why the electrical foreman is a great communicator. If redlines on an architectural mark-up set look like this, electrical RFIs will be reduced during construction.
In this photo, the electrical foreman directs his crew to install a junction box and conduit to provide power to an air cooled condensing unit on the roof. A nice example of electrical and mechanical coordination at work.
Surveyor Graffiti – Contractors and subs always know where they are on the job site thanks to the surveyor. When a surveyor sets the benchmarks and access lines, everyone is assured of working from the same relative point.
Benchmark spray painted on columns by the surveyor. Subcontractors then set their rotating lasers to this point and measure up or down from there.
While architects measure to grid lines, subcontractors work from access lines, which are set by the surveyor relative to a column center line. In the photo above, the access line is 2 feet east of column line 7.1.
Plumbing Graffiti – The plumbing foreman usually starts spray painting the layout of out fixtures well before any other trade is on site or the partitions are located.
Plumbing fixtures for a bathroom are located and identified with spray paint and marker on concrete slab. The wall in the backdrop is a rare example of a partition that was built before the plumbing fixtures were located, in this case for an electrical closet to provide temporary power.
Even before concrete is poured over metal decking, the plumbing foreman has located the roof drains with spray paint and marker on the metal decking.
Sheetrock Graffiti – The sheetrock foreman spends many hours snapping chalk lines relative to the surveyor's access lines. Additionally, much time and effort is spent spray painting 'X's on both sides of wall. I asked the foreman about the 'X's and he explained that it lets his crew know how many layers of sheetrock to put on each side of the wall.
The sheetrock foremen snapping lines for the layout of a closet. Note the ‘X’s which tell his crew how many layers of sheetrock to put on each side of the metal stud.
Note how the sheetrock foreman has already located the fire extinguisher cabinet (‘FEC’) on the right side near the column.
Below are the lessons that I believe can be learned from what contractors spray on buildings:
Electrical Graffiti Lesson - Need to spend a lot more time with my electrical engineer during design development and construction documents. Considering how much effort the electrical foreman puts into communicating with his crew, I now realize that most coordination on a job site is directly tied back to the electrical engineer.
Plumbing Graffiti Lesson – Remember that the plumber usually sets his fixture locations before any walls having been built. For this reason, part plans for toilets, kitchens, and other wet rooms should locate plumbing fixtures relative to a grid line as well as finish partitions.
Surveyor Graffiti Lesson – Remind myself that lots of dimensions on a floor plan mean little unless they are tied to a relative point that can be physically identified on a job site. In some respects, the location of a wall relative to a point is more important than a string of dimensions within a room. Same could be said for building components on elevations and sections.
Sheetrock Graffiti Lesson - When reviewing partitions on a floor plan, need to focus more on my version of the 'X's; hourly ratings, wall thicknesses, doorframe widths, and MEP equipment within the wall. Also, review lessons from the surveyor graffiti as it relates to partition layouts.
Overall Lesson - The graffiti in the photos above shows how different foremen communicate with their respective crews. Although the messages are different, how they communicate is the same; clear and to the point. And the reason they communicate so well is that contractors have to get it right the first time. If not, they're paying to do it over.
Maybe the ultimate lesson to be learned from the graffiti is that when architects communicate clearly with each other and with our consultants, we avoid paying the price on the construction site. Those savings translate into less time spent answering RFIs, less time issuing bulletins, and consequently, less time reviewing and negotiating change orders.
And of course we all know what that leaves more time for? Photographing construction graffiti.
Special thanks to the trades' foremen for their outstanding work.
Mark on Hunters Point South Intermediate & High School Construction Site
This is part of a series of an architect's observations and perspectives from a construction site.
I recently began to notice the contractors' use of spray paint and black marker as a means of communicating with each other. No matter what phase of the job, whether it be drilling caissons or mounting toilets, contractors like to use spray paint... and lots of it. (As part of my research for this blog, I learned through the contractor grapevine that part of their intensive training requires a mandatory 7 credit courses in spray painting. Often this requires staying up all night perfecting their craft so they can present their work the very next morning for critique by well-mannered professors... sound familiar?)
So, after several months of walking the site, I began looking more closely at what contractors were painting and writing on the building in order to answer this question:
What can I learn from what contractors spray on buildings, and how can I apply this knowledge to improve the quality of our construction documents?
To answer this question, I reviewed hundreds of photographs of contractor graffiti in the hopes of capturing some tricks of the trade that could be applied in the office. Below is a sampling of job site photos of construction graffiti from various trades' foremen that I believe can provide valuable insight during the construction document phase.
Electrical Graffiti – Second only to the sheetrock foreman in the amount of spray paint used, the electrical foreman provides arguably some of the best graffiti on the job site. And it's not just the quantity of spray paint, but also what he's painting – it's truly impressive. Notice how specific the electrical foreman's directions are to his crew.
The graffiti above exemplifies why the electrical foreman is a great communicator. If redlines on an architectural mark-up set look like this, electrical RFIs will be reduced during construction.In this photo, the electrical foreman directs his crew to install a junction box and conduit to provide power to an air cooled condensing unit on the roof. A nice example of electrical and mechanical coordination at work.Surveyor Graffiti – Contractors and subs always know where they are on the job site thanks to the surveyor. When a surveyor sets the benchmarks and access lines, everyone is assured of working from the same relative point.
Benchmark spray painted on columns by the surveyor. Subcontractors then set their rotating lasers to this point and measure up or down from there.While architects measure to grid lines, subcontractors work from access lines, which are set by the surveyor relative to a column center line. In the photo above, the access line is 2 feet east of column line 7.1.Plumbing Graffiti – The plumbing foreman usually starts spray painting the layout of out fixtures well before any other trade is on site or the partitions are located.
Plumbing fixtures for a bathroom are located and identified with spray paint and marker on concrete slab. The wall in the backdrop is a rare example of a partition that was built before the plumbing fixtures were located, in this case for an electrical closet to provide temporary power.Even before concrete is poured over metal decking, the plumbing foreman has located the roof drains with spray paint and marker on the metal decking.Sheetrock Graffiti – The sheetrock foreman spends many hours snapping chalk lines relative to the surveyor's access lines. Additionally, much time and effort is spent spray painting 'X's on both sides of wall. I asked the foreman about the 'X's and he explained that it lets his crew know how many layers of sheetrock to put on each side of the wall.
The sheetrock foremen snapping lines for the layout of a closet. Note the ‘X’s which tell his crew how many layers of sheetrock to put on each side of the metal stud.Note how the sheetrock foreman has already located the fire extinguisher cabinet (‘FEC’) on the right side near the column.Below are the lessons that I believe can be learned from what contractors spray on buildings:
Electrical Graffiti Lesson - Need to spend a lot more time with my electrical engineer during design development and construction documents. Considering how much effort the electrical foreman puts into communicating with his crew, I now realize that most coordination on a job site is directly tied back to the electrical engineer.
Plumbing Graffiti Lesson – Remember that the plumber usually sets his fixture locations before any walls having been built. For this reason, part plans for toilets, kitchens, and other wet rooms should locate plumbing fixtures relative to a grid line as well as finish partitions.
Surveyor Graffiti Lesson – Remind myself that lots of dimensions on a floor plan mean little unless they are tied to a relative point that can be physically identified on a job site. In some respects, the location of a wall relative to a point is more important than a string of dimensions within a room. Same could be said for building components on elevations and sections.
Sheetrock Graffiti Lesson - When reviewing partitions on a floor plan, need to focus more on my version of the 'X's; hourly ratings, wall thicknesses, doorframe widths, and MEP equipment within the wall. Also, review lessons from the surveyor graffiti as it relates to partition layouts.
Overall Lesson - The graffiti in the photos above shows how different foremen communicate with their respective crews. Although the messages are different, how they communicate is the same; clear and to the point. And the reason they communicate so well is that contractors have to get it right the first time. If not, they're paying to do it over.
Maybe the ultimate lesson to be learned from the graffiti is that when architects communicate clearly with each other and with our consultants, we avoid paying the price on the construction site. Those savings translate into less time spent answering RFIs, less time issuing bulletins, and consequently, less time reviewing and negotiating change orders.
And of course we all know what that leaves more time for? Photographing construction graffiti.
Special thanks to the trades' foremen for their outstanding work.
Mark on Hunters Point South Intermediate & High School Construction SiteThis is part of a series of an architect's observations and perspectives from a construction site.
