HONESTY – Doing the right thing:

It has been my experience that sometimes clients want you to do things to save time and money, when what they may want you to do is really not their best interest. Once a client supplied me with paper drawings that they wanted me to scan in, go on site and then try to correct the distortions.  I spent 3 days on site and another 3 or 4 days working on the drawings at my office.  I knew there was pressure to deliver the results.  These drawings involved BOMA Calculations and the results were critical.  The drawings weren’t at all accurate enough using this method but I just felt sick in that we had shaved off 7 days worth of time.  But there was no way around it, I had to do what was right.  I told the client we would have to start from scratch and not use the scanned paper drawings if we wanted to be in control of accuracy.  Luckily they understood and supported me.

Our confidence in the new calculations diffused a legal battle that had been in progress over alleged discrepancies in square footage amounts.  The other side ended up setting down their arguments and it never went any further.  Needless to say I have only been willing to measure buildings the right way after that experience, no matter what anyone suggests.  I did not charge them any more to complete the job correctly, even though it meant a 2nd trip to the site.  This is how we do business at As-Built CAD.