Engineer: Eleventh-floor stair project must switch to a landing design after as-built wall differs from plans

John Schafer, an engineer with CEC, told the Public Improvements and Infrastructure Committee that field verification found an as-built wall location on the 11th floor that differs from the project drawings, forcing a redesign of the stair from a single straight run to a switchback with an intermediate landing.

The redesign requires additional steel and a short length of new concrete masonry unit (CMU) wall, Schafer said. "There was kind of a discrepancy in what our plans had showed in the actual location of the wall on the Tenth Floor or excuse me, the Eleventh Floor," he said. He told the committee the architect issued revised drawings and submitted a new solution to the contractor and that the contractor must now provide any additional cost information.

Committee members asked several clarifying questions. One member asked, "And What additional costs are we talking about?" Schafer responded that the county does not yet have a full cost estimate and that the change typically increases cost because "a little bit extra steel is required from the steel fabricator." He said the change was identified by the contractor during on-site verification and that, fortunately, "nothing had been fabricated" when the discrepancy was discovered.

Schafer said the team reduced the amount of new CMU wall required in the redesign, which he expects will help offset some of the added stair costs. The contractor Cooley first flagged the discrepancy on Feb. 4, he said. The county will await the contractor's cost proposal before any further direction or contract action.

No motion or formal vote was recorded on the stair redesign during the meeting.

The discussion occurred during the committee's review of the county capital improvements list and related project status updates.