#5 - Case History - If the Bus Driver Doesn't Have a License, Get Off the Bus

GBA Case History Series – Case History #5 - If the Bus Driver Doesn't Have a License, Get Off the Bus

Summary

An architect for a church retained a GBA member firm to perform a limited-scope geotechnical study for a federally funded retirement home. Only boring logs and a brief letter report to the structural engineer were needed for the design of a pile foundation. Unfortunately, the design was not within the budget and the structural engineer refused to change the design and withdrew from the project. The replacement structural engineer redesigned the foundations and satisfactory load tests were performed but the federal agency balked until a geotechnical study was provided for the revision. A new geotech was retained but after the agency reviewed their report, the agency directed that a mat foundation be used. The church filed suit against the original member firm for the new costs.

Our Hosts:

• Elizabeth Brown, PE - Principal Geotechnical Engineer/JLT Consultants

Elizabeth is the Principal Geotechnical Engineer at JLT Consultants in Boise, Idaho. Elizabeth has performed and/or assisted with numerous geotechnical investigations throughout Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming managing projects, providing geotechnical design, project quality control, cost and value engineering, and evaluating geotechnical constructability issues.

• Abi Corbett – Project Consultant/SME.

Abi is a Project Consultant at SME experienced in managing a variety of steel, concrete, coatings, and nondestructive testing projects. She specializes in managing projects related to DOT fabrication quality assurance reviews but also supports project managers throughout SME’s various service groups.

Lessons Learned:

• Professional Firms Must Respond in a Professional Manner
• Professional Firms Need to Be Compensated Appropriately
• Take Heed When Others Withdraw
• Cheap Can Be Expensive
• Develop a Deliverables-Issuance Protocol
• Writing-Skills Improvement Should Be an Important Element of Professional Development

Calls-to-action:

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• Visit the GBA Website at https://www.geoprofessional.org for other training resources and reference materials and/or to become a member.
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This episode was produced by the following GBA Members:

• Abi Corbett – Project Consultant/SME.
• Elizabeth Brown, PE - Principal Geotechnical Engineer/JLT Consultants
• Ryan White, PE, GE – Principal Geotechnical Engineer/Apex Companies, LLC