Building a restaurant is arguably the biggest investment anyone can make in their life. The temptation of saving money on your consultants is understandable. However it will ultimately cost you more in the end during construction to fix the design mistakes.
Below are a few examples Evolve was involved in where the client saved money on using their ‘Architect’ but spend more in construction to fix them.
In the first example above we clearly see this was not completed by a professional Architect or interior designer. The implications are many but luckily the drawings are so deficient that the city planning department would even accept them.
In our second example below it’s a little less clear, the drawings look professionally completed right?….
Wrong.
The interior designer was experienced in home design but not in commercial kitchen design. They did not understand that the floor was supported with structural slab bands. These slab bands can not be penetrated by any piping and unfortunately the designer placed toilets on top of them…
Redesigns had to take place, re-submission to the city, extra delays and consulting costs that could have been avoided if an experienced interior designer or Architect was hired from the get go.
Lastly this designer didn’t take the time to read the Mechanical base building drawing (drawing on the lower left). They designed a staff room overtop of the shaft (drawing on the lower right). Further they never did an initial site survey which they would have discovered the mechanical shaft. This again caused delays, addendums and extra costs that the client would have to pay for.
Conclusions: Interview your constants first before you hire them. Don’t base your selection on pricing alone. Pricing is important but experience is also!
James Hicks P.Eng.
604.837.8594
#Architect #Plumbing #Fail