13
Lost a $3k contract last week because of a plotter calibration I skipped
I had a big drafting job for a remodel in Portland. Owner wanted clean as-builts before they started demo. I skipped checking my plotter calibration because I was in a hurry. Prints came out 1/8 inch off on every sheet and they fired me on the spot. Has anyone else had a job blow up from something this stupid?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
mary_kelly5d ago
That 1/8 inch might not sound like much, but in a remodel the existing framing is never square to begin with. If I'm the contractor trying to match my new walls to the old ones, that eighth inch gets compounded across every room and my cabinets start looking crooked. The client was probably worried my whole job was sloppy, not just that one mistake.
7
1/8 inch seems real harsh, honestly. I've seen builders work with way worse tolerances than that on site. Unless you were doing something real precise like cabinet layouts or tile patterns, most carpenters can adjust. They fired you over a fraction of an inch on a whole set of drawings without giving you a chance to reprint? Sounds like they were looking for a reason to cut you loose. Plotters drift, everybody knows that.
6