Subcontractor told me my rebar placement was 'optimistic' and I learned the hard way

Had a concrete guy call me out for spacing rebar 18 inches on a parking garage slab in Phoenix last month. Turns out the spec was 12 inches max for that load, and his three-word comment saved me a re-pour that would've cost $15,000. Anyone else get called out by a sharp sub who actually knew their stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_webb1d ago

Is it really the sub's place to second guess the engineer's original design though? Or maybe you already had structural calculations backing up that 18 inch spacing and the concrete guy was just playing it safe with his gut feeling. I've seen guys on job sites act like they wrote the code book just because they've poured a few pads. Could be he was wrong and you could've pushed back with your stamped drawings, saving yourself a headache and maybe even some material cost. Sometimes subs get too comfortable telling the man with the contract how to do his own job.

lee6271d ago

Started a job once where the engineer spec'd 24 inch spacing on some tie beams. Concrete foreman took one look and said "that's gonna sag like a wet noodle." Turned out the engineer forgot to account for the span length. Still had to eat the cost of redoing the layout because the stamped drawings were technically correct. So yeah, sometimes the sub is just being careful, but other times they're just bored and want to flex.