DEFECTS. Almost every project that we build has construction defects. Some are fairly major, such as in a multistory building where a contractor failed to install 98% of the brick ties needed to keep exterior brick from falling onto the sidewalk. At a parking structure, a contractor left out or misplaced much of the reinforcing steel needed in columns and post-tensioned beams. And at a major new laboratory that we wanted to use to aid in anthrax research, we cannot because the cracked, ostensibly airtight walls cannot contain airborne bacteria and viruses.
Believe me, we tried to prevent such errors by using supervising architects, field inspectors and testing laboratories. But we erred in that all of us wrongly assumed that the crews who were installing the work knew what they were doing and cared about providing construction quality.