I'm helping out with some drawing sets for a remodeling of a residential home, and I need to find GENERAL NOTES (construction notes)...where can i find them?
actually general notes led the union army through the heart of the south and burned atlantis to the ground after ravaging scarlett o'harikari
"war is tough, but cd's are hell"
Thanks for the historical reminder vado, here's another lesser known bit of trivia - Do you know who followed General Notes after his destructive rampage? Major Revisions, Major Comprehensive Revisions of the 51st Cavalry.
ok i am looking for the general construction notes that you have before every drawing construction set. i'm not sure if you can just get them somewhere online, or what.
There's nothing General about General Notes. It has everything to do with the locale, regs, construction type, site and most importantly, scope of work. I'm not sure you are going to get a lot of help here since you haven't offered any of this info - this is a very project specific thing, and we don't even know what country you are in.
as janosh says, general notes are specific to your office. they could be called 'notes about things that have burned us in the past'. you can copy general notes from someone else, but they may not be applicable or relevant.
as an intern project manager, i usually lifted them off of one of my office's prior projects at first and then, as i got more experienced, they kind of evolved into something more specific to 1) current firm attitudes, 2) what i saw as issues, 3) things that might come up that were global across the entire project, 4) lessons learned over the years.....and so on.
DO NOT SCALE PLANS
VERIFY ALL DIMENSIONS BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH WORK
MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN
STOP,DROP and ROLL
I have developed (over the past 10 years) a great set of standard general notes I start out with on nearly every project. Email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you a CD of them.
If it's a small residential project, and you have no reference or experience, it's not even worth it to put the notes on there - in general they're there to protect the architect from liability, in practice I've never seen them have any effect other than increase the cost of the bid (the more notes, the higher the bid...). Though depending on where you are, you may be required to add some notes by the building dept. related to specific code issues - you can add those after plan check.
RAR -could be that if there are more notes. It will result in a higher bid due to the fact that the plans are more detailed and contain more information. Which helps the bidders from forgeting anything. If the plans are vague bids will be wildly different and the projects suffers.
i've always wanted to slip in some absurd general note ala van halen's contract rider that states that they require a bowl of M&Ms with no brown ones or the show will be cancelled.
i always thought of adding something like "Contractor will supply Architect with 2005 Ferrari F430 Spyder upon receipt of building permits." just to see if they're paying attention. you could also hide this in the beginning sections of the spec book.
not sure whether it was apocryphal or not, but a friend told me about an architect who put "The first person to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx will receive $100 just for reading this" in his notes. A plan checker called him to inquire about 2 years after he started putting that note in.
no, it has nothing to do with nbbj, i actually meant to type that into a search b/c im looking at the firm, and accidentally i typed it in as a response... anyway, i found some general notes that i needed, thanks.
general notes are underrated. actually any thing goes on those cd's should be well thought out. whether it is a 'don't step on the grass sam' note or a building section detail.
i have seen too many tasteless general notes with half page of swimming pool notes where there is no swimming pool in the project or half page of abbrivation values for a kitchen remodel in a trendy minimalistic style.. you can always tell..
also, the best working drawings i've seen for a house are the ones done by registered building designers (a dying generation). those guys are so clear and economical in their drawings that i recommend to averybody to get a hold of or study a set of house plans done by a certified building designer.
Watch out with General Notes. Yeah, they are part of the contract documents and the contractor is held to them. But, from my experience they don't always get read, especially by the subs. Never hurts to always put some extra CYA notes right on the plans, sections & details.
i had a doofus gc a few months ago not read the friggin' foundation reinforcing schedule and just put in whatever rebar he thought should be appropriate...trying to resolve that was a learning experience that ended up with my first full scale yelling match with a contractor on-site ever.
i in fact think gc's read the general notes a hell of a lot closer than most architects read their own general notes. the general notes are too often something an intern rips from another job. one of my pet peeves is reading through a project's general notes only to find that half of them don't even apply to the job i'm looking at.
wow, japan is very different. or at least for the people i worked for...general notes were/are building specific. usually copid from another project, but we always matched them to the job. otherwise why bother? would be like making table of contents without bothering to match it with the pages.
el jeffe that is insane. i always assumed it was the same in USA, but here we have to submit photos of structure as it is being built as proof that building meets dwgs submitted for approval, and engineer/architect signs off on each phase. i have had to deal with cost-cutting on finishes before but structures tend to be done with care. not doing so lead to jail time if you get caught so is in best interests of all to do work correctly.
recently a builder and architect were discovered falsifying these documents and the architect just got sentenced and they have renovated the approval process for buildings now to make it impossible (so they say) to fake ever again...
i recall that story about the architect falsifying the records...
it was insane.
it got so bad, in fact, that the contractor threatened the owner that he'd walk if i stayed on the job. so i was fired, with the most gracious and apologetic note that is actually a great referral letter now.
i then turned to the building department to notify them that the rebar was deficient despite the green tag. from what i understand, the gc then hired a structural engineer to write a letter to the city stating that IF the contractor had made the corrections to the deficient rebar (he hadn't) then the building would be fine. the gc told the city he made the corrections, and voila, they were allowed to proceed.
apparently nobody ever required xrays of the slab, which was my initial recommendation.
My favorite gn (and one which assures the gc of eventually reading them) is to the effect of "If the contractor requests a substitution that the architect deems ludicrous, the gc will provide a six pack of beverages of the architects choice at the following afternoon site visit."
GENERAL NOTES, where?
Hi!
I'm helping out with some drawing sets for a remodeling of a residential home, and I need to find GENERAL NOTES (construction notes)...where can i find them?
they used to have them in home depot. thats where. don't buy it from wall-mart i heard theirs have some glitches. make sure they are soft.
the problem with wal-mart's is that they're 29% up over the middle however they are indeed soft around the middle, as abra has indicated.
i remember some hard-ass general notes i came across in the late 80's - glad i made it out ok.
so they sell these general notes in a cd format? I'd hate to type it all up onto a page on autocad....
I thought General Notes was the guy who led the invasion of Normandy.
I'll get my coat....
General Notes in Search of 'SoftnesS'
That was the Spanish-American war, Proper spelling was Notez...after the US victory it was changed to Notes. See Also Davey Lopes of LA Dodgers fame.
actually general notes led the union army through the heart of the south and burned atlantis to the ground after ravaging scarlett o'harikari
"war is tough, but cd's are hell"
Thanks for the historical reminder vado, here's another lesser known bit of trivia - Do you know who followed General Notes after his destructive rampage? Major Revisions, Major Comprehensive Revisions of the 51st Cavalry.
what exactly are you looking for liu? so that people can help.
ok i am looking for the general construction notes that you have before every drawing construction set. i'm not sure if you can just get them somewhere online, or what.
ie:
Standard General Notes required on Construction Drawings.
Um...
There's nothing General about General Notes. It has everything to do with the locale, regs, construction type, site and most importantly, scope of work. I'm not sure you are going to get a lot of help here since you haven't offered any of this info - this is a very project specific thing, and we don't even know what country you are in.
i could sell you some, for the right price, let's say...
ONE Billion dollars!
as janosh says, general notes are specific to your office. they could be called 'notes about things that have burned us in the past'. you can copy general notes from someone else, but they may not be applicable or relevant.
as an intern project manager, i usually lifted them off of one of my office's prior projects at first and then, as i got more experienced, they kind of evolved into something more specific to 1) current firm attitudes, 2) what i saw as issues, 3) things that might come up that were global across the entire project, 4) lessons learned over the years.....and so on.
Some of my favorites
DO NOT SCALE PLANS
VERIFY ALL DIMENSIONS BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH WORK
MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN
STOP,DROP and ROLL
BTF (beat to fit)
it was on a set of FOG drawings for a house in 80's.
beat to fit...
yes, but add this: and paint to match.
Here's one that I am thinking about after today's meeting.
"Please look at the drawings. They do you no good in your truck."
I have developed (over the past 10 years) a great set of standard general notes I start out with on nearly every project. Email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you a CD of them.
Chears!
If it's a small residential project, and you have no reference or experience, it's not even worth it to put the notes on there - in general they're there to protect the architect from liability, in practice I've never seen them have any effect other than increase the cost of the bid (the more notes, the higher the bid...). Though depending on where you are, you may be required to add some notes by the building dept. related to specific code issues - you can add those after plan check.
nbbj
YOU GOTTA GET UP TO GET DOWN.
1. THE EARLY WORM GETS EATEN
RAR -could be that if there are more notes. It will result in a higher bid due to the fact that the plans are more detailed and contain more information. Which helps the bidders from forgeting anything. If the plans are vague bids will be wildly different and the projects suffers.
wait, you work at nbbj and they don't have general notes you can copy off some project?!?!?!
i've always wanted to slip in some absurd general note ala van halen's contract rider that states that they require a bowl of M&Ms with no brown ones or the show will be cancelled.
i always thought of adding something like "Contractor will supply Architect with 2005 Ferrari F430 Spyder upon receipt of building permits." just to see if they're paying attention. you could also hide this in the beginning sections of the spec book.
my thoughts exactly myriam. kLiu, you would be better off talking to someone at your work than opening the question up here.
I tried to slip in a "Contractor shall wash hands after using the porta pot with frou-frou smelling soap" once. It got taken out.
not sure whether it was apocryphal or not, but a friend told me about an architect who put "The first person to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx will receive $100 just for reading this" in his notes. A plan checker called him to inquire about 2 years after he started putting that note in.
Did he get the $100?
no, it has nothing to do with nbbj, i actually meant to type that into a search b/c im looking at the firm, and accidentally i typed it in as a response... anyway, i found some general notes that i needed, thanks.
i was told he did indeed.
Look where there is no daylight.....it is a very good place to hide general notes!
general notes are underrated. actually any thing goes on those cd's should be well thought out. whether it is a 'don't step on the grass sam' note or a building section detail.
i have seen too many tasteless general notes with half page of swimming pool notes where there is no swimming pool in the project or half page of abbrivation values for a kitchen remodel in a trendy minimalistic style.. you can always tell..
also, the best working drawings i've seen for a house are the ones done by registered building designers (a dying generation). those guys are so clear and economical in their drawings that i recommend to averybody to get a hold of or study a set of house plans done by a certified building designer.
I'M SEEIN' ROBOTS
did cLoo ever find an original set of General Notes? I'm looking for some to incorporate into a new office standard set.
Watch out with General Notes. Yeah, they are part of the contract documents and the contractor is held to them. But, from my experience they don't always get read, especially by the subs. Never hurts to always put some extra CYA notes right on the plans, sections & details.
general notes don't get read huh?
i had a doofus gc a few months ago not read the friggin' foundation reinforcing schedule and just put in whatever rebar he thought should be appropriate...trying to resolve that was a learning experience that ended up with my first full scale yelling match with a contractor on-site ever.
ha! been there. scary isn't it?
even more scary & uncomfortable since the owner was standing there too, looking obviously uncomfortable too.
i ended up saying "from you've told me either you're lying or incompetent to read drawings - neither makes me feel better."
at least i was invited to the grand opening and the contractor was noticeably absent....
Everywhere, generally.
GCs actually look at the CDs you give them? I thought they just built things the way they wanted to period.
i in fact think gc's read the general notes a hell of a lot closer than most architects read their own general notes. the general notes are too often something an intern rips from another job. one of my pet peeves is reading through a project's general notes only to find that half of them don't even apply to the job i'm looking at.
wow, japan is very different. or at least for the people i worked for...general notes were/are building specific. usually copid from another project, but we always matched them to the job. otherwise why bother? would be like making table of contents without bothering to match it with the pages.
el jeffe that is insane. i always assumed it was the same in USA, but here we have to submit photos of structure as it is being built as proof that building meets dwgs submitted for approval, and engineer/architect signs off on each phase. i have had to deal with cost-cutting on finishes before but structures tend to be done with care. not doing so lead to jail time if you get caught so is in best interests of all to do work correctly.
recently a builder and architect were discovered falsifying these documents and the architect just got sentenced and they have renovated the approval process for buildings now to make it impossible (so they say) to fake ever again...
i recall that story about the architect falsifying the records...
it was insane.
it got so bad, in fact, that the contractor threatened the owner that he'd walk if i stayed on the job. so i was fired, with the most gracious and apologetic note that is actually a great referral letter now.
i then turned to the building department to notify them that the rebar was deficient despite the green tag. from what i understand, the gc then hired a structural engineer to write a letter to the city stating that IF the contractor had made the corrections to the deficient rebar (he hadn't) then the building would be fine. the gc told the city he made the corrections, and voila, they were allowed to proceed.
apparently nobody ever required xrays of the slab, which was my initial recommendation.
xrays are pricy jeffe.
My favorite gn (and one which assures the gc of eventually reading them) is to the effect of "If the contractor requests a substitution that the architect deems ludicrous, the gc will provide a six pack of beverages of the architects choice at the following afternoon site visit."
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