Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Reserve Study Redux...

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 25, 2006, at 12:22 PM, Lyle Scheer wrote:

> Having a reserve study done by an expert would provide that once, but
> at
> what stage of construction?  I'd personally want a concrete "expert" to
> look over the slabs the day they are poured for things that can be
> addressed before it sets, framing expert to look over exposed framing
> before it gets covered, etc.

The people who are doing our reserve study also monitor construction so 
I would start looking for an engineering firm that does reserve 
studies. They look at plans and visit the site. Firs they check to see 
that all is planned and specified properly and then constructed as 
specified. The reserve study takes several visits -- not enough to 
provide full construction monitoring but some.

We found huge gaps between what was specified for our project and what 
was built. Lots of stuff had to be torn out and done again. Regular 
contractors don't even read the special orders for green materials, for 
example. They just do what they do. You have catch the errors before 
the walls are sealed or the job is completed and signed off on.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org