My dog ate my homework….
Those kids who used that excuse in primary school are still at it as adults.
The excuse these days is that the floods destroyed all traces of the paperwork, or it rained, and they were having a bad hair day. Maybe the file got misplaced when they moved office.
Have you heard these excuses lately?
“No. We don’t have a backup in the cloud.”
“No. That person is on holiday.”
“Unfortunately that person has left the company.”
Damn dogs. Always eating homework.
Unfortunately when experienced structural engineers use this excuse you have to wonder if there is more to the story. How does a modern structural engineering office not have bulk backups in the cloud? How do they not have email copies of where they sent the paperwork to the client? How have they managed to destroy all traces of crucial evidence that something hasn’t been done well?
It’s hard to identify these types of lackadaisical engineers. Sometimes the excuses for lost paperwork even sound plausible.
But when your house is not performing, and the builder has done everything that was asked by the engineer and the engineer loses all traces of this paperwork – where does that leave you?
The BPEQ complaints process doesn’t cover lost paperwork. It doesn’t stare hard enough at engineers who are taking shortcuts and then losing stuff. It doesn’t hold poor office practices to account. Homeowners and consumers aren’t nearly as well-protected as I would have hoped.
What’s your best defence? I don’t even know anymore BUT read our post on engineers’ inspections and at least one informed of some of the problems.