Barking down the wrong weed... (haunted by the ‘drawing’)

When I first switched camps to join the construction side of the industry ten-or-so-years ago, it still felt like a ‘breath of fresh air’ to be working in.

Tough and competitive, but also with clear-enough objectives:

‘go and build’, ‘find the consultants’ mistakes on the way, make some money too...’

Somehow, over the decade that passed since, construction got infected by the same virus that the design-end of the industry had been suffering from.

This virus causes the ‘cancer of the drawing’ and no project escapes once infected.

The construction people of the construction workflow do not seem to mind this disease, as it gives them a good excuse for just about anything;

(i.e. could not pour concrete, erect steel, tile bathroom...etc, had no shop-drawings;)

The engineering people of the same workflow aren’t appearing to be too bothered either, perhaps because the ‘shop-drawing-custodianship’ gives them something to live for.

Or work for! In current, challenging economic times that reason is not to be ignored.

In fact, it is a major driver for engineering departments of construction companies from all over the world to fight fiercely for archaic shop-drawing production processes to survive.

This mirrors the bad behaviour of the design fraternity that most of these practitioners have left to invade the construction fields so badly, that any hope for BIM to gain traction is evaporating.