Six months later, the roof of the building caught fire and the one wing burnt down. The rest of the consulting team and I were sued for a total of R25-million. We all have insurance and when it was found that the fire was the result of a person working with a blow torch but without a ‘hot work’ permit, the whole thing collapsed. We did our own investigation and found that (a) the cellulose had been treated to make it not so flammable as our sample, that burnt on the braai fire, (b) some of the treatment had not been thorough, so the cellulose was still flammable, and (c) the contractor had laid the shutterply as the bottom layer, and not as specified. It would have been so much less costly if the change had not been made.

I do not think the quantity surveyor was to blame – he went by the spec sheet and assumed the contractor would build in accordance with the drawings. We, on the other hand, had assumed that the spec sheet was wrong, since we had no experience with cellulose being nonflammable and had, thus, specified the nonflammable stiff board as backup. Under this condition, we did not worry about the contractor making a construction error, since any error would not matter.

We knew, too, that contractors can easily close off roof insulation without any inspection, so it was as wise to take any errors they could make out of the occasion.

The main fault was equating construction cost while ignoring the cost and consequences of construction error. Engineers have a ‘gut feel’ as to if certain changes are a good idea or not. When people want to change some design, since doing so will be cheaper, they should ask why the engineer came up with the design, to begin with. Generally, it is not because the engineer did not consider the cost – the design is often the best all-round solution. Then, others, less experienced on all fronts, suggest a cheaper solution and argue the engineer into a corner. It is a poor idea. Rather stick with the engineer’s design or pay more fees to get the price down. Engineering gut feel is worth a lot – ignore it at your peril, at your cost.