Sometimes we should be sweating the small stuff…

Have you learnt not to sweat the small stuff? If you’re good at parking the things you consider clutter, I applaud you; it’s a great personality trait to have.

However, in business and industry it’s sometimes the small things that matter the most. Those little details that your customers, clients or the public may not see are the foundations of your product, service and professional reputation. As a building law educator, I’m pretty keen on getting the foundations right… (Pun intended)!
 
It’s no secret that New Zealand shakes a lot, you only have to check out the GeoNet app. to recognise that.
 
I’m sure that you, like me, hold the people of Japan and Ecuador in your thoughts, following the devastating earthquakes over the past week. But it’s only natural that witnessing Mother Nature’s wrath overseas once again brings our thoughts closer to the shaky situation on home turf.
 
The issue of what to do with old building stock to bring them up to Code is not a new issue, but in my opinion there’s a lot of focus on the big picture, earthquake strengthening of the building, and not always enough consideration of the smaller issues.
 
If ever there was a situation where we should be sweating the small stuff, this is it. We should be considering issues such as:

• Seismic restraints of hot water cylinders in the home, or
• Free standing fires

 
Greater consideration also needs to be given in commercial buildings, where systems and equipment are hidden in ceiling voids.
 
Recently, I asked a recent group of 50 installers why the simple seismic restraints were missing off their HVAC, plumbing or sprinkler pipes. Their answers ranged from:

• Not my job, its the engineers job to check these, to
• Huh? Is that in the standard for out system?

 
In my opinion this type of response is not good enough and I’m heartened to know that there's been enough anecdotal evidence to make the Government look at this in more detail, with a new report commissioned by MBIE, you can read more HERE.
 
If you’re a BuildNet member please watch out for this month's link for more information and a quiz on the key documents relating to this topic.
 
If you’re not a BuildNet member, you can join HERE.