Chatting with a plumber on a job in Bellingham made me question my framing approach

He said, 'You guys always build the wall first, but if you let me rough in my lines before you close it up, we both save a day.' I'd never thought about the order like that before, just did what my old boss taught me. How do you all coordinate with other trades on a tight schedule?

4 comments

4 Comments

abbyf791mo ago

My last kitchen reno we saved two full days by having the plumber stub out his drain lines BEFORE we even put up the studs. You gotta get the MEP guys in a room, or at least on a group text, the week BEFORE framing starts. Lay out the whole sequence on paper, because the electrician needs to be there right after the plumber. It stops everyone from having to cut open finished walls later.

beth_kelly1mo ago

Totally get that, a good GC makes all the difference. On my place, we had the foreman run a quick huddle with the subs before any demo even started. It felt like overkill then, but it saved so many headaches later. Just having that one person in charge of the schedule kept things from going off the rails.

susan_allen26d ago

Those huddles just add another meeting to an already packed day.

robert4831mo ago

Come on, two whole days? That sounds like a perfect world project. Most of these guys are booked out for months, good luck getting the plumber and electrician to agree on a coffee date, let alone show up in the right order. Half the time the plans change after the walkthrough anyway.