Who's at Fault? You decide.

he we're just running our SKS here right up along our wall and uh caus it the bow out right here and I caught it [Music] you get to be the judge you get to be the jury in today's video you're going to watch as our retaining wall before the end of this video gets damaged by another contractor that's just doing their job let me explain we built a retaining wall and then behind us the asphalt contractor came in and was responsible for laying an asphalt path right behind our retaining wall in the cut consequently what happened is while the asphalt contractor is doing their work the retaining wall starts to get pushed out starts to get budged over well is it really the asphalt contractor's fault because he's following a set of blueprints that was handed to him to do this job according to this spec is it the general contractor's fault that the retaining wall failed the the general contractor oversees all of the subcontractors his job is to line everybody up and make sure that everything is going according to plan now is it his fault that this retaining wall got damaged knowing that he's following the same set of blueprints that the asphalt guy is following could it be the architect or engineer's fault that originally designed this putting an asphalt path directly behind the face of a retaining wall knowing that a retaining wall cannot have any heavy equipment or compaction equipment within 3T of the backside of a retaining wall that's a general spec that is not allowed to happen but before the end of this video it's going to be your decision whose fault you think it is and let me know in the comments down below but let's dive into today's job site and see how this mess [Music] goes now before we jump too far ahead in the story let's get you the facts you need to know to be able to make an informed decision so let's just go online I've already typed in versalock specs here's their standard unit now as we go down we're going to go over to the Architects and Engineers section of their specs we're going to go over to project specs and then here this gives us all of the spec specifications for each kind of block in today's block we're using the standard unit so we're going to pop that bad boy open and then we're going to open this up and then we have I don't know how many pages upon pages of specs and this is exactly what we need to access now as we dive into this even closer the thing that we need to understand is spec section 4.08 only hand operated compaction equipment shall be allowed within 3 ft of the back of the wall units compaction within the 3 ft behind the wall units shall be achieved by least three passes of a lightweight mechanical tamper plate or roller that's critical to make sure that we keep that in mind okay so here's where we also need to understand it even says in the spec 4.10 construction adjacent to completed wall the owner or owner's representative is responsible for sure ensuring that construction by others adjacent to the wall does not disturb the wall or place temporary construction loads on the wall that exceed design loads including load such as water pressure temporary grades or equipment loading heavy Paving or grading equipment shall be kept a minimum of 3 ft behind the back of the wall face equipment with wheel loads in excess of 150 lb per square foot live load shall not be operated within 10 ft of the face of the retaining wall during construction adjacent to the [Music] wall now if you work in commercial construction understanding the specs that oversee your specs on a project become critical now in this case right here you can see where this other contractor is running a wheel machine too close to the backside of the retaining wall we've already encountered an issue with it right here where you can see that we are going through and repairing that we should not be going through and repairing that but we are doing that but things get even worse in just a few moments [Music] and we're just running their SKS here right up along our wall and uh caused it to bow out right here and I caught it and came over here and pulled it back with a Min ex as best we can but the whole thing was leaning forward but we were able to take a block and knock the back down not ideal but what we're working with I ain't going to be able to get this looking how it needs to look un I peel them [Music] up is that just Optical or is thate level still little it's CL my name on the C it just needs a little bit more it wasn't the G no I know but now now some of you guys may be thinking to yourself well why didn't you stop them well because one subcontractor's job is not to stop another subcontractor's job that's not what we're supposed to do when we show up to a commercial job site our job is to install the project according to the specs as laid out in the blueprint plan that would be no different if a plumbing contractor came into building into a building and then decided that they needed to stop the roofing contractor's work they couldn't do that that's not what we're there to do our job is to do the job according to spec and right here you can see that roller Packer running right behind our retaining wall and then this is where things start to get messy H YouTube now according to those specs I read you this machine should not be back here and the wheel machine that's loading this machine should not be within 10 ft of the backside of this r maining wall but then how is the asphalt contractor supposed to complete their portion of the work if they're not allowed to get their equipment behind the retaining wall why was it even designed like this in the first place is where I start was the questions that I start to get led to now here's the thing this is not the first time I've had this almost exact situation happened and in fact in just a few moments we're going to go out to another site where this almost exact occurrence happened but the general contractor decided to blame me for it and I'm going to show you the job I'm going to tell you how that conversation went but when the general contractor blamed me for the failure he also threatened to sue me I had finished this retaining wall that you see behind me almost 20 maybe 25 years ago and by sheer coincidence I was driving by the job site and right down the road when I looked in to see how my project was doing because the project wasn't done my portion of the project was done I was off from the job I noticed the asphalt contractor doing their job and their job was to lay asphalt directly behind the backside of my retaining wall just like you're seeing in today's video and I pulled up and I parked instantly right about here because what I seen was the asphalt guy was using a dual drum roller to compact the asphalt the problem is is you're not supposed to be within 3 ft of the backside of a retaining wall with any kind of compaction equipment as we're looking you can see where the entire thing has shifted now I was really proud of this retaining wall when I I was done with it I'm no longer proud of this retaining wall at all because the retaining wall is is has failed in my opinion so I stopped I pulled over and I stood right about here fact my footprints were still on the top of the retaining wall somewhere for a long time and I said to the guy you got to back off on the retaining wall you can't get that close behind the wall now you can see right where they laid the asphalt right up to the backs side of my retaining wall you can actually see where they put the asphalt onto my retaining wall and of course that didn't stop the guy here's the thing as a subcontractor I can't control what other contractors do and I cannot stop them from doing their job if they have it in Blueprints and it's black and white that they're supposed to put asphalt right up behind the face of that retaining wall then that's what they got to do as a subcontractor but the question get goes whose fault is it when a wall like this fails because the contractors packing it and as I'm standing on it I can actually feel the wall starting to shift forward and tip forward and I called the contractor right away and says hey whoa whoa you can't do this but the damage had already been done and since the damage had already been done the contractor decided to start pointing the finger at me but my question to you guys is as a subcontractor understanding that we can't control what other contractors do what not in our bids who is responsible would that be on the general contractor to make sure that one subcontractor's work doesn't interfere with another contractor's work but that would also mean that the general contractor has to actually understand that work intricately like understand how engineering works and understand how soil Dynamics work is it the Architects issue should the architect have known I cannot design a asphalt parking lot and put it directly on top of a retaining wall because all segmental retaining walls have a 3ft danger zone that means you're not allowed to go within 3 ft of that retaining wall with any kind of heavy equipment is it the engineers who whose responsibility is it to make sure that a design like this where one contractor's work doesn't interfere or damage another another contractor's work you guys decide let me know in the comments below and at any time if you guys are building a retaining wall and you want to know if what you're doing is right or wrong everything is listed right online so it doesn't make a difference whether you're a subcontractor whether you're an engineer whether you're an architect everything to be able to design a retaining wall is all listed in these specs and these are the exact same specs that when we bid as subcontractors and build retaining walls we have to follow these specs accordingly but that doesn't mean that other subcontractors need to understand our specs because they don't I don't need to know the specs for a plumber I don't need to know the specs for a riffing contractor I just need to be able to understand the specs to get my job done the right way so after that asphalt machine was done laying that out there was even more damage to the retaining wall than what we had initially fixed so then the question is who's actually default am I default the retaining wall contractor is the asphalt contractor default is the general contractor default or is the architector engineer that designed and put this entire hot mess together to fault you let me know what your opinion is in the comments down below but let's dive back into that situation on that other project where I took you out to and I showed you that really big retaining wall and that general contractor threatened to sue me well he didn't do it just once he did it over the course of many years and I would always go back to those specs and say wo whoo wo wo the specs Clearly say that no equipment is to be allowed within 3 ft of the backs side of the retaining wall and heavier equipment is supposed to be within 10 ft of the backside of the retaining wall and I say I stood on the actual retaining wall itself and told the guy to back off and they wouldn't listen and it's not my job as one subcontractor to control another contractor's work we cannot do that and So eventually that whole lawsuit against me was dropped nothing ever came of it thank goodness because the best way to solve a lawsuit is to never get into one in the first place that's it for this project I want to hear from you who do you think is responsible for the damage to that retaining wall let me know in the comments down below you are the judge and jury on this one and that's it for this one God bless go get him you guys we'll catch you on another one well they had a 10 to 12,000 lb skit is at least and then if you look over there there's the stuff they used to spread the uh asphalt so I don't know if that how many yard Hopper that is asphalt and then you were over here when they were laying that and then there yeah it was spreader quite an operation I thought they were using a lot smaller stuff to be directly behind the wall but came back here and saw the skid steer running carving out the path and he was right up with his bucket right along the back of the retaining wall pretty damn close to it and um you can look down the wall there and it was straight as an arrow before you can see it's kind of the whole thing kind of looks like it's tipping a little bit forward yeah the camera really doesn't quite pick up the detail that little bit of an angle but all right last stretch