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The subsidence warning I ignored on a Reno job in Austin
Last fall I was managing a bathroom addition out in the Circle C area and my structural engineer, this old guy named Ray, told me to underpinning the north corner before we poured anything new. I thought he was being overly cautious, you know, since the house was from 1978 and had been sitting fine for decades. We skipped it to save about $2,800 and stayed on schedule for the client's Christmas deadline. By the time we finished the tile work, there was a visible crack running up the sheetrock in the hallway and the door to the half bath wouldn't latch anymore. Ray came back out, took one look, and just said "I told you so" without any real anger, which honestly felt worse. Now we're looking at helical piers and a repair bill that's going to run maybe $9k, plus tearing out some of the new drywall we just put up. Has anyone else had a situation where a quiet warning from a specialist cost you way more than the upfront fix? I'm trying to figure out if I should push the owner to file a claim with their insurance or just eat it as a lesson.
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emmasmith23h ago
Ray’s invoice probably had a liability clause in the contract that limits what he can be blamed for, and once you signed off on skipping his callout, the owner’s insurance will likely deny the claim since it’s a construction defect, not a sudden event. That $9k is yours to carry, but check if your own liability policy has a rider for missed engineer recommendations, because that’s the only way you’re not eating it all.
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