On Oct 28, 4:38*pm, (hoosker)
wrote:
hoosker had written this in response tohttp://www.thestuccocompany.com/maintenance/Re-Deck-surface-boards-ru...
*:
We just went ahead and designed the deck. *The Homeowner assumed one
thing, we assummed another and did it the best and most cost effective way
in design, the homeowner never questioned it until this weekend, then he
was like, "Ahh, I thought the boards were going to go the other way".

The only options we see now, are possibly angling the boards as we're too
far along to start completely over again!

What a mess, any ideas?

bad news....
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DerbyDad03 wrote:
Hoosker wrote:

-------------------------------------

We are doing a deck and we spec'ed the boards to run out from the
house,
rather than perpendicular like a regular deck. *This was setup as
they
have a pool in the backyard and we wanted to deck to flow towards
the
water area, and we would us less finish surface baords, utiling
single 16'
runs.
The Homeowner is not sure he wants them this way, claiming all
decks he
has seen usually run parellel to the house. *This is the way I
usually see
them done as well.
Is there any reason why we can't do it the way we are doing it?
We are
already to the surface decking part of the deck and can't turn
back now,
but we want to reassure the homeowner it is ok to do it this way?
The
deck is very well supported, in fact, we used 10" bords
instead of the
normal 8" boards for support.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

My first thought upon reading this was:
How did you get to this point in the project without the homeowner's
buy-in on which way the boards would run?
You said "we spec'ed the boards to run out from the house".
Who's "we"?
Wasn't the guy that will be signing the check involved when the project
was spec'd?

Homeowner assumed one thing, we assummed another

You know what happens when you 'assume'?

(we) did it the best and most cost effective way in design

It may have been the most cost effective way, but it wasn't the best
unless you and the homeowner agreed to the design before the work
started.

the homeowner never questioned it until this weekend

Do you mean he never questioned it until the first time he saw the
"design" i.e. the framing? I'd still say that's your fault.

What a mess, any ideas?

Negotiate with the client. Either offer to do the deck, as is, for
free or figure out how to reframe it, at the original cost, to satisfy
the client.

Reminds of the motto we assigned to IT repair guys where I used to
work. "They do it nice 'cuz they do it twice."