An Assessment of Current Projects Undertaken by the Aquarius Condo. Association

by  Bhagwan (Buck) Gupta   with contributions of Victor Rocha. Both are candidates for the Board of 2016.  Their electoral information sheets can be seen by clicking their names. New TABS will open.

Valet Deck

The valet area, driveway, parking areas, soffits, water wall feature, lighting and painting of columns and other exterior surfaces, are all scheduled for final inspection on Monday January 4th. Based on a casual walk-through of that area, it looks like the majority of these items are going to pass the inspection.
I am concerned that the plaster on the soffits was not given enough time to dry out prior to being painted to meet the deadline date for completion of project.The downside to that is if any moisture is trapped underneath the paint, sometime in the future, the paint will start peeling off.

The other concern is that while the valet area is ready for opening, subsequent to passing the inspection, the Lobby area is nowhere close to being completed for several weeks or months for repeatedly failing to comply with inspectors’ comments.

Lobby

Based on the face value of the inspection report, it is clear that there is a total lack of coordination among the sub-contractors responsible for finishing the project in compliance with County Code requirements. The following items demonstrate this pattern:

Obviously the person drawing the plans for the county’s review and approval, failed to specify the areas designated to have firewall protection. If in fact the County Code requires the separation of these areas in case of fire, the configuration for A/C system, including the duct work and any penetrations through the Firewall must be sealed to meet those requirements.

Contractors or subcontractors submitting plans for pulling the appropriate permits should have known The County Code requirements from day one. According to the comments in the inspection report, inspections were not being undertaken by the subcontractors on an ongoing basis to avoid these last-minute surprises at final County inspection. Now, the question is for the Association and the Board to determine the malfeasance and misfeasance on the part of any and all parties involved in this process, while it tries to implement corrective actions and /or redo the work to meet the requirements. Again, who bears the costs associated with these mistakes in terms of time and money? This project clearly reflects too many cooks in the kitchen but no one is responsible for the outcome. Construction projects of this magnitude cannot run without adequate supervision and controls in place.

Elevators

On another note, the inspection certificates posted in all elevators expired in August 2015. If an accident were to occur, the Association and its Board would be held responsible for not addressing safety to life issues.

40 Year Re-certification

Finally, we need to hire an Architectural firm which can coordinate the work of other engineers, i.e., structural, electrical, mechanical, and any other specialty required for the 40 year certification. It is not a question of if we have to meet these requirements, we must meet these requirements or we will be fined excessive amounts on a daily basis until we comply. The board must file a formal plan with the County as to how it plans to meet those requirements.

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