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@@samarnadra cool, yet the laws are almost completely opposite here in the USA... you can call somebody an asshole widely and loudly, and as long as you actually do believe it there is little that can be done about it. If somebody is a political candidate, we have an almost unlimited right to call them an asshole loudly even to their face, as long as we actually believe they are an asshole. I would have simply called out that Florida is widely accepted as a Third World Nation somehow being a part of the US... a lot of the South is actually - completely bass-ackwards "thinking" out of extremely poorly educated folks on average. The smart folks have to avoid provoking the dummies, and lazy cutting of corners does happen in construction, because it's also an astonishingly and completely corrupt state. It's where evil people go to vacation... smart people know to avoid it simply due to the state's residents... it's not worth going to Florida, because you have to deal with Florida people.
Florida ironically has really strict building code, but we also have an inordinate amount of corner-cutters and crooks and having worked in the industry I can tell you, any and all inspectors you meet have a price, and they'll be complete shitbags to you if you don't play their games OR pay them. One time had a guy force us to redo an inspection 7 times because he didn't know what a bidet is and wouldn't approve the plumbing. Construction is the dirtiest, most twisted and shitty industry to get into down here but unfortunately it's where a majority of the work is for many people, especially recent immigrants.
No surprise. I remember in the 80s and 90s when inspectors would do a "drive by" inspection. Meaning they would drive up, eat lunch, then through clairvoyance inspect the building.
As someone who lives in Miami the moment you started listing all the companies that were sub-contracted I was like what in the tax evading is going on. Those businesses are most likely owned by the same person or family members of the same person.
I mean just because you own a company and “hire it” isn’t always for tax evasion as that is criminal non payment. But it is done for some tax reduction lol. Also sometimes it’s done by what each company does. Ex one company for towing, one company for car repair, and one company for owning the land the other two are on. It’s also for liability so if one company seriously screws up you don’t lose EVERYTHING you just lose what’s in that company’s name.
Subcontracting and sub-subcontracting is quite normal. Otherwise you could only have large companies with a workforce that is idle a lot of the time. But the other side is that all this subcontracting means that the prime contract can go to a company with little or no experience that either has a (hem hem) connection with the people awarding the job, or who puts in an impractically low bid and then has to squeeze.
Given how much collapsed, it's surprising there were so few fatalities. Also surprising the families didn't also issue a civil suit against the inspector.
I think the only reason there were relatively few casualties is the collapse happened during construction when few people were inside the structure. If it had happened when it was in full use at the beginning or end of a busy work day...
I lived in Florida for a long time and worked for several companies that did wiring and electrical. Cutting corners in construction seemed to be an acceptable risk and nearly everyone did it at some point. Fines are laughably small, just part of the cost of doing business, and everyone knew that inspectors and investigators were so understaffed and overworked they'd never catch most of the issues anyway.
About 15 years ago I was working on a Steel erected building. One day I was working down at the bottom of the parking Garage and there was a sudden load banging noise. Shortly after that there was a call on the radio to come up to the office to check in. What had happened is they were Craning in Pre-Cast Stairs and one had fallen due to one of the picking points breaking while the stair was being moved into the stairwell. The stair section fell into a Steel Truss on an unpoored section of slab and dislodged it. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Always enjoy these breakdowns. Looking forward to what you will have to say about this past week's garage collapse in NYC once that investigation is complete. Should be some serious negligence not only on the owner but on the city's lack of follow up inspections after violations as well.
If we mean the same ones, I don't know if it's true but I saw a screenshot of a joke article claiming that it was a guy who gave a bunch of pickaxes to some homeless people and told them there was a crack stash hidden in the columns. Glad to see that, as was expected, that wasn't the case, but it sounds like a lot more people were affected than just the ones who had parked their vehicles there.
Ajax is pretty by the book now. Personally, i think GCs and owners are cheap as fuck now and cater to illegals to save money. I'm getting tired of using Google Translate, and if they didn't act so shady, I really wouldn't mind. Jobsites aren't what they used to be, and illegal immigration froze wages until last year, in my opinion.
I know I've said this before, but thank you for reading out the text on the screen. For someone who can't always see the screen it's very handy and appreciated. I'm so bored of people who just put text on the screen, or play a clip which is in another language, with no translation.
What is even the point hiring a company if they don't even know what they are doing? Any company that makes false claims only to immediately subcontract to a dozen different companies deserves to be burnt to the ground.
Sadly, Many business-folks don't care how "the little people work" gets done, as long as it's cheap, things LOOK good and they can't be held legally responsible. However, there's some hope, if only due to the fact, that getting away with the consequences of that attitude is getting harder and harder.
My husband used to work in industrial construction until an MVA changed his course in life, however he still knows guys in the industry. When they have needed construction workers to help rebuild after a hurricane in Florida, guys from Canada travel down. My husband has heard some real horror stories about what the guys see, and how it compares to our building codes here.
You videos come out the night I finish work before my weekend. They're the perfect start to crack open a beer and begin chillout time. Thanks again friend.
Thank you for the great vid. I never have liked parking garages in the first place and frankly... if a little bump from a crane can damage a single column and that causes catastrophic failure... something is very very very very wrong. ML and Blessing all! 💪❤🙏💯
Speaking of construction projects using sus subcontractors, have you ever looked into the Son of Beast or the Rattler? Both coasters were developed by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America, which cut every corner possible and some that weren't. Both stories are fascinating.
It’s amazing what salt water and hot weather do to concrete in Florida. Against my better judgement I offered to help renovate my parents bathroom in their condo years ago and the concrete behind the plaster literally just turned back into sand. I thought I could just pick the top layer off but it never stopped. In one spot I dug as deep as the screwdriver would go and nothing but concrete colored dirt. Slept real well for the remainder of my stay there. 100% safe. Totally legit. Nothing to see, here 👍
Not really a Florida problem, but in much of the rest of the world, freezing/thawing cycles are hell on concrete. Some aggregates are fine, some which would be fine in Florida will crumble after a good cold snap. The chances of a screwup in the chain of supply are enormous. I'm surprised collapses aren't far more common.
👍 Great job on all your videos, John! One of the best channels on UA-cam. I used to live in Portland Oregon so I feel your pain with the wet,cold, darkness . Hope you get some sunshine 🌅
I was in the college doing a tour with my friend when the garage collapsed. Absolute mayhem. While this garage was being built, students (and I believe guests as well, had to park at a designated parking area close by at international mall and there’ll be a school or two always waiting and two others at the school. Constant rotation.
Nothing in your content has ever threatened me with nightmares as much as that outro image 😂 I do like the music though. Thanks again for a well written mini-documentary and scale rating.
Hi John, my name is also John, I have been watching your channel well over 5 years. Love your work, especially the radioactive events. Much love brother!
The best videos on this collapse were published by a structural engineer who has a UA-cam channel. He went through every detail, and made several videos covering this event. Building Integrity is the channel name.
Would love to see you cover the propane railroad car fire in Kingman AZ around 1976. This fire... and the death of 11 first responders in the explosion, resulted in sweeping changes to how propane was stored, transported and when all else failed, fought by fire fighters. Truly a terrible legacy there that changed the world for the better. There is further a home movie of the fire on 16mm. It has that... well home movie quality to it that is usually reserved for the kids playing in the backyard while dad cooks upon the grill.... But in this case, it shows both something awesome and terrible- truly a contrast to what 16mm was known for. Better yet, nobody has heard of it and nobody has done a documentary on it. Yet in transportation and fire fighting circles, this was a watershed event. The town has a memorial plaque and renamed the road in front of the railyard to "Firefighters Way" or something like that. The rail yard is still there and it is faced by a recycling yard where I dumped many a load of steel, copper and other metals. I never knew the history under my feet until I got into a conversation with the manager. Anyway, certainly worth your time to look into! And it would be a scoop upon most other channels.
thanks for acknowledging that this isn't a re-upload. I really was thinking that. also most everyone here I think knows this by now but just for anyone new or uninitiated to coastal life, concrete gets screwed up in Florida so often because of the saltwater. Usually the rebar is exposed to saltwater and never treated before being installed into concrete, so it rusts which makes the concrete no longer bonded to it. The difference between Florida and most other coastal states/areas though is that Florida doesn't really care because state gov is getting major payout from building groups and landlords etc to keep regulations away.
Thanks John for an interesting disaster video. Total incompetence is an understatement !! There are a lot of collapses and structural failures of buildings in Florida. It seems many are because of “cutting corner” or shoddy construction technique. Causing many deaths. Such as the horrible Surfside,Florida Condo collapse which cost nearl 100 unsuspecting tenants their lives. Shoddy construction ,age and not being inspected often enough or throughly. Incompetence. Well I’m from Canada and new subscriber also. You are very good with your research. Also much detail in a short but educational format. Great narration on your part. Big 👍👍👌👌😊😊🇨🇦🇨🇦
Actually that condo building was inspected a good few years before it's required major 40 year inspection and recertification. And the report from 2018 I believe it was, is disturbing to say the least. One channel here on UA-cam run by a guy that does this kind of work upstate said he had never seen required repairs to structural members that severe in his career. However the condo board knew what it would cost, and knew they had another 4-5 years before the state required they actually do something about it, so they waited, and instead focused on things like a lobby renovation. Apparently, the construction was solid, but based on the wrong load calculations, either done in error or to reduce cost of construction. Ironically, that building stood up to at least 3 major hurricane impacts during its lifetime. Andrew 92, Katrina and Wilma 05.
@@sparkplug1018 Thanks for your message Sparkplug I did see a vid about the Surfside condo collapse on UA-cam a few months ago and there was something about the outdoor pool beneath it there was leaking and cracks in the cement/concrete. I mean I’m certainly no expert in architectural engineering but if this building went through a few bad hurricanes etc etc you think they would do more frequent inspections of all these structures and more closely and then do proper necessary repairs or upgrades so these terrible tragedies don’t occur and kill so many innocent people. Hurricanes must weaken the structures ability after time Really scary stuff a big condo like that just falling floor by floor late at night a lot of those people never saw it coming. What’s safe and not safe?? Thanks you are an intelligent sounding guy!!😊👌
@@Laura-zy5jp The general explanation (as I understand it) is that when they did the load calculations, for the deck, planters, pool ect, they did it at a 100% load. Meaning that just as it sat static, the supporting structure was already at max capacity. Then add almost 40 years of the dynamic loading of people walking on it, vibration, storm forces and so on and it weakens over time. Cracks form, salt water gets in, and it's downhill from there. The reason it took so long is that even using those incorrect values, there's still a safety margin built in. Obviously we don't want to rely solely on that, for this reason. Now why those incorrect values were used, which resulted in changes to the blueprints being made is anyone's guess. Could have been cost cutting saying "well we aren't overloading it, it's fine" or just a simple error no one caught. Typically as part of insurance claims after a hurricane though, inspections to the damage are done, repairs made, etc. What they were coming up on just before the collapse was a 40 year recertification. Which is a full, deep dive inspection of the building, and repairs are mandatory. And the report from 2018 was insane, can only imagine how much more it deteriorated afterwards. In the end, a few errors and greed brought it down.
@@sparkplug1018 Tou really are a well versed smart guy. In a very good way I mean that not sarcastic. But all in all nearly 100 men , woman and kids lost their lives in this disaster. Yes I believe time, the sea salt eating at the concrete , hurricanes going through and passage of time (building age wear and tear) probably all contributing factors. I remember this one so vividly. It was caught on camera as it collapsed too. Saw it on CNN. I’m from Canada but we get a lot of American channels from America up here. Including CNN. I watch a lot of US tv. Kudos to you for your being truly an educated guy!!
@@Laura-zy5jp I actually live about 16km from the site, so we got an unpleasant front row seat for it all. It really was unfortunate how many were hurt from it that for sure. I was actually out of town when it collapsed, girls got to work right? But my wife told me all about it when I landed. Was really depressing flying the plane down the coast a few days latter and being able to see the site, all we can do is learn from these disasters and try to do better. Kind of ironic though, one of the most destructive hurricanes makes landfall about 70km south of it, and it remains. But neglect and mistakes brought it down. And thanks for the compliments, appreciate that.
"Multi-story parking lots are hardly the most exciting of buildings." They are if they collapse. I lived next door to one that also went down during construction.
That list of subcontractors is like trying to hire a hitman. First guy says $50K, you pay him, but then he goes to his guy for $25K, who knows a guy will do $10K, who knows a guy who'll do $5K, who knows some junkie that'll do $1K. Probably should treat it as a crime, too.
If you're poor and you kill someone for money, you are sentenced to death or life in prison. If you are a rich capitalist industrialist and you kill someone for profit, you get a small fine from OSHA and a deduction on your taxes at the end of the year.
The pyramid of contractors is nothing unusual as each is supposed to have a particular set of skills and competencies - you don't expect the guy mixing cement to be good at rolling tarmac (at least on the scale of this building). BUT the inspector not seeing that corners were being cut is on a totally different level - doing it from the ground, not checking against the approved drawings; then when he spotted work not being done to plan not taking this up the chain..... AND where were the local authority & state building works inspectors??
There was recently a parking garage in Milwaukee WI that pancake collapsed after snow removal from the top level and in the news video/photos you can see other beams about to collapse . Looks as if the entire section of columns shifted in one area. The beams appear to only be set on a very small ledges on the columns with no room for any natural movement or shifting and and looks like no actual attachment of beams to the columns. There was also another more recent car park (garage) in another state in the US that pancaked the same way as the one in Milwaukee and the one here in the video (though the one in the video was under construction. I think the design of these parking garages are built as cheap as possible and are not actually safe or robust in actual use where actual build tolerances and environmental conditions vary from the minimum computer model used in design. Couple that with "it looks good from my house" inspections and it's a wonder this does not happen on a almost daily basis.
I’ve poured concrete most of my life and this is my literal nightmare! Some of those big basements are mazes and there’s no way to not let my mind wonder what it would be like if it collapsed while I’m walking through or working in there!
I myself have been in several building collapses including this one as well as 1WT and a Vegas casino which was being blown up while I was tied up in a basement by my enemies. The only advice I can give you is to be calm like me. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have been able to save people like I did.
The incompetence of this case reminded me of the incompetent hitmen case who subcontracted the job multiple times for less and kept the rest of the sum. Absolute shambles.
Just based on your description, the base design deserves a dumpster fire rating as well. Relying on the reinforcing steel and grout to support the columns is just crazy and turns the whole concept of reinforced concrete design on it's head. The whole garage should have been torn down!
Florida. Where there's always a way to skimp on the critical components that protect people from harm. The "dumpster fire" analogy goes far beyond this fated project; it applies to much of the state's philosophy of construction and maintenance. The people at the top get rich; the people at the bottom get crushed.
Thankfully it happened before it was done and full of cars. Why can't they learn to stop cutting corners and just do their job right. Thank you for sharing.
OSHA fined 5 companies $38k each and 4 companies $32k for killing 4 people and collapsing 3300 tons of structure. Damn they got off light. OSHA fined us $10k for failing to fix a guard on a table saw, resulting in an employee cutting his thumb off. Apparently each of those lives was only worth 5.5 thumbs.
Just a note: Concrete is one of the few things out here that can stand up to a hurricane (and everything that goes along with it) for relatively cheap. Miami-Dade's current building code requires a wind speed design of at least 130 MPH winds (at least as of the 2001 post-Andrew code update). It's the right idea. I'm about halfway up the state and we still have to meet 120 MPH.
I have no engineering background, but the thought of those columns being left to carry compressive load through the steel reinforcements alone disturbed me as soon as the gaps were mentioned. I did not imagine that the contractors would leave entire gaps unfilled. I was expecting something more along the lines of a bad grout mix, or voids within the joints, or something which would not be immediately obvious to even the most cursory inspection.
I had the city inspect my heating and cooling installation in my home. The inspector was in my house for less than 30 seconds and handed me the "APPROVED" sticker on his way out. There is no way he actually checked everything. I had another HVAC contractor come and he said the inspector was incompetent and he found three items that were installed incorrectly although non of them were dangerous.
All that crumbled concrete-- isn't it standard to have some steel rebar in there? Or did they use Florida beach sand with a high salt content? So many ways to fail.
Thanks for watching check out me other bits!
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Can you cover the Milwaukee Brewer Crane Collapse?
"Incompetent on every level."
I see what you did there.
IMO, any structure more than 3 stories tall needs to have a steel girder skeleton. Concrete and rebar alone isn't sufficient.
BTW have you done a video on the Therac-25 software bug debacle -- and how it basically nuked the patients it was supposed to treat?
@@cygnia
I'm pretty sure John has.
"Concrete and Florida seem to go together like radioisotopes and scrap merchants" - brutal lmao
That was such a fucking good one.
#FloridaManAtWork 🤔
"Florida Men build self-collapsing car park".
@@markh.6687 Thank you, 🤗at least someone is looking at this the same way as me🤭
Lmao half of the channel is these two at this point
Criminal negligence is probably a better term than incompetence.
depends if the DA got a donation or not from the involved party... 😋
@@kittytrail Gotta ❤️ New Yorkers.
Criminal Negligence is s a tough one in Florida; money talks loudly in that state.
Yeah.
@@samarnadra cool, yet the laws are almost completely opposite here in the USA... you can call somebody an asshole widely and loudly, and as long as you actually do believe it there is little that can be done about it.
If somebody is a political candidate, we have an almost unlimited right to call them an asshole loudly even to their face, as long as we actually believe they are an asshole.
I would have simply called out that Florida is widely accepted as a Third World Nation somehow being a part of the US... a lot of the South is actually - completely bass-ackwards "thinking" out of extremely poorly educated folks on average. The smart folks have to avoid provoking the dummies, and lazy cutting of corners does happen in construction, because it's also an astonishingly and completely corrupt state. It's where evil people go to vacation... smart people know to avoid it simply due to the state's residents... it's not worth going to Florida, because you have to deal with Florida people.
You can't fault them for doing the inspections from the ground; clearly it would have been unsafe to get _onto_ the structure!
Lol 😂
EWP much, elevated work platform?
Yes you can absolutely fault them.
Ah, I see you're a person of Sarcasm as well.
@@markh.6687 I _thought_ I'd laid it on pretty thick.
Florida ironically has really strict building code, but we also have an inordinate amount of corner-cutters and crooks and having worked in the industry I can tell you, any and all inspectors you meet have a price, and they'll be complete shitbags to you if you don't play their games OR pay them.
One time had a guy force us to redo an inspection 7 times because he didn't know what a bidet is and wouldn't approve the plumbing.
Construction is the dirtiest, most twisted and shitty industry to get into down here but unfortunately it's where a majority of the work is for many people, especially recent immigrants.
Philadelphia's L&I (Licensing & Inspections) has a similar reputation.
Speaks highly of the confidence on the guy working in civil construction not knowing what's a bidet.
Yeeeep.
Doesn’t surprise me. My sister is into installing AC ducts and copper etc. she’s seen some hinky things with electricians as well 😖
Florida has understaffed inspection departments too, which don't help much. They're reactionary vs being proactive
No surprise. I remember in the 80s and 90s when inspectors would do a "drive by" inspection. Meaning they would drive up, eat lunch, then through clairvoyance inspect the building.
Some of them still do.........
Clairvoyance? Is it synonymous with remote inspection?
@@HansLasser its a joke, they are saying basically " they used magic to inspect it"
You gotta love authorities with impossible skills 😂 Its like the cops saying you look like someone who has a gun/weed/whatever..
As someone who lives in Miami the moment you started listing all the companies that were sub-contracted I was like what in the tax evading is going on. Those businesses are most likely owned by the same person or family members of the same person.
I mean just because you own a company and “hire it” isn’t always for tax evasion as that is criminal non payment. But it is done for some tax reduction lol.
Also sometimes it’s done by what each company does. Ex one company for towing, one company for car repair, and one company for owning the land the other two are on. It’s also for liability so if one company seriously screws up you don’t lose EVERYTHING you just lose what’s in that company’s name.
As someone who used to live in Miami I'm not sure how the entire county even seems to function
@@themanwiththepan Lol I mean, ‘function’ is such a strong word for whatever it is we’re doing down here…,
What's the family name
Subcontracting and sub-subcontracting is quite normal. Otherwise you could only have large companies with a workforce that is idle a lot of the time. But the other side is that all this subcontracting means that the prime contract can go to a company with little or no experience that either has a (hem hem) connection with the people awarding the job, or who puts in an impractically low bid and then has to squeeze.
Given how much collapsed, it's surprising there were so few fatalities. Also surprising the families didn't also issue a civil suit against the inspector.
No point in suing an individual,. You can't get blood out of a turnip. That's why they're lawsuits focused on the companies instead...deeper pockets.
Thankfully parkade incidents are usually low casualty because people park their cars then leave, so it's never too populated
I think the only reason there were relatively few casualties is the collapse happened during construction when few people were inside the structure. If it had happened when it was in full use at the beginning or end of a busy work day...
A civil suit against the individual?????
That’s not a thing
Families sued. Families got money. An undisclosed amount, but they don’t settle these things for nothing.
I lived in Florida for a long time and worked for several companies that did wiring and electrical. Cutting corners in construction seemed to be an acceptable risk and nearly everyone did it at some point. Fines are laughably small, just part of the cost of doing business, and everyone knew that inspectors and investigators were so understaffed and overworked they'd never catch most of the issues anyway.
About 15 years ago I was working on a Steel erected building. One day I was working down at the bottom of the parking Garage and there was a sudden load banging noise. Shortly after that there was a call on the radio to come up to the office to check in. What had happened is they were Craning in Pre-Cast Stairs and one had fallen due to one of the picking points breaking while the stair was being moved into the stairwell. The stair section fell into a Steel Truss on an unpoored section of slab and dislodged it. Fortunately no one was hurt.
The look on my face when I heard the Engineer only did a visual inspection from the ground even though the crane was dented😲
Was he afraid of heights?
@@stevie-ray2020 Or lazy
I'm surprised I wasn't subcontracted for this structure...
....and I'm not even in construction.
Corruption has some harsh consequences when it involves construction projects. My condolences to everyone affected by this disaster.
How will that help when they are dead?
Always enjoy these breakdowns. Looking forward to what you will have to say about this past week's garage collapse in NYC once that investigation is complete. Should be some serious negligence not only on the owner but on the city's lack of follow up inspections after violations as well.
What with the proliferation of SUV's and EV's cars have gotten much heavier.
Not to mention any outstanding repair/maintenance applications that the city never got around to approving. This is a major issue in NYC.
Maybe if NYC just passed a few more laws it'll fix the problem.
@@mommachupacabra I doubt there are any records but that garage must have been one of the oldest in the country at 98 years old.
If we mean the same ones, I don't know if it's true but I saw a screenshot of a joke article claiming that it was a guy who gave a bunch of pickaxes to some homeless people and told them there was a crack stash hidden in the columns. Glad to see that, as was expected, that wasn't the case, but it sounds like a lot more people were affected than just the ones who had parked their vehicles there.
With no punitive actions against the negligent companies and individuals, nothing will improve.
Ajax is pretty by the book now. Personally, i think GCs and owners are cheap as fuck now and cater to illegals to save money. I'm getting tired of using Google Translate, and if they didn't act so shady, I really wouldn't mind. Jobsites aren't what they used to be, and illegal immigration froze wages until last year, in my opinion.
Florida has an extremely unfortunate history in pre-cast concrete construction.
Florida Man always gotta Florida you know? 💰😏👌
@@kittytrail never hire Florida Man as a civil engineer.
🎶 Florida Man Florida Man, breaks whatever law he can 🎶
How many accidents you need to stop calling it "unfortunate" and start calling it "negligent"?
@@Lillireify The negligence kills innocents. That's unfortunate.
Learn your definitions.
I know I've said this before, but thank you for reading out the text on the screen.
For someone who can't always see the screen it's very handy and appreciated. I'm so bored of people who just put text on the screen, or play a clip which is in another language, with no translation.
Even more worringly, nobody said _"Balls!"_ when the carpark collapsed.
What is even the point hiring a company if they don't even know what they are doing? Any company that makes false claims only to immediately subcontract to a dozen different companies deserves to be burnt to the ground.
They, like the rest of the middle-men would've still had their cut of the profits!
The point is that everyone the prime contractor owes a favor, gets s slice of the contract money.
Sadly, Many business-folks don't care how "the little people work" gets done,
as long as it's cheap, things LOOK good and they can't be held legally responsible.
However, there's some hope,
if only due to the fact, that getting away with the consequences of that attitude is
getting harder and harder.
My husband used to work in industrial construction until an MVA changed his course in life, however he still knows guys in the industry.
When they have needed construction workers to help rebuild after a hurricane in Florida, guys from Canada travel down.
My husband has heard some real horror stories about what the guys see, and how it compares to our building codes here.
You videos come out the night I finish work before my weekend. They're the perfect start to crack open a beer and begin chillout time. Thanks again friend.
Thank you for the great vid. I never have liked parking garages in the first place and frankly... if a little bump from a crane can damage a single column and that causes catastrophic failure... something is very very very very wrong. ML and Blessing all! 💪❤🙏💯
So infuriating these types of accidents... Fines are embarrassingly low and not a proper deterrent -should be 9x5 vacations for guilty parties.
FR, their criminal negligence should at least give rise to manslaughter charges
This seems to be a common reoccurring preventable problem throughout Florida construction history in the last 40 years
Blimey, what are you suggesting?
Hello from France
an engineer who stays on the ground to check if an assembly at 12 m high has been done correctly, it's either incompetent or a lazy
La Floride...c'est les deux.
@@catmedic Definitely a "¿Por qué no los dos?" situation.
Speaking of construction projects using sus subcontractors, have you ever looked into the Son of Beast or the Rattler? Both coasters were developed by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America, which cut every corner possible and some that weren't. Both stories are fascinating.
"for those who dont know what block sections are..." 😂
@@kristelbrok998 Seriously, coaster College would be a brilliant guest for that podcast.
@@alaeriia01 amen 🥰 or EltoroRyan 👀
Have you covered the condo collapse in surfside? The story behind the settlement is pretty crazy
I am pretty sure he does but it may of came out before the settlement did.
It’s amazing what salt water and hot weather do to concrete in Florida. Against my better judgement I offered to help renovate my parents bathroom in their condo years ago and the concrete behind the plaster literally just turned back into sand. I thought I could just pick the top layer off but it never stopped. In one spot I dug as deep as the screwdriver would go and nothing but concrete colored dirt. Slept real well for the remainder of my stay there.
100% safe. Totally legit. Nothing to see, here 👍
Not really a Florida problem, but in much of the rest of the world, freezing/thawing cycles are hell on concrete. Some aggregates are fine, some which would be fine in Florida will crumble after a good cold snap. The chances of a screwup in the chain of supply are enormous. I'm surprised collapses aren't far more common.
👍 Great job on all your videos, John! One of the best channels on UA-cam. I used to live in Portland Oregon so I feel your pain with the wet,cold, darkness . Hope you get some sunshine 🌅
I'm right with you on the north shore of the Great Lakes. Guess what - it's cold and raining today! 😃
Rainy and miserable over here in Ontario, Canada. Your research is excellent.
Did you hear about the recent train disaster in the Netherlands? Would love for you to cover that, its quite something
Probably need to wait for the investigation to be carried out.
I was in the college doing a tour with my friend when the garage collapsed. Absolute mayhem. While this garage was being built, students (and I believe guests as well, had to park at a designated parking area close by at international mall and there’ll be a school or two always waiting and two others at the school. Constant rotation.
Nothing in your content has ever threatened me with nightmares as much as that outro image 😂
I do like the music though.
Thanks again for a well written mini-documentary and scale rating.
Mr. Music has a very 'biblically accurate angle' complexion.
Hi John, my name is also John, I have been watching your channel well over 5 years. Love your work, especially the radioactive events. Much love brother!
Thank you John!!
I thought this was surfside condo collapse and I would love you do a video on that accident
Doubt there will be one for a while yet... investigation is still going on.
The best videos on this collapse were published by a structural engineer who has a UA-cam channel. He went through every detail, and made several videos covering this event. Building Integrity is the channel name.
That was not a new build parking garage.
Thanks for another informative video! I always look forward to your Saturday uploads.
Would love to see you cover the propane railroad car fire in Kingman AZ around 1976. This fire... and the death of 11 first responders in the explosion, resulted in sweeping changes to how propane was stored, transported and when all else failed, fought by fire fighters.
Truly a terrible legacy there that changed the world for the better. There is further a home movie of the fire on 16mm. It has that... well home movie quality to it that is usually reserved for the kids playing in the backyard while dad cooks upon the grill.... But in this case, it shows both something awesome and terrible- truly a contrast to what 16mm was known for.
Better yet, nobody has heard of it and nobody has done a documentary on it. Yet in transportation and fire fighting circles, this was a watershed event. The town has a memorial plaque and renamed the road in front of the railyard to "Firefighters Way" or something like that. The rail yard is still there and it is faced by a recycling yard where I dumped many a load of steel, copper and other metals. I never knew the history under my feet until I got into a conversation with the manager.
Anyway, certainly worth your time to look into! And it would be a scoop upon most other channels.
BLEVE's are always a good time.
thanks for acknowledging that this isn't a re-upload. I really was thinking that.
also most everyone here I think knows this by now but just for anyone new or uninitiated to coastal life, concrete gets screwed up in Florida so often because of the saltwater. Usually the rebar is exposed to saltwater and never treated before being installed into concrete, so it rusts which makes the concrete no longer bonded to it.
The difference between Florida and most other coastal states/areas though is that Florida doesn't really care because state gov is getting major payout from building groups and landlords etc to keep regulations away.
I am determined to watch everything made by John! Love your videos! Agree with your dumpster fire assessment!
Thanks John for an interesting disaster video. Total incompetence is an understatement !! There are a lot of collapses and structural failures of buildings in Florida. It seems many are because of “cutting corner” or shoddy construction technique. Causing many deaths. Such as the horrible Surfside,Florida Condo collapse which cost nearl 100 unsuspecting tenants their lives. Shoddy construction ,age and not being inspected often enough or throughly. Incompetence. Well I’m from Canada and new subscriber also. You are very good with your research. Also much detail in a short but educational format. Great narration on your part. Big 👍👍👌👌😊😊🇨🇦🇨🇦
Actually that condo building was inspected a good few years before it's required major 40 year inspection and recertification. And the report from 2018 I believe it was, is disturbing to say the least. One channel here on UA-cam run by a guy that does this kind of work upstate said he had never seen required repairs to structural members that severe in his career. However the condo board knew what it would cost, and knew they had another 4-5 years before the state required they actually do something about it, so they waited, and instead focused on things like a lobby renovation.
Apparently, the construction was solid, but based on the wrong load calculations, either done in error or to reduce cost of construction. Ironically, that building stood up to at least 3 major hurricane impacts during its lifetime. Andrew 92, Katrina and Wilma 05.
@@sparkplug1018 Thanks for your message Sparkplug I did see a vid about the Surfside condo collapse on UA-cam a few months ago and there was something about the outdoor pool beneath it there was leaking and cracks in the cement/concrete. I mean I’m certainly no expert in architectural engineering but if this building went through a few bad hurricanes etc etc you think they would do more frequent inspections of all these structures and more closely and then do proper necessary repairs or upgrades so these terrible tragedies don’t occur and kill so many innocent people. Hurricanes must weaken the structures ability after time Really scary stuff a big condo like that just falling floor by floor late at night a lot of those people never saw it coming. What’s safe and not safe?? Thanks you are an intelligent sounding guy!!😊👌
@@Laura-zy5jp The general explanation (as I understand it) is that when they did the load calculations, for the deck, planters, pool ect, they did it at a 100% load. Meaning that just as it sat static, the supporting structure was already at max capacity. Then add almost 40 years of the dynamic loading of people walking on it, vibration, storm forces and so on and it weakens over time. Cracks form, salt water gets in, and it's downhill from there.
The reason it took so long is that even using those incorrect values, there's still a safety margin built in. Obviously we don't want to rely solely on that, for this reason.
Now why those incorrect values were used, which resulted in changes to the blueprints being made is anyone's guess. Could have been cost cutting saying "well we aren't overloading it, it's fine" or just a simple error no one caught.
Typically as part of insurance claims after a hurricane though, inspections to the damage are done, repairs made, etc. What they were coming up on just before the collapse was a 40 year recertification. Which is a full, deep dive inspection of the building, and repairs are mandatory. And the report from 2018 was insane, can only imagine how much more it deteriorated afterwards. In the end, a few errors and greed brought it down.
@@sparkplug1018 Tou really are a well versed smart guy. In a very good way I mean that not sarcastic. But all in all nearly 100 men , woman and kids lost their lives in this disaster. Yes I believe time, the sea salt eating at the concrete , hurricanes going through and passage of time (building age wear and tear) probably all contributing factors. I remember this one so vividly. It was caught on camera as it collapsed too. Saw it on CNN. I’m from Canada but we get a lot of American channels from America up here. Including CNN. I watch a lot of US tv. Kudos to you for your being truly an educated guy!!
@@Laura-zy5jp I actually live about 16km from the site, so we got an unpleasant front row seat for it all. It really was unfortunate how many were hurt from it that for sure.
I was actually out of town when it collapsed, girls got to work right? But my wife told me all about it when I landed. Was really depressing flying the plane down the coast a few days latter and being able to see the site, all we can do is learn from these disasters and try to do better.
Kind of ironic though, one of the most destructive hurricanes makes landfall about 70km south of it, and it remains. But neglect and mistakes brought it down.
And thanks for the compliments, appreciate that.
Thanks to these uploads I now feel uneasy every time I enter large multi-storey buildings, especially car parks 😢
That ending credit song and visual was dope 👏
thank you!
I would love a deep dive into the regulatory regimen in FL that leads to these incidents happening so frequently
Florida! WHAT A SURPRISE ! ONE IS STUNNED!!!!!
"Multi-story parking lots are hardly the most exciting of buildings."
They are if they collapse. I lived next door to one that also went down during construction.
Sweet.
That list of subcontractors is like trying to hire a hitman. First guy says $50K, you pay him, but then he goes to his guy for $25K, who knows a guy will do $10K, who knows a guy who'll do $5K, who knows some junkie that'll do $1K.
Probably should treat it as a crime, too.
Qxir’s latest video has that exact story
@@Emigdiosback I WAS JUST THINKING THAT!!! :D Worst. Hitmen. Ever. 🤣
@@Emigdiosback lol, it just popped on my Recommended, gonna watch it now.
"Concrete and Florida go together like radioisotopes and scrappers" ... love it ... I'll attribute you, but I'm _stealing_ this ...
Go for it!!
If you're poor and you kill someone for money, you are sentenced to death or life in prison. If you are a rich capitalist industrialist and you kill someone for profit, you get a small fine from OSHA and a deduction on your taxes at the end of the year.
The nightmare at the end is a biblically accurate depiction of an angel.
So glad I got recommended your channel couple weeks ago. Been watching soo much I've learned so many things I had no idea about thank you
i like the old rating system better.. and no #1 finger or map is upsetting.. so i dont feel bad its currently wet in yur town John!
"...go together like radioisotopes and scrap merchants" is to be added to my vocabulary, and its use promulgated forthwith.
Yay, the weather report in UK is back. I missed it last time. Never realized it was ingrained as part of your outro.
Thanks John. Another great video. I love your work!
The pyramid of contractors is nothing unusual as each is supposed to have a particular set of skills and competencies - you don't expect the guy mixing cement to be good at rolling tarmac (at least on the scale of this building).
BUT the inspector not seeing that corners were being cut is on a totally different level - doing it from the ground, not checking against the approved drawings; then when he spotted work not being done to plan not taking this up the chain.....
AND where were the local authority & state building works inspectors??
Prayers for the families of the guys lost.
5:25 that’s risky. A crane hitting something is bound to cause internal spider webbing depending of how hard the hit was
There was recently a parking garage in Milwaukee WI that pancake collapsed after snow removal from the top level and in the news video/photos you can see other beams about to collapse . Looks as if the entire section of columns shifted in one area. The beams appear to only be set on a very small ledges on the columns with no room for any natural movement or shifting and and looks like no actual attachment of beams to the columns. There was also another more recent car park (garage) in another state in the US that pancaked the same way as the one in Milwaukee and the one here in the video (though the one in the video was under construction. I think the design of these parking garages are built as cheap as possible and are not actually safe or robust in actual use where actual build tolerances and environmental conditions vary from the minimum computer model used in design. Couple that with "it looks good from my house" inspections and it's a wonder this does not happen on a almost daily basis.
I’ve poured concrete most of my life and this is my literal nightmare! Some of those big basements are mazes and there’s no way to not let my mind wonder what it would be like if it collapsed while I’m walking through or working in there!
I myself have been in several building collapses including this one as well as 1WT and a Vegas casino which was being blown up while I was tied up in a basement by my enemies.
The only advice I can give you is to be calm like me. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have been able to save people like I did.
Such a pleasant presentation of a terrible disaster.
The incompetence of this case reminded me of the incompetent hitmen case who subcontracted the job multiple times for less and kept the rest of the sum. Absolute shambles.
I've been waiting for this one
I’m noticing a lot of these happen in Florida.
I heard that during the inquiry, the architect told the panel that the reason for its collapse was a little from column A and a little from column B.
Me: how do you mess up a prefab concrete car park?
John: guaranteed maximum price of..
Me: ah that's how
Don't forget the Florida grade structural inspection.
Im so glad your theme song is back!
Just based on your description, the base design deserves a dumpster fire rating as well. Relying on the reinforcing steel and grout to support the columns is just crazy and turns the whole concept of reinforced concrete design on it's head. The whole garage should have been torn down!
The hard rock hotel collapse in New Orleans would be a great video.
I was working in Miami at this time and construction disasters were so common, I don’t even remember this.
Florida. Where there's always a way to skimp on the critical components that protect people from harm. The "dumpster fire" analogy goes far beyond this fated project; it applies to much of the state's philosophy of construction and maintenance. The people at the top get rich; the people at the bottom get crushed.
I'm never going into a concrete structure in Florida
The "dumpster fire" rating applies to a lot of things in Florida and has for decades!
In Florida, the building would have been called a "Parking Lot", more likely a "Parking Building" or "Parking Garage", *not* a "Car Park".
Excellent video, i would love to see you cover the surfside condo collapse someday.
Thankfully it happened before it was done and full of cars. Why can't they learn to stop cutting corners and just do their job right.
Thank you for sharing.
Man I gotta stop watching these collapse docs, now I'm scared to go into any buildings lol
If you live in Florida, you should be.
OSHA fined 5 companies $38k each and 4 companies $32k for killing 4 people and collapsing 3300 tons of structure. Damn they got off light. OSHA fined us $10k for failing to fix a guard on a table saw, resulting in an employee cutting his thumb off. Apparently each of those lives was only worth 5.5 thumbs.
Thumbs are important
"Concrete and Florida seem to go together like radioisotpoes and scrap merchants.." brilliant!
Remember when you are speaking of the United States, it is 'parking lot', not 'carpark'. It may hurt, but give it a whirl.
Since my partner makes concrete t beams and other concrete products, this feels especially close to home. So so scary but greattt video 😊💕
I will never understand how someone paid to literally look at something, will somehow find reasons and ways NOT to even do that one job correctly.
Just a note: Concrete is one of the few things out here that can stand up to a hurricane (and everything that goes along with it) for relatively cheap. Miami-Dade's current building code requires a wind speed design of at least 130 MPH winds (at least as of the 2001 post-Andrew code update). It's the right idea.
I'm about halfway up the state and we still have to meet 120 MPH.
Excellent documentary, subcontracting and mismanagement seems far to prevalent.
Came here to say this. Subcontracting is a major part of the issue. Gotta make sure there's plenty of money for the investors. 🥺
I have no engineering background, but the thought of those columns being left to carry compressive load through the steel reinforcements alone disturbed me as soon as the gaps were mentioned.
I did not imagine that the contractors would leave entire gaps unfilled. I was expecting something more along the lines of a bad grout mix, or voids within the joints, or something which would not be immediately obvious to even the most cursory inspection.
Can you do a video on the hard rock hotel collapse in new Orleans 2019? It took over a year to get the last two bodies out the collapsed building.
Yep, Saturday Morning* is here!
I had the city inspect my heating and cooling installation in my home. The inspector was in my house for less than 30 seconds and handed me the "APPROVED" sticker on his way out. There is no way he actually checked everything. I had another HVAC contractor come and he said the inspector was incompetent and he found three items that were installed incorrectly although non of them were dangerous.
Thank you and I love the weather report look fwd to hearing it every video
Eventually I expect one done on the parking structure in NYC also. Soon, before all the parties responsible "retire" or "lose their records."
Fun fact, we call this kind of structure a 'parking garage' in many parts of the US.
Yea. I always thought when Brits said “car park” they were talking about a parking lot, not a parking garage. What do they call parking lots?
@@slipknottin Parking garage= "Multi story Car Park" parking lots are just called Car Parks.
- A Brit.
All that crumbled concrete-- isn't it standard to have some steel rebar in there? Or did they use Florida beach sand with a high salt content? So many ways to fail.
The dumpster fire scale is the best one out there!
Fell asleep in bed while watching this and woke up to that face in the end of the video. Never again. (Apart from that 10/10 great video)
Sweet dreams
Thanks John, videos great!
The tree diagram at 3:04 kinda reminds me of your "Hitman who hired a hitman who hired ..." video, I can't help it! 🤓😁
“Concrete and Florida go together like radioisotopes and scrap merchants” A very plainly difficult sentence 😂
Thank you for translating to metric, which the entire world mostly uses.
Will you be doing what recently happened in Texas where 18000 cows died due to an explosion?