Todd Hesnor

Designed a ton of HTHP (High Temperature, High Pressure) piping systems. Detailing the hangers and supports was always my favorite part of the process. We used software (Caesar II) to determine the "movement" in the piping system. The software tells us exactly how much movement we can be expect - overall, or at any point in the piping network. Excessive forces in HTHP piping systems can be catastrophic if not designed and installed appropriately. The image below is a pipe support. Besides supporting the pipe, it also acts a both a "Slide" and a "Guide". The Slide aspect of this allows the inverted structural tee (welded to underside of pipe) to slide on top of the PC-1 channel support. Those two vertical tabs adjacent the inverted tee are there to keep the pipe from sliding off the support base. This is why they are referred to as Guides. They help restrict the pipe movement - actually a better word for this would be "control". The entire piping run is designed with a bunch of Slides and Guides that help to keep the piping system behaving as we have designed. Loved doing these details. Every one was different.

@PermitZIPhvac Going to check that out a bit more. I do use GPT, but mostly as a cross reference. Going to look into leaning a bit more into that GPT. Thanks for the heads up.

@hez22273 GPT 5.5 high and xhigh reasoning has been pretty awesome. Seems more time efficient even though the model per token is more expensive.

Dealing with a lot of simple mistakes from Opus 4.8. Noticeably more than I ever had with 4.7

I didn’t find that with 4.7 I’m not a super heavy user, though. Mostly interviews for PRD’s and stuff like that. With 4.8 I’m noticing it just plain forgetting simple things. My other thought is that this model just admits to more, which actually concerns me about the work I did with previous models.

@hez22273 4.7 made tons too.. I’m still on 4.6

@wildwellings Should have called a plumber.

Well we had our concrete poured this past week, to say I’m not happy with it would be an understatement. We took a chance on someone who was starting their own business and unfortunately it bit us in the butt. Some positive take aways (trying to look at it optimistically) we now have a hard surface In front of our house to keep the mud and dirt at bay. The store has a solid surface with a drain that is usable. I politely gave my opinion of the situation and canceled him for the rest of the creamery concrete. Can’t get hung up on the little things, just need to learn and carry on. Here’s to finishing the rest of the creamery 🥂

@FromWhiteCastle Isn’t he European?

What do they call 2x4’s in Europe?

@HyjekStefan Thanks for that. Interestingly, this thought went through my mind when I saw your earlier post with the campfire. Thought I spotted a one in there and got to wondering….

@hez22273 😂 Usually for rough-sawn timber we use imperial system, for planed timber metric system would be used. It’s a bit mix and match here in UK. Anywhere else in Europe the dimensions would be in mm I believe.

@HyjekStefan Depends which edge it’s resting on? 😂 I was actually wondering if you used a mm equivalent like 38x88, but that would be a mouthful. Doesn’t quite have same ring to it. Genuinely curious.

@hez22273 4”x2”

@trappology Navien is a nice commercial unit. Good choice and nice work on the install.

Tankless hot water heaters are in. No recirculation loop - I didn’t think it made sense with tankless

@coleruudjohnson Scrape

I built a tool that pulls every hot real estate lead from the county daily in 4 hours with Manus. Fire damage, Code Violation, Probates, & More. Absolute cheat code. Like & Comment "Scrape" & I'll DM you the PDF on how to build it in a few hours.

@Leandro_M_3 @Paul0Montenegro My guess: At some point, that guy is going to mess up or get complacent - and they’re going to give you a call.

@Paul0Montenegro Bid this hospital generator add on last year. Was low and +\- 2% from the next lowest. Client went with the high bidder by about $2 million. The high bidder was already doing a lot of their work. Public project. WILD.

If you think losing to the cheap guy is bad, imagine losing EVEN when you were the cheapest

@Leandro_M_3 @irentdumpsters This right here. Not even close.

@irentdumpsters Any industrial processing plants in your area or near by? Push to specialty pipe fitter, boilermaker, heavy mechanical. Find an apprenticeship. Hit the local union. Real money and low supply of high skill guys.

My brother in law is 34 years old he is looking to get into HVAC and become a tech What would your best advice be for him to tap into this market? He is not looking to own a business. He is looking to start as an apprentice and grow as a tech.

@IndustrialSaint @AlexForbesOps I’m sorry. I assumed you were a GC looking for Subs. I just saw that you were actually the client (homeowner). Ignore everything I said. Doesn’t fit your situation. You shouldn’t have to worry about all that - having a tight bid process, etc. Good luck with your project, though.

Didn’t pick up on the ask. If he’s interested, I posted this a few months ago. I realize it’s a lot of overkill for residential, but there’s parts of this process that could easily be assimilated. Cherry picking just a few of these concepts would shift the power from his bidders back to himself, which IMO is the issue here. x.com/hez22273/statu…

Most contractors are killing their own business. I just awarded a $22,000 patio job to 1 out of 4 contractors who came out to bid the job and they went silent after I approved the quote. Here is how this played out. Of the 4 contractors that stopped by, 2 of them provided quotes when they said they would and were very punctual. 1 was 50% more than the others. The 4th contractor said he couldn't get me a quote for 2+ weeks... I chose one of the first 2, had them make a few changes to the scope, and approved the quote through Jobber. Then 2 days passed without any follow up despite my texts and voicemail for the office confirming we are on their schedule. I just awarded them the $22,000 job and that's when they decide to go silent??? I say this time and time again. If you can't master the fundamentals of communication and manage expectations, don't expect to build a great business. Also, a word of advice. Lock in that job you've been awarded vs. ghosting your lead. I will give the guy until Monday to respond to my approval from Wednesday but if I don't hear from him, he just lost a teed up customer. These guys act like it's rocket science to return a text.

Your process gets you to a “yes” but It doesn’t get you “started” You listed a few steps. You have 0 commitments. Winning bidder ghosted you. That’s a loose process. Not trying to give you a hard time. Just saying that it looks like your bidders are just doing what you’re allowing them to do. I think you need more documentation.

@hez22273 I don’t see how my bid process is too loose. Schedule a quote, they came out, had a couple follow up calls to revise scope/price, and approved. Then they ghosted.

@AlexForbesOps Following up isn’t the commercial outcome. Not having to follow up is the commercial outcome. Your bid process is too loose. You’re inviting this behavior.

@hez22273 How is following up after I approve your quote a commercial outcome?

@Leandro_M_3 I used to go highest standard, but I would make sure to submit RFI’s on the borderline issues that I thought my competitors might overlook or cheap out on. The RFI responses should be made public to all bidders, so (theoretically) it was a way to keep my competitors honest.

Bid it to the highest standard and infer what you know the client/designer wants: Lose because you’re the most expensive. Bid it tight and just enough to meet spec: Win and submit a change order later then be called out for “nickel and diming”. What’s your decision?

I used to reference these a lot for emergency eyewashes and safety showers. Guardian Equipment publishes these clean one-page summaries of the ANSI Z358.1-2014 requirements. Flow rates, mounting heights, water pattern dimensions, valve performance. The whole checklist on one image. If you have eyewashes, or safety showers in your facility, these are a great place to start.