I have been a contractor for more than 25 years, and not once have I heard a client state they want to purchase the most complex building for their budget. What clients want is a building that meets their needs and reflects their values.

Over the years, I have seen a handful of projects that were needlessly complex. The complexity did not add to the artistic integrity of the project nor did it add to the functionality of the project. The added complexity only increased the difficulty in constructing the building.

The first time I encountered such a situation was after graduating from college. The project included a pre-engineered building that was 200’ long, 100’ wide and 30’ high. A very straight-forward building with one exception: The building sloped one-percent in one direction and half-percent in the other direction. Not just the building slab sloped, but the columns leaned also so as to be 90 degrees to the floor. The purpose of the sloping floor was to save imported fill material under the building slab.   

The sloping of the building substantially increased the complexity of the building. Because the columns “leaned” and gravity now affected the columns in a unique fashion, 18 months were required to engineer the building.

The sloping concrete building slab required a full-time survey crew in addition to the normal concrete crew. The steel erecting crew was also challenged, because the columns leaned to match the building slab.

The original idea had been to slope the building and save a few thousand dollars on imported fill material. But the result was thousands of additional labor hours, an extra year in construction, and no extra value to the client.