Thank you all for watching and waiting as we moved, designed our new home, and fought Covid-19. We apologize for the audio volume. When it got processed by TH-cam, they lowered the volume and there isn't anything we can do about it now. We think we know how to circumvent this in the future.
As the son of a structural engineer and now a retired architectural draftsman, your videos and analysis of this man made disaster should be required reading for those of us involved in the design and construction of buildings. My dad would have been proud of you.
@@BuildingIntegrity Since seeing your videos, each time you come out with a new one pertaining to this tragedy I feel like we are receiving insight into what goes on looking at every aspect of the building situation. I was in the Navy and usually systems and procedures are put in place due to it was written in blood. Here it seems like the timing and environment of that era could have easily contributed to how systems and procedures happened resulting in new things will be written in blood. Thank you for sharing your experience in these videos.
This one will go down in history with the likes of the hyatt regency sky walk disaster. The sampoong mall collapse, or the hotel new world high profile engineering disasters with high casualties could have been avoided sadly and people thought it would never happen in America. Think again friends.... Anyway yea this channel is highly valuable resource
I am not an engineering student, but I am impressed how easy it is to understand the structural components that may have "gone wrong". I think this is required reading/viewing for anyone considering a condo.
I live on the West Coast in a 145 unit condo building a few blocks from the ocean. Some time ago, the board showed us numerous reports showing many of the same problems Champlain Towers had. After many shouting matches and a lot of anger and confusion, we all ended up with a $120,000 special assessment. Many of us had to refinance or take out loans to pay the assessment and it was a hard time at our building. The more I watch your videos, the more grateful I am that our board had the balls to push through the assessment that so many residents opposed. Thank you for all of the insight.
You have to wonder if these decisions should be in the hands of owners who are probably both greedy and 'technically challenged'. I suppose it's a Republican/Democrat thing at the end of the day.
Blame the HOA's for years and years of ignoring the true costs of maintaining a high rise. They should have had higher HOA dues much earlier to cover for huge expenses.
@@mikes4163 it's not a political thing, it's the foundation of our entire society. Too many important decisions involve trusting people to make effective long-term decisions in the face of critical short term ones. Like, how are you going to pay half a million for rebuilding half the structure if you can barely afford to put food on the table? This is where we need the government to step in and fix things because ultimately, they're the only ones with the financial resources, and (theoretically) the lack of profit motive, to be able to help the country keep things together. You can't expect individuals and businesses to make those decisions. It would be nice if we could, but we can't. I honestly don't think either the republicans or democrats are particularly good at helping make those decisions, but my own political stance is that democrats are far more likely to eventually stumble in a direction that is ultimately positive, whereas republicans are a lot more likely to allow businesses to get away with ignoring issues. But, ultimately, it comes down to our entire society and way of life needing to change in a way that allows us to be more willing to help people, and enable people (and companies) to be able to make decisions that look forward into the medium and long term rather than being perpetually locked into the short term, and that will require fundamental changes at all levels.
I was waiting for the follow up story where they found 2 bazillion dollars in small unmarked bills, covered in cocaine in the wreckage when they pulled down the remaining tower.
Here’s an architect who has appreciated your continually fair and precise analysis, never wavering in your ability to admit when your knowledge of the facts has been lacking. Thank you for putting this series together, taking time from your vacation, and calling us all to a higher standard as we work to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Thank you, sir!
My father was a PE, a contractor and in semi-retirement a building inspector for a small rural township in PA. On one occasion he discovered an emergency exit incorrectly designed even though the plans he was reviewing had already been approved at the state level, and refused to let the project proceed until the plans had been corrected and re-approved---notwithstanding all kinds of pressure. "Hell of a building inspector you have in that podunk town" was the essence of the informal comments on the re-approval. My point being that at any point someone with the right combination of knowledge, integrity and authority could have spoked this wheel, but no one was like that there.
Very simple, the shell contractor didn't anchor the building properly by drilling down into the bedrock. In order to do that they had to drill hundreds of feet more, which didn't happen. I saw this story on 60 Minutes
Oh, I can't wait. There's plenty of channels breaking down what happened to the Champlain Towers, but BUILDING INTEGRITY are the one group that I rely on for accurate data and actual causation of the collapsed condos. So happy to hear the notification bell for BUILDING INTEGRITY.
As a building official, I cannot tell you how much these videos have been helpful in shaping my career and approach to things. One of the critical things I have learned this year is that engineers make mistakes. I recall distinctly poring over a minor detail for about two hours trying to figure out what section of the Code the engineer was using that I wasn't aware of or interpreting correctly, only to finally come to the conclusion that buddy had just made a goof, and that I - despite not being an engineer - had simply discovered the error as I am paid to do.
I'm a retired builder, I remember a job I was doing a few years ago , it was an extension to a building, the engineers had missed a critical point in the roof structure , one of my men said do you know how to fix it , I said yes , but that's not the point , I need to tell the engineer so that he is aware of the oversight, otherwise he might make the same mistake again. As a builder if I thought something was wrong or under engineered, I would,d always express my concerns to the engineer. In a nice way of course.
I worked in a very UNrelated field for many years and my small review of design changes was to determine if the change required an update to the user training. Now, you wouldn't think my review amounted to very much, but I can tell you there were times when I couldn't understand something. So just admitted my naivety and asked. Often they were very patient and explained it to me, but there were a few times they were like, "Huh.... that's a good question, let me get back to you." Never just 'rubber stamp' your reviews and assume, "Well, two other engineers signed off on it, so it's probably fine."
@@mikefochtman7164 I've learned that lesson - and I gather it's one that not all in my field have grasped. I've had a couple of instances this year where I've caught something that wasn't to Code (usually fire/life safety), and it's driven into my skull that yes, engineers will make mistakes (we're all human) and part of my job is to catch those goofs before they get to the "well, now that it's built, we have a problem" stage. Always easier to move lines on paper (pdf) than move walls when they're already built.
I knew that Josh would not disappoint. I didn't realize how great of a storyteller he could be. This was just totally fascinating. Thank you Josh and BUILDING INTEGRITY for another great video. I didn't realize how ethics could come into question but it makes total sense. What a great history lesson of Surfside and what was going on at the time because of Cuba and Cuban refugees. This was just great. Thank you again Josh.
You tread carefully Josh since you are talking through the wisdom that only hindsight can bring. You have done a thorough and cohesive job of stitching this all together from the structural design aspects to the motivation and integrity of the people behind the construction. I know it took a great deal of time and effort to compile this and nobody appreciates this more than myself. Well done. Thanks!
@@BuildingIntegrity Interesting that you mentioned Mr. Reiber and the episode with the tax evasion event in 1980 (and probably some time prior) happening right when the C. T. South was being built. He might have been in a tight spot financially and perhaps that might explain squeezing in the penthouse apartment(s) to cash in more. Was C. T. North built some years prior to the tax event, it not having a penthouse on top I believe? Also, perhaps the skinny columns underpinning the pool deck isn't that skinny there, or are they the same size? I'm just imagining some last minute changes being made while the builders were already working at the plot, and where the inhabitants of C. T. North were already in their flats overlooking the construction of its sister building? Very interesting analysis you've made, made me think of the TV show "Dallas" with J.R.Ewing. 🤑
@@7YBzzz4nbyte No, CT North broke ground a year or so AFTER CT South. Not as big a lot as CT South (Collins Ave swerves in there), ergo below-grade garage not as large. Also, only 10 units per floor in CT North, vs. 12 per floor in CT South. Still, it has the Reiber-Jurado-Friedman fingerprints (and dirty money?) all over it. *Yellow flags* be flying for any sane owners.
Spent 20 years in construction, "Can't see it from my house," or "Looks good from my house" were very common phrases. There was never enough time to do it right but always time to go back and "fix" it. Another common phrase was, "It'll last longer than I will and they can't prosecute a corpse." I should probably add that I did commercial/industrial foundation work, or concrete work for those unfamiliar with construction terms.
Wow, I live and practice in an ex-USSR country and everything that you have talked about is exactly how things happen in our building industry here. Looks like greed knows no borders :)
Humans are humans. Greed is one of those things that's just intrinsic to human nature. Not that it's good- there's a certain level that's natural, the desire to have enough extra to see your family through a bad harvest, a harsh winter, a disease wiping out the livestock, etc. is natural. But there's a level where it becomes obscene and morally wrong, impossible for me to classify as anything less than evil. But as far as I can tell the potential for it exists across all nations.
Another salient contribution. I'm a builder and architect and spent ten years teaching architecture students in Australia, until recently. This information is the stuff i used to direct students to watch, concurrent to their studies. Great work. The parallels with design and construction in Australia are sadly, significant.
People the world over, for better and worse, are not really all that different from one another (despite how much we may try to differentiate and divide one another)…we all share the same human faults and weaknesses as well as strengths.
Yeah, "Oz" is really having a rash of cracking/failing high-rise residential debacles lately. And not just in Australia, but worldwide, it's like we're in the early chapters of *Idiocracy* wherein basic fundamentals of construction have already been "lost"... analogous to the Thousand Year Gap (aka Dark Ages) between the last known use of Roman concrete, and the "re-discovery" of Portland Cement in the last couple centuries. =:O
Self-certification was always going to lead to issues in a country with as much endemic corruption as Australia. (From Sydney, the home of Meriton monstrosities. As someone I knew in the 90s called them, "tenements of the future".)
I am so impressed with how well Josh can tell a complicated story in simple language. Thank you, Josh, for all of the effort you have put into telling the sad story of the condo collapse.
Of all the TH-cam video's on the tower collapse, of which I've viewed many, yours are, without a doubt, the most knowledgeable, intelligent, comprehensive, and easy to understand. I retired in 2015 in the Philadelphia area with a background in Architectural Engineering and almost 43 years as a construction inspector in the private sector. After viewing this video, it seems this scenario was the perfect storm, with a culmination of all of the corruption, incompetence, and greed on the part of the developer, contractor, engineers, and city inspectors coming together to actuate the collapse. For once, it seems in this case, everyone deserves to be sued !!
The most informative, detailed assessment regarding this disaster. As a former condo owner & board member, I agree having a “Building Inspector” attend a board & make and state “the building is in “great shape”, contradicting a professional engineers report is insane. Why would a public official do this? What would they gain? You gue$$ed it . PS-I found you on TH-cam, during the first few days after this disaster. You were on vacation yet you took the time to share your knowledge & opinions to try and find out what caused this tragedy. I will never look at these buildings again in the same way. 💔Praying for justice for the lost souls, their families & the surviving residents. 🙏🏼
Since this happened , we drove around SC ocean front area. Its just so scary seeing these massive condo complexes, most on pilings & above parking. In SC I believe these buildings are not routinely inspected, even after 40 years. The responsibilities lies with the individual condominium complex and the unit owners. This really should be a wake up call but sadly it won’t.
Your so right and it is very unfortunate, the board is directors should be forced to live in the top floor and that should be the rule in all high rise residences, board is directors is only elected from actual residents therefore best interest in the building structure is behind the decisions
The job of the building inspector is to interpret the assessment for the residents, who are the Laymen. A retired surgeon doesn’t know about rebar or waterproofing, he’s is relying on a professional to inform him what he needs to pay for and when. When that ‘professional’ is unable to do this, you have to then ask why he is that role at all. It’s a level of incompetence that is not acceptable when lives are at risk. Everyone on other videos is up in arms blaming the residents for their deaths. They had no idea how bad things were because they had been told the building was in very good shape. The car park issues looked superficial. The roof was being repaired. They had no chance to get out of there while they could.
The other motivation for the building official saying the building was in very fine condition was to maintain the real estate tax income of the town of Surfside. If the value of the property drops, the RE tax assessment drops and the real estate tax income for the town is reduced. That could be a significant blow to a small town.
Surfside is a very small town. They will feel the loss of revenue from Champlain South for many years. Time to lay off employees, gee I wonder who will be first?
Having followed the entire series, this chapter puts everything in perspective. Just like in any "accident", there was a chain of events. In aerospace it is referred to as the "lineup of the holes in Swiss cheese slices". In this case there were more holes than cheese. With a major common link, I wonder how much time the other buildings have left and whether anything is being done about it.
Couldn't agree more. I'm an aero engineer & accident investigator, and I'm fascinated by the similarities between Josh's processes/videos and aircraft accident investigation methods.
This kind of corruption hasn't disappeared from our local governments, and is rabid in our current administration in Washington. It's probably more prevalent now than it was then.
@@tompastian3447 Well not the “current” current, but the previous one, who 100% supported businesses against the average citizen, and their main tool of lawyering up to support short term business deals against people’s long term interests. But not sure which federal law or rule you are talking about exactly, which affects building and construction quality, when it is mostly managed on state level.
@@tompastian3447 Anyway, this kind of corruption will only get worse… With the death of local newspapers, nobody will really check them and they will do whatever they want, while everyone is focusing on big politics.
Thank you Art. I think about the victims with every video I make, but I don't want to keep mentioning them as I believe it comes off as disingenuous. But yes, I want, in a way, the story of how they died to be properly cataloged and I don't want to see this happen again.
A very logical-well thought out presentation. One doesn’t have to be an architect or engineer to understand what really happened to cause this horrific collapse.Thank you for shining a light!
Your last video was such a detailed reporting that any layperson could understand, especially those of us who watched all your previous videos, that I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with now! Thanks for all the effort put in and I hope you and the family got moved and recovered ok. 😊
@@BuildingIntegrity as someone with a hobbyist interest in all things engineering (I'm a car salesperson, so I tend more towards the mech eng side of things, but structural engineering is still fascinating), your videos are honestly the most approachable, least clickbait, but still incredibly detailed I've seen. I feel like your last video had an undercurrent of disgust with the lapses in engineering practice and best practices that you found. As an engineer, do you find yourself looking at this situation and wondering, "how the hell did another engineer make these mistakes / approve this?!"
I know i do. How is it being in auto sales? Is it a hard/ stressful position to work in? I felt like i could be kinda good as a case salesperson because i always learn all the ins and outs of new cars and can use that to sell but then again sales isn't always about the knowledge of the product even though it should be all that's is about
@@TungstenCarbideProjectile eh. It kinda is. Basically? Known the product cold, ask them lots of questions, make a new friend and never be afraid to /ask/ the customer to buy a car. Don't cajole them to buy, just ask, "Hey, do you like the car enough that if all the numbers work out you'll take it home today?" No? Then you have to assess the why. Generally, if I hit a no objection like that it's either a "I want to shop your number around" or they just aren't in love with the car for some reason. Nothing you can do at that stage other than show them another car, or let em go shop. I've never pressured any of my customers beyond, "Hey, not to be Mr. Classic salesperson here, but with the inventory shortage, these cars are selling crazy fast, if it is the color you want, and trim you want, jump on it." and I've been the top salesperson at my dealer for both units and profit two months in a row. It's not a hard gig if you keep it simple. Show the car, get to know them, make a friend, ask for the sale.
Incredible! Not only have you walked us through the physical discovery from the building both past and present but you have also composed a historical review and psychological assessment of the developer and development of the building. Well done Josh, well done!
Around the mid-70's, we saw a shift in societal mindset. From that time to the present day, explains why a large part of society is saturated in narcissism and disregard.
You really did a lot of research into this and your efforts are much appreciated. I know from my over 20 years as a certified special inspector, contractors will not necessarily build per the structural engineers approved plans and, building inspectors do not have the time or qualifications to be counted on to accurately report the process of construction and to certify the structure at completion. Here is the Seattle area, a special inspector must observe and report on construction as the construction proceeds. A letter of compliance must be issued by the special inspector company before the city can authorize the building to be occupied. One of the benefits of living in an earthquake prone zone but this process needs to be universal. Nice report. Thank You.
Great video!. I'll point out that a few years after the condo board meeting, after the condo board raised the money, the head of the building department won't take or return Moribito's calls to set up meeting to discuss the permits needed to do the repairs, delaying things for a month or two. Then the building department delayed and delayed on issuing permits. When the building collapsed the condo board still didn't have all the permits needed to start the concrete repairs, despite trying to begin repairs for many months.
If you ever own a building with relatives and the older generation is, you know, 100 and dgad, you'll live it. A needs to get done, technical landlord doesn't want to do anything or have people come in. So, you have to debate everything w 2nd generation. What happens is you wind up TELLING them how it's going to be. They get p*ssed, after which you don't care.
As an engineer born in 1960, thanks for your research into the history and context of the process of building this structure. Too often we judge people to the "standards" of today. When the engineers, contractors and inspectors disregard or circumvent the standards of their time, they should be harshly judged.
Building Integrity and Information. Josh always explains the context-educates us about the concepts-before he describes part of the collapse. That gives these opinions a lot of credibility. Once again, Josh explained concepts and context while he talked about what probably happened. Grade: A+
Loving this whole series. It strikes a personal chord each time. My father owner a unit in an Ormond by the Sea condo. I remember walking around the foundation as a kid in the late sixties while my friend's dad did some last minute rebar work, so much rebar. Years later my dad bought a unit in the building. Endless stories of assessments, bickering on the board, spend money don’t spend money. Do we really need this work done? Weakness reported on the upper parking deck by the pool need repair. Balcony rebar rusting, hammer out the concrete coat rebar in all balconies and add a cathodic protection system. Dad was a retired engineer and president of the condo board, I’ve listened to so many of the stories. We no longer own the condo, but man does this bring back memories. So many people involved in keeping building safe on the salty coasts. So many people with other motives. So many lives lost. Your information is so important. Thank you!
Mr. Porter, I want thank you for your insightful video. As a retired former inspector and consultant for the State of Florida and a health and safety compliance Inspector for OSHA thank you for uncovering all the nefarious dealings of the developer and engineer. In addition one of the victims was well known by me (Linda March). The hurt goes even further in that she rented the illegally built penthouse. I remember after hurricane Andrew in 1992 one of the head attorneys (Ron Zep) for the Miami Dade Building department came to our emergency office in south Dade saying that there was a good chance that the State of Florida would take over and preempt all local building departments. The only thing that occurred was we got a state building code enforced by the locals. Mr. Porter, I hope Governor Ron DeSantis and our state legislature watch your video and come to the conclusion as I have to preempt all local building departments and the State of Florida take over this duty. Furthermore I hope that any individuals or entities that were criminal or negligent be held accountable.
as an architect who loves history, it made me so happy that you connected it to the events of the time. The amount of research you put into this did not go unnoticed!!!
My parents worked in architecture and engineering, and I worked for a pioneer in concrete building techniques before he passed away and I wish more people who work in the development world watched your videos. I also live in an HOA and I wish my board and neighbors would watch your videos too, they're very accessible, informative, and I think we all can learn from this series in particular.
The way that you look at this failure across many dimensions adds context that informs the conversation about how such tragic collapses might be prevented. I appreciate that you start with the physics and engineering and then include understanding social and government context and motivations. The importance of competent and ethical building officials is seldom understood by the public: you provide a clear example.
Josh… Another great presentation..I lived in Fla during the construction of these buildings and later in NYC. The less than ideal ethics you project to this developer is not unusual in some segments of the real estate industry.
Very interesting, none of this surprises me. I worked as a plumber in Dade County & Monroe County in the late 70's and well into the 80's. Working housing projects, schools and 5 & 7 story buildings in Key Large & Key West. I saw first hand how inspectors of all trades did their work. I also went back right after hurricane Andrew and was not at all surprised to see the destruction. It was not surprising to see an inspector never enter a house or leave the ground on a multi story building.
And there's the story that the only houses that didn't fall down were built by habitat for humanity, because they didn't know they didn't have to build to code, so they actually tightened the bolts holding the walls to the foundation.
I’ve been anxiously waiting for your next video, Josh. You certainly didn’t disappoint with this one! We are lucky to have someone like you digging into the sordid details of what really happened back when CTS was built. Your channel name says it all… “Building Integrity”! The 70s and 80s in FL were an unbelievably corrupt era. The condo buildings in FL were almost literally THROWN up in an era of MASSIVE greed! It’s amazing to me that we haven’t had other collapses before now - because a lot of these buildings were literally built as cheaply as possible, to enable the condo units to be sold for the maximum profit, as quickly as possible. And safety be DAMNED! RIP to the many unfortunate people whose lives were STOLEN from them in this tragic, and in my opinion downright criminal, collapse. The concept of condo HOAs, which are all-too-often populated by people who are entirely ignorant of building standards, has resulted in massive neglect of anything remotely resembling proper and appropriate maintenance of these shoddily-constructed beach-front buildings. The condo associations are much more concerned with the pretty marble walls in the lobby than they are about properly maintaining the building so it doesn’t FALL DOWN. It’s ridiculous and pathetic. You couldn’t sell me a beachfront condo in FL for a DOLLAR! THANK YOU for your continuing efforts to get to the bottom of the CTS tragedy, Josh!
I went to an engineering high school some time ago. The one thing we did learn right of the start was, everything you build add 100% in strength for safety.
Thank you for mentioning the penthouse. No one seems to want to include that in part of a possible load problem. This Building seemed to be built with no room for additional loads etc, yet a whole penthouse was added after against the city bylaws….As well as lot of other issues. The corruption as you are talking about here is absolutely the big issue. Thank you for your research on this!
Apologies for not saying earlier how much I appreciate your fantastic series that looks at the information and provides context, not drama. Well done, and with a lot of "integrity".
After watching all of your previous videos concerning this tragedy, I really believe that you ideas on what transpired are right on. I have really enjoyed your input and applaud you efforts. I am a retired construction contractor and building inspector.
Thanks. It's not really technical but I've been wanting to cover the human interest aspect of the building's construction for some time as I find it fascinating. We'll see what everyone else thinks!
@@BuildingIntegrity Speaking of which, I'd love to see your take on the FIU bridge disaster at some point. Not only did the bridge have design flaws as I understand it, but apparently lots of mistakes by multiple parties involved in the construction as well.
@@BuildingIntegrity I think it's the lack of technical details and your presentation that make these videos approachable for the general public. This catastrophe serves as a wake-up call for design professionals to be diligent with their drawings and specifications. Thank you for your service!
@@BuildingIntegrity I’m a Miami native, in my early 20’s in the late 70’s. Was on vacation with a lifelong friend when the collapse happened. Our instant response to the tragedy was payoffs and corruption. I moved from there in 1980 to get away from it. Your first image was a business man with guns on his desk. Yep! THAT is what many of us were fleeing from. Thank you for the clear and nonjudgmental way you are presenting the facts. Smart man you are!
I have found all your videos on this collapse so informative and interesting. You have great skill in explaining things that laypeople can understand. Given these findings I would not be happy living in the other sister tower. But as a result of this those condos are probably barely saleable. What a terrible situation to find yourself in. Thank you.
Those of us in the contracting profession have a lot of hoops to jump through in building a safe structure. Good engineering benefits all. Thank you for portraying and presenting your analysis of concerns that should have been addressed. Life is precious and fragile thanks for your insight!
Well done, Josh. You are doing a great job distilling complex engineering and legal/ethical issues to a layman's format. But here is the question: How many other buildings in Surf Side that were built in that era by these characters or others of their ilk that are disasters waiting to happen? Chances are that Champlain South is not the only one with issues lurking either above the surface (visible) or below the surface (invisible). That's a cause for great concern.
Towards the end of my engineering bachelor's program we got hit with a little assignment not highly regarded by students but highly acclaimed by my excellent teacher from Egypt Prof Ibrahim . Ethics in engineering, probably the most important portion of the entire curriculum yet it was allowed only a single assignment. It should have been an entire course, maybe these kinds of things would be less common if people could be awarded for the what ifs they identify instead of only the has beens
I wholeheartedly agree that ethics should be an entire course... for literally every degree... but definitely those where other people's lives are in your hands.
@Lawofimprobability One of the problems with the world is people believing morality is subjective. There's some things you just don't do, no matter what. One of those is doing a half-a$$ed job that affects either the safety, security, finances, or health of people and other creatures.
One of the most important parts of engineering and building is being able to take feedback and admit mistakes, otherwise it is very possible to be lead down a path paved with arrogance and assumptions that the professionals cannot make mistakes. We are all human, and should assume that we will make mistakes in order to allow for and mitigate them. If we can do that, then we will learn and grow as professionals and people. The "Murphy's Law", "Anything that can go wrong, will" was meant as a quality control tool to counter the hubris of designers and engineers in order to help them look for failure points. This project is a very real example of the failures Murphy's law was talking about, along with every other engineering and design failure in history.
No, this isn't Murphy's Law. This appears to be more like a deadly and unfortunate confluence of negligence, apathy, ignorance and greed. I feel for the recertification engineer who likely believed that the building condition, while serious, was not as close to failing as we now know it was. Will be interesting to learn what NIST's findings are regarding conformance to the structural drawings. If there was, in fact, less resteel actually used than is shown on the plans, it could exonerate the recertification firm from significant liability for failing to issue a more dire recommendation.
@@jtd8719 In the context of Murphy's Law, what could go wrong, did go wrong. The concept of Murphy's Law means that if the right combination of conditions will cause failure, it will fail given the occurrence of that combination of those conditions. I find it very useful to use the "Swiss Cheese" model of failure. The failures at all levels of the design, engineering, construction, oversight, and maintenance lead to this tragedy. While those harmed should get recompensed for their loss if possible, it is also very important that we find ways to improve the safety of the building industry by openly addressing all of the failures involved. This is one reason that organizations like the NTSB, NHTSA, and the CSB that issue independent non binding findings can include all factors that lead to these failures, instead of just finding blame. It is most unfortunate that we seem to have to relearn some lessons over and over again.
Your clarity on this matter is most appreciated. The whole thing stunk of corruption when the building fell without warning. Buildings just don’t do that. Your report here exposes that level of corruption.
Thanks Bill! We are very hopeful that Building Integrity can one day be a resource for engineers, architects, and contractors to improve their work and advance the industry as a whole.
As it is appearing to be the case if they had only begun the short cuts from the first floor up rather than the very bottom we may never have had this discussion. I was in a shopping structure with parking for each level and the structure construct seemed massive almost over built. I might just go back now knowing what I have gleaned from all this discussion and see what it was that impressed someone who only had an "inspiration to one day be". Go back but maybe walk in as I had one hell of a time finding my way out in my car. ;)
I can't wait to see this video, I have been Jonesing for more from you Josh. Btw, I realize how busy you are, I really appreciate your hard work and time you have devoted to this project. Your channel is by far the most definitive one out there. I say that as a fellow engineer, interdisciplinary in my case, Mechanical and Electrical from Purdue. I have constructed several steel framed builidngs in my career, the largest by height was 4 story, 96' tall purpose built rubber mixing plant in Auburn, IN for Cooper Tire. That build sat on 96' cast in place piles. The largest H beam columns were on the order of 20x20 250#. They supported the mixer mezzanine and the upper floors. I can't recall the dead and live loads on the mezzanine floor, but the mixer was driven through a large gear box and a 3.000 HP DC motor, so the loads were huge. Again, thanks for your time, hard work, forensic expertise, and outstanding insight into concrete structures. I and I believe many others enjoy your work.
Thank you Josh for your very informative, detailed explanations of structural engineering and the integrity of buildings and their safety. I now have an eye toward looking for these details in so many buildings in my area, whether I am going to spend a minute there, a day, or lifetime in that structure. You are amazing. I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Thank you for the info. I'm an insurance underwriter (who actually underwrites these condo buildings), and your videos are professionally helpful for me. If you can recommend any public record databases or other information sources that are searchable (or if there is a particular way you google things to gather information). Seriously, as someone on the front lines of taking care of these buildings, I'd love to help stop a disaster before it starts. On to your discussion of water damage now because holy crap yes it is a problem. Condos need to keep better records of their building updates. I'd suggest roof maintenance, shore-line exposures (please stop building pools with extensive underground piping right next to the freaking water), and the importance of knowing a building (water shut off points/sprinkler systems/stand-pipes/other small bits) as a topic for discussion
I can't recommend any particular source unfortunately. I try and mine a lot of various public records and in this case news articles. For every interesting/useful piece of information in this video, for example, I have to read through tons of what I call "fluff". It's very time consuming but I enjoy it oddly enough.
@@BuildingIntegrity thank you! Are there any easy ways to get access to these public records? I know they exist in some counties in FL (I ask for them so I can confirm what "plumbing updated in "2000" actually means). Shows public permits for the plumbing work done to each unit. Not sure how they were able to get me to those web pages, but man were they helpful. PS: typically one unit gets updated and the owner will report the "latest building updates" for the whole building as due to that one unit upgrade...
You nailed the question on disclosure of the special assessment. I am currently looking at a condo in another state and I asked the same question to the real estate unit. Thanks for the great insight into the problems.
Yet another high quality cataloging & explanation of relevant facts, all tied together by insightful analysis, and presented in a very clear and methodical manner. Josh, if you are not already an instructor in the industry, you have missed one of your callings. Fascinating & superb job, thanks so much for your efforts.
You've obviously put a lot of work into this video. I personally appreciate your time on this. I've worked in a lot of high rises in my career, and I can reflect on your assessments of poor construction in your videos many times. Thanks again. Well done.
Absolutely brilliant video. You make an excellent case review here, with well researched factual information and informed professional analysis that continues to make your channel high quality, educational, and engaging. Thank you so much for all the time and work you are putting into this; It is very much appreciated, and you are doing a genuine public service.
Excellent overview. Who knows where the fallout from this disaster will end. I was born & raised in Miami - lived thru the 70s, 80s, 90s. Construction trade unions were under pressure and builders were hiring off the streets. Corruption was rampant in every sector, including development/construction. Look up Miami River Cops. I personally know of a huge South Miami project whose developer gave a sweetheart deal to the mayor’s wife. Hurricane Andrew exposed the shoddiness of newer construction. Most apparent in subdivisions like Country Walk, but that’s only because wood fails before concrete does. My Mom’s house in Pinecrest, built in the 60s, came thru with just some broken windows. Scary to think of all the high rises built from the late 70s to present that may be compromised in some way. Important to remember the invaluable role that local newspapers like the Miami Herald play - both in the present and for the history books. We need them.
You have done an incredible amount of research for us to understand the historical background leading up to the collapse. The idea of “opinion shopping” is horrific. It makes you question any property you buy. Thanks Josh.
16:40 the start of a description is why I wouldn't buy a tower apartment . Lack of maintenance by investors . Everyone should hear that portion of your talk before going up the lift !
Depends where, how big and what it used to be. Factories are pretty damn safe. Definitely extremely overbuilt in many cases for residential. I know of a former flooring factory that had ENORMOUS beams. Like an I beam, biggest one ever and this gigantic concrete thing, too. Left the ceiling with very low clearance, but it was solid.
I am so happy that you made this video!!! I live in Los Angeles and spent a number of years as a neighborhood activist attempting to push back against overdevelopment and gentrification. The destruction of affordable housing and displacement of renters of modest means has been a nightmare for decades. People shouldn't have to live tenuously, waiting for their landlord to take their building off the market to either convert the units to condos or to demolish the entire edifice and build unneeded luxury housing. And as exemplified by the Champlain Towers tragedy, occupants shouldn't have to worry that their residence is like a ticking time bomb on the verge of imploding at any time. Neighborhood residents' trying to stand up to well-connected, unscrupulous developers is like David going up against Goliath. You can't hold their feet to the fire unless you are in a position to hire expert land use attorneys to fight your battles. It's a tough pill to swallow when you've gone to some hearings knowing you have a good case against a project that's pushing the envelope, cutting corners and gaming the system...and yet you're dismissed out of hand. The developers, the vast majority of whom are primarily in it for the money, have years of experience working the system, schmoozing building & safety clerks and officials, cozying up to planning commissioners and city councilpersons...and of course, greasing their palms with campaign donations. So the fact that you're explaining some of the backstory of the monumentally flawed development process is a real blessing. I thank you for being candid and professional in discussing how this project slipped through the cracks (sorry about the pun) so flagrantly that it resulted in this unfathomable tragedy.
These videos should be viewed by all beginning Engineering students in their first week. in 1965 at University of Illinois we watched the Galloping gator over the Tacoma Straights. Josh, yours are very engineering oriented and bring up many aspects in any kind of build. I would love to share more comments.
These videos are a real public service. Thank you for helping viewers understand not only the technical details of the flawed design and construction of the buildings but the political and organizational failures that allowed these things to happen.
Great job on this.... Your entire video series on this should really be required viewing, with testing on the important concepts, in every Engineering School in the country.... This video, and the last video, really pose a lot of very interesting questions.... Being generally very cynical, I am not sure we will ever get the answers.... but in a perfect world, the questions you are posing, really really do need to be answered, at least for guidance, on future projects, so that we can all say okay, this is what happened, and this is how we make sure that it NEVER happens again.... Hypothetically, in a pretend hypothetical world, a little bird flew up to my truck window at a red light, and told me that a couple of the insurance companies involved, have already notified plaintiffs attorneys that they will be paying in full, within policy limits, blah blah blah, and to not bother suing them, because they will pay, and they will not be contesting the claim...... So undoubtedly it will be a few years before everything comes out... Before we get a look at ALL the pictures that the Morabito investigators & inspectors took... Before we see all the notes from the pre-bid meetings for the work that was scheduled to be done.... BUT, the lines are clearly being drawn, as we speak... Hypothetically of course.... SO glad I am not holding a huge note on a unit in Champlain Towers North right now.... omg....
Thank you Patrick. My goal is to one day create content specifically for architectural and engineering students to be played at universities or at least watched by students to supplement their education.
I expect some bankruptcies coming out of this too, but I'm sure the plaintiff's attornies are looking for the biggest return for the least work. Kind of like the developer. But they would be likely to be fighting over crumbs at bankruptcy court past the settlement, and not work their time.
If you saw the Morabito report, and you knew exactly what it meant, and it wasn't disclosed to certain people, would you try to sell a unit or rent it knowing this? Or is it right for someone to take a loss and refuse to potentially put someone else in jeopardy?
The game over the past 25 years is to hire a Construction Manager with a GMP guaranteed maximum price. Constant "value engineering" results. Excellent videos.
Thanks for tying it all together in this video. Quite insightful and clearly demonstrates exactly what most of us suspected: greed, corruption and incompetence senselessly killed a building full of sleeping people. As a total aside; I have to say I love your lamps on the credenza behind you. They're mesmerising.
Ive been waiting and hoping you would do another video, Josh! You've done an amazing job in keeping the public" in the know" with all of this information! Thank you for all of your hard work!
I know what I'll be doing in 3 hrs! These videos are so informative. The explanations and examples help those of us in other disciplines understand the forces at play.
I really appreciate how you are reporting all the information WITHOUT add your personal opinion. You lay out the facts and let the audience form our own opinion. Can’t stress how much I wish ALL “news outlets” did the same.
Thank you, once again. We appreciate the thought and hard work here. As usual, it is a follow the dollar scenario. And look at the number of people who died because of it.
Thanks Josh. I never use the audio anyway. Thanks for always having tje closed caption available. Exvellent and informative video as always. We appreciate you and glad you and your wife are well again.
I hope the other buildings they developed aren't in the same predicament. I hope and pray someone will start checking thoroughly and sharing this info with the tenants who live in them.
Thanks for explaining the history of how and why this could've happened. It was thorough and provided perspective on how different things were done back then. RIP to all the victims
All your intense background investigation has provided us with all the factors which eventually brought the tower down. For those who are naive , less worldly and or not living during this era you have educated them well. Uncovering these details has fascinated me one who often cycled through the Grove and Cables while visiting and praying I would not be killed while all the drug lords were shooting it out on upscale area red lights. Thank you so much for your insights Josh.
I have great respect for the way you presenting this problem. The worst thing is that unfortunately people lost their lives and this is not only one time that somebody decided to make more money over the safety
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzivN4KDg-k/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you all for watching and waiting as we moved, designed our new home, and fought Covid-19. We apologize for the audio volume. When it got processed by TH-cam, they lowered the volume and there isn't anything we can do about it now. We think we know how to circumvent this in the future.
I believe TH-cam does this with the video volume deliberately to make the ads 3x louder.
Easy to turn the volume up here on my side, didn't even notice.
I hope you're all well.
Yeah they forgot to adjust the volume on the ads down. Lol
Glad you're all moved and well!
As the son of a structural engineer and now a retired architectural draftsman, your videos and analysis of this man made disaster should be required reading for those of us involved in the design and construction of buildings. My dad would have been proud of you.
Wow! You have no idea how much that means to me.
@@BuildingIntegrity Since seeing your videos, each time you come out with a new one pertaining to this tragedy I feel like we are receiving insight into what goes on looking at every aspect of the building situation. I was in the Navy and usually systems and procedures are put in place due to it was written in blood. Here it seems like the timing and environment of that era could have easily contributed to how systems and procedures happened resulting in new things will be written in blood. Thank you for sharing your experience in these videos.
This one will go down in history with the likes of the hyatt regency sky walk disaster. The sampoong mall collapse, or the hotel new world high profile engineering disasters with high casualties could have been avoided sadly and people thought it would never happen in America. Think again friends.... Anyway yea this channel is highly valuable resource
I am not an engineering student, but I am impressed how easy it is to understand the structural components that may have "gone wrong". I think this is required reading/viewing for anyone considering a condo.
Yes! 💯
I live on the West Coast in a 145 unit condo building a few blocks from the ocean. Some time ago, the board showed us numerous reports showing many of the same problems Champlain Towers had. After many shouting matches and a lot of anger and confusion, we all ended up with a $120,000 special assessment. Many of us had to refinance or take out loans to pay the assessment and it was a hard time at our building. The more I watch your videos, the more grateful I am that our board had the balls to push through the assessment that so many residents opposed. Thank you for all of the insight.
Thank you for the story and thanks for watching!
You have to wonder if these decisions should be in the hands of owners who are probably both greedy and 'technically challenged'. I suppose it's a Republican/Democrat thing at the end of the day.
@@mikes4163 it's called ownership
Blame the HOA's for years and years of ignoring the true costs of maintaining a high rise. They should have had higher HOA dues much earlier to cover for huge expenses.
@@mikes4163 it's not a political thing, it's the foundation of our entire society. Too many important decisions involve trusting people to make effective long-term decisions in the face of critical short term ones. Like, how are you going to pay half a million for rebuilding half the structure if you can barely afford to put food on the table? This is where we need the government to step in and fix things because ultimately, they're the only ones with the financial resources, and (theoretically) the lack of profit motive, to be able to help the country keep things together. You can't expect individuals and businesses to make those decisions. It would be nice if we could, but we can't. I honestly don't think either the republicans or democrats are particularly good at helping make those decisions, but my own political stance is that democrats are far more likely to eventually stumble in a direction that is ultimately positive, whereas republicans are a lot more likely to allow businesses to get away with ignoring issues. But, ultimately, it comes down to our entire society and way of life needing to change in a way that allows us to be more willing to help people, and enable people (and companies) to be able to make decisions that look forward into the medium and long term rather than being perpetually locked into the short term, and that will require fundamental changes at all levels.
"The spirit of the 70s and 80 can be summed up by…" I really expected the next word to he "cocaine"
Now THAT is Miami in the 80s
As possibly seen in Miami Vice....
NAILED IT!
I was waiting for the follow up story where they found 2 bazillion dollars in small unmarked bills, covered in cocaine in the wreckage when they pulled down the remaining tower.
@@mackette54 it's too bad episodes of MV didn't include corrupt developers $$$.
Here’s an architect who has appreciated your continually fair and precise analysis, never wavering in your ability to admit when your knowledge of the facts has been lacking. Thank you for putting this series together, taking time from your vacation, and calling us all to a higher standard as we work to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Thank you, sir!
Thank you Nicholas!
I've watched many "engineering" videos on TH-cam concerning surfside condos collapse. Yours are the best and it's not even close.
Thank you Jeff.
I agree. This guy explains what could be very dry subjects in a way that I could watch for hours.
I think jeff Ostroff does a great job too.
My father was a PE, a contractor and in semi-retirement a building inspector for a small rural township in PA. On one occasion he discovered an emergency exit incorrectly designed even though the plans he was reviewing had already been approved at the state level, and refused to let the project proceed until the plans had been corrected and re-approved---notwithstanding all kinds of pressure. "Hell of a building inspector you have in that podunk town" was the essence of the informal comments on the re-approval. My point being that at any point someone with the right combination of knowledge, integrity and authority could have spoked this wheel, but no one was like that there.
your dad saves lives
Please tackle Millenium Tower in San Francisco==the one that is tilting & sinking. I would love that.
@Tip Toe I thought everything came to a dead stop when they discovered faster sinking than projected?
@Tip Toe worse than that: they built with an extremely heavy structure to save money--big failures take multiple screw ups
Very simple, the shell contractor didn't anchor the building properly by drilling down into the bedrock. In order to do that they had to drill hundreds of feet more, which didn't happen. I saw this story on 60 Minutes
Fortunately, unlike Champlain Towers, they are doing massive repairs to Millenium. So there is hope.
@Tip Toe You mean too long to read version. Also badly written. You dictated it, of course, and didn't respect us enough to edit the result.
Oh, I can't wait. There's plenty of channels breaking down what happened to the Champlain Towers, but BUILDING INTEGRITY are the one group that I rely on for accurate data and actual causation of the collapsed condos. So happy to hear the notification bell for BUILDING INTEGRITY.
As a building official, I cannot tell you how much these videos have been helpful in shaping my career and approach to things. One of the critical things I have learned this year is that engineers make mistakes. I recall distinctly poring over a minor detail for about two hours trying to figure out what section of the Code the engineer was using that I wasn't aware of or interpreting correctly, only to finally come to the conclusion that buddy had just made a goof, and that I - despite not being an engineer - had simply discovered the error as I am paid to do.
Vern, thanks for being thorough. You sound like you're one of the good ones. Keep up the good work!
I'm a retired builder, I remember a job I was doing a few years ago , it was an extension to a building, the engineers had missed a critical point in the roof structure , one of my men said do you know how to fix it , I said yes , but that's not the point , I need to tell the engineer so that he is aware of the oversight, otherwise he might make the same mistake again. As a builder if I thought something was wrong or under engineered, I would,d always express my concerns to the engineer. In a nice way of course.
I worked in a very UNrelated field for many years and my small review of design changes was to determine if the change required an update to the user training. Now, you wouldn't think my review amounted to very much, but I can tell you there were times when I couldn't understand something. So just admitted my naivety and asked. Often they were very patient and explained it to me, but there were a few times they were like, "Huh.... that's a good question, let me get back to you."
Never just 'rubber stamp' your reviews and assume, "Well, two other engineers signed off on it, so it's probably fine."
@@mikefochtman7164 I've learned that lesson - and I gather it's one that not all in my field have grasped. I've had a couple of instances this year where I've caught something that wasn't to Code (usually fire/life safety), and it's driven into my skull that yes, engineers will make mistakes (we're all human) and part of my job is to catch those goofs before they get to the "well, now that it's built, we have a problem" stage.
Always easier to move lines on paper (pdf) than move walls when they're already built.
@@mikefochtman7164, it wasn't for Boeing?
I knew that Josh would not disappoint. I didn't realize how great of a storyteller he could be. This was just totally fascinating. Thank you Josh and BUILDING INTEGRITY for another great video. I didn't realize how ethics could come into question but it makes total sense. What a great history lesson of Surfside and what was going on at the time because of Cuba and Cuban refugees. This was just great. Thank you again Josh.
Thank you for watching Shannon.
Josh puts things into perspective by confirming there's something in FLA's water.
He makes this entire event understandable to a common guy like myself.. I appreciate you Josh🇺🇸✌🏻
More than Cuban refugees was happening at that time. Interest rates hit 15 to 20% and many debt laden companies were gasping for breath.
You tread carefully Josh since you are talking through the wisdom that only hindsight can bring. You have done a thorough and cohesive job of stitching this all together from the structural design aspects to the motivation and integrity of the people behind the construction. I know it took a great deal of time and effort to compile this and nobody appreciates this more than myself. Well done. Thanks!
Thank you!
@@BuildingIntegrity Interesting that you mentioned Mr. Reiber and the episode with the tax evasion event in 1980 (and probably some time prior) happening right when the C. T. South was being built. He might have been in a tight spot financially and perhaps that might explain squeezing in the penthouse apartment(s) to cash in more. Was C. T. North built some years prior to the tax event, it not having a penthouse on top I believe? Also, perhaps the skinny columns underpinning the pool deck isn't that skinny there, or are they the same size? I'm just imagining some last minute changes being made while the builders were already working at the plot, and where the inhabitants of C. T. North were already in their flats overlooking the construction of its sister building? Very interesting analysis you've made, made me think of the TV show "Dallas" with J.R.Ewing. 🤑
@@7YBzzz4nbyte No, CT North broke ground a year or so AFTER CT South. Not as big a lot as CT South (Collins Ave swerves in there), ergo below-grade garage not as large. Also, only 10 units per floor in CT North, vs. 12 per floor in CT South. Still, it has the Reiber-Jurado-Friedman fingerprints (and dirty money?) all over it. *Yellow flags* be flying for any sane owners.
@@MajorCaliber Only for those buyers who actually thought to research these parties, or who saw the news reports.
Yes, very well done.
I was glad to see the N Y Times consulted you.
Thank you. I've had several emails and even a zoom call with them. I think I was able to answer a lot of questions they had.
@@BuildingIntegrity you do realize you're now an engineering rock star? lol
@@FranzAntonMesmer As you described, it sounds to be closer to truth, so NYT is the good guy here…
@@juzoli nope. FAKE NEWS
@@FranzAntonMesmer Which Fasco company do they promote: Fasco air driven tools, Fasco fans & motors, Fasco epoxy or Fasco fasteners? 🤨
Spent 20 years in construction, "Can't see it from my house," or "Looks good from my house" were very common phrases. There was never enough time to do it right but always time to go back and "fix" it. Another common phrase was, "It'll last longer than I will and they can't prosecute a corpse." I should probably add that I did commercial/industrial foundation work, or concrete work for those unfamiliar with construction terms.
Underrated comment. The mentality of the construction industry is dreadful.
Wow, I live and practice in an ex-USSR country and everything that you have talked about is exactly how things happen in our building industry here. Looks like greed knows no borders :)
In Germany it's happening to this day. 1:1
Greed will never have boundaries.
Seems to be a Florida staple back then until recently.
Humans are humans. Greed is one of those things that's just intrinsic to human nature. Not that it's good- there's a certain level that's natural, the desire to have enough extra to see your family through a bad harvest, a harsh winter, a disease wiping out the livestock, etc. is natural. But there's a level where it becomes obscene and morally wrong, impossible for me to classify as anything less than evil. But as far as I can tell the potential for it exists across all nations.
Indeed, greed and corruption know no borders. Shameful.
Another salient contribution. I'm a builder and architect and spent ten years teaching architecture students in Australia, until recently. This information is the stuff i used to direct students to watch, concurrent to their studies. Great work.
The parallels with design and construction in Australia are sadly, significant.
People the world over, for better and worse, are not really all that different from one another (despite how much we may try to differentiate and divide one another)…we all share the same human faults and weaknesses as well as strengths.
Yes I have seen that Australia is overrun by scummy developers and incompetent (corrupt?) officialdom.
Yeah, "Oz" is really having a rash of cracking/failing high-rise residential debacles lately. And not just in Australia, but worldwide, it's like we're in the early chapters of *Idiocracy* wherein basic fundamentals of construction have already been "lost"... analogous to the Thousand Year Gap (aka Dark Ages) between the last known use of Roman concrete, and the "re-discovery" of Portland Cement in the last couple centuries. =:O
Self-certification was always going to lead to issues in a country with as much endemic corruption as Australia. (From Sydney, the home of Meriton monstrosities. As someone I knew in the 90s called them, "tenements of the future".)
Why am I not astonished???
I am so impressed with how well Josh can tell a complicated story in simple language. Thank you, Josh, for all of the effort you have put into telling the sad story of the condo collapse.
The world (including TH-cam) needs a lot more Josh Porter-s in every profession and walk of life.
Of all the TH-cam video's on the tower collapse, of which I've viewed many, yours are, without a doubt, the most knowledgeable, intelligent, comprehensive, and easy to understand. I retired in 2015 in the Philadelphia area with a background in Architectural Engineering and almost 43 years as a construction inspector in the private sector. After viewing this video, it seems this scenario was the perfect storm, with a culmination of all of the corruption, incompetence, and greed on the part of the developer, contractor, engineers, and city inspectors coming together to actuate the collapse. For once, it seems in this case, everyone deserves to be sued !!
Wow. Just wow. Incredible research and reporting. You deserve a Pulitzer for this.
Totally, i don't know about a pulitzer but should definitely be invited to work on the official documentary
Seriously? Have we degraded journalism to this level?
The most informative, detailed assessment regarding this disaster. As a former condo owner & board member, I agree having a “Building Inspector” attend a board & make and state “the building is in “great shape”, contradicting a professional engineers report is insane. Why would a public official do this? What would they gain? You gue$$ed it .
PS-I found you on TH-cam, during the first few days after this disaster. You were on vacation yet you took the time to share your knowledge & opinions to try and find out what caused this tragedy. I will never look at these buildings again in the same way.
💔Praying for justice for the lost souls, their families & the surviving residents. 🙏🏼
Since this happened , we drove around SC ocean front area. Its just so scary seeing these massive condo complexes, most on pilings & above parking. In SC I believe these buildings are not routinely inspected, even after 40 years. The responsibilities lies with the individual condominium complex and the unit owners. This really should be a wake up call but sadly it won’t.
Your so right and it is very unfortunate, the board is directors should be forced to live in the top floor and that should be the rule in all high rise residences, board is directors is only elected from actual residents therefore best interest in the building structure is behind the decisions
No one left to hold accountable the developer is dead
The job of the building inspector is to interpret the assessment for the residents, who are the Laymen. A retired surgeon doesn’t know about rebar or waterproofing, he’s is relying on a professional to inform him what he needs to pay for and when. When that ‘professional’ is unable to do this, you have to then ask why he is that role at all. It’s a level of incompetence that is not acceptable when lives are at risk.
Everyone on other videos is up in arms blaming the residents for their deaths. They had no idea how bad things were because they had been told the building was in very good shape. The car park issues looked superficial. The roof was being repaired. They had no chance to get out of there while they could.
Thank you SO much for being the adult in the room. I'm very grateful for your logic, wisdom, and insight.
The other motivation for the building official saying the building was in very fine condition was to maintain the real estate tax income of the town of Surfside. If the value of the property drops, the RE tax assessment drops and the real estate tax income for the town is reduced. That could be a significant blow to a small town.
Surfside is a very small town. They will feel the loss of revenue from Champlain South for many years.
Time to lay off employees, gee I wonder who will be first?
Good call.
Having followed the entire series, this chapter puts everything in perspective. Just like in any "accident", there was a chain of events. In aerospace it is referred to as the "lineup of the holes in Swiss cheese slices". In this case there were more holes than cheese. With a major common link, I wonder how much time the other buildings have left and whether anything is being done about it.
Couldn't agree more. I'm an aero engineer & accident investigator, and I'm fascinated by the similarities between Josh's processes/videos and aircraft accident investigation methods.
This kind of corruption hasn't disappeared from our local governments, and is rabid in our current administration in Washington.
It's probably more prevalent now than it was then.
@@tompastian3447 Well not the “current” current, but the previous one, who 100% supported businesses against the average citizen, and their main tool of lawyering up to support short term business deals against people’s long term interests.
But not sure which federal law or rule you are talking about exactly, which affects building and construction quality, when it is mostly managed on state level.
@@tompastian3447 Anyway, this kind of corruption will only get worse… With the death of local newspapers, nobody will really check them and they will do whatever they want, while everyone is focusing on big politics.
@@juzoli Oh yah, one guy is buying Democrats and the other is selling the country to China.
This is event going to be an engineering case study taught to all engineering students. And all political science students.
When all the legal issues resolve, it will also be a reference case in law school, at least in the Engineering law classes.
There are no ethics in politics.
We all know honesty is the best policy but it doesn’t quickly provide a chunk of money. City officials are not the best watchdogs for many reasons.
Political Science is a joke degree
No not really, but obviously engineering is way over rated. These guys couldn’t design an outhouse properly.
You have built a memorial based on truth and integrity for those who died in this tragedy.
Thank you Art. I think about the victims with every video I make, but I don't want to keep mentioning them as I believe it comes off as disingenuous. But yes, I want, in a way, the story of how they died to be properly cataloged and I don't want to see this happen again.
A very logical-well thought out presentation.
One doesn’t have to be an architect or engineer to understand
what really happened to cause this horrific collapse.Thank you for shining a light!
Your last video was such a detailed reporting that any layperson could understand, especially those of us who watched all your previous videos, that I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with now! Thanks for all the effort put in and I hope you and the family got moved and recovered ok. 😊
We did and I finally got over Covid-19 this last weekend. Thank you for the kind thoughts.
@@BuildingIntegrity as someone with a hobbyist interest in all things engineering (I'm a car salesperson, so I tend more towards the mech eng side of things, but structural engineering is still fascinating), your videos are honestly the most approachable, least clickbait, but still incredibly detailed I've seen. I feel like your last video had an undercurrent of disgust with the lapses in engineering practice and best practices that you found. As an engineer, do you find yourself looking at this situation and wondering, "how the hell did another engineer make these mistakes / approve this?!"
I know i do. How is it being in auto sales? Is it a hard/ stressful position to work in? I felt like i could be kinda good as a case salesperson because i always learn all the ins and outs of new cars and can use that to sell but then again sales isn't always about the knowledge of the product even though it should be all that's is about
@@TungstenCarbideProjectile eh. It kinda is. Basically? Known the product cold, ask them lots of questions, make a new friend and never be afraid to /ask/ the customer to buy a car. Don't cajole them to buy, just ask, "Hey, do you like the car enough that if all the numbers work out you'll take it home today?" No? Then you have to assess the why. Generally, if I hit a no objection like that it's either a "I want to shop your number around" or they just aren't in love with the car for some reason. Nothing you can do at that stage other than show them another car, or let em go shop. I've never pressured any of my customers beyond, "Hey, not to be Mr. Classic salesperson here, but with the inventory shortage, these cars are selling crazy fast, if it is the color you want, and trim you want, jump on it." and I've been the top salesperson at my dealer for both units and profit two months in a row.
It's not a hard gig if you keep it simple. Show the car, get to know them, make a friend, ask for the sale.
@@MrKeserian that's a cool perspective thanks for the insight
Incredible! Not only have you walked us through the physical discovery from the building both past and present but you have also composed a historical review and psychological assessment of the developer and development of the building. Well done Josh, well done!
Around the mid-70's, we saw a shift in societal mindset. From that time to the present day, explains why a large part of society is saturated in narcissism and disregard.
Take from the public and give to the rich, kill the poor, money is god
You really did a lot of research into this and your efforts are much appreciated. I know from my over 20 years as a certified special inspector, contractors will not necessarily build per the structural engineers approved plans and, building inspectors do not have the time or qualifications to be counted on to accurately report the process of construction and to certify the structure at completion. Here is the Seattle area, a special inspector must observe and report on construction as the construction proceeds. A letter of compliance must be issued by the special inspector company before the city can authorize the building to be occupied. One of the benefits of living in an earthquake prone zone but this process needs to be universal. Nice report. Thank You.
Great video!. I'll point out that a few years after the condo board meeting, after the condo board raised the money, the head of the building department won't take or return Moribito's calls to set up meeting to discuss the permits needed to do the repairs, delaying things for a month or two. Then the building department delayed and delayed on issuing permits. When the building collapsed the condo board still didn't have all the permits needed to start the concrete repairs, despite trying to begin repairs for many months.
If you ever own a building with relatives and the older generation is, you know, 100 and dgad, you'll live it. A needs to get done, technical landlord doesn't want to do anything or have people come in.
So, you have to debate everything w 2nd generation. What happens is you wind up TELLING them how it's going to be. They get p*ssed, after which you don't care.
As an engineer born in 1960, thanks for your research into the history and context of the process of building this structure. Too often we judge people to the "standards" of today. When the engineers, contractors and inspectors disregard or circumvent the standards of their time, they should be harshly judged.
Building Integrity and Information. Josh always explains the context-educates us about the concepts-before he describes part of the collapse. That gives these opinions a lot of credibility. Once again, Josh explained concepts and context while he talked about what probably happened. Grade: A+
Loving this whole series. It strikes a personal chord each time. My father owner a unit in an Ormond by the Sea condo. I remember walking around the foundation as a kid in the late sixties while my friend's dad did some last minute rebar work, so much rebar. Years later my dad bought a unit in the building. Endless stories of assessments, bickering on the board, spend money don’t spend money. Do we really need this work done? Weakness reported on the upper parking deck by the pool need repair. Balcony rebar rusting, hammer out the concrete coat rebar in all balconies and add a cathodic protection system.
Dad was a retired engineer and president of the condo board, I’ve listened to so many of the stories. We no longer own the condo, but man does this bring back memories. So many people involved in keeping building safe on the salty coasts. So many people with other motives. So many lives lost. Your information is so important. Thank you!
Sounds like you could write a book.
It's like owning a building with other people! Like relatives!
Laundering the laundry money lol 💰
Mr. Porter, I want thank you for your insightful video. As a retired former inspector and consultant for the State of Florida and a health and safety compliance Inspector for OSHA thank you for uncovering all the nefarious dealings of the developer and engineer.
In addition one of the victims was well known by me (Linda March). The hurt goes even further in that she rented the illegally built penthouse.
I remember after hurricane Andrew in 1992 one of the head attorneys (Ron Zep) for the Miami Dade Building department came to our emergency office in south Dade saying that there was a good chance that the State of Florida would take over and preempt all local building departments. The only thing that occurred was we got a state building code enforced by the locals.
Mr. Porter, I hope Governor Ron DeSantis and our state legislature watch your video and come to the conclusion as I have to preempt all local building departments and the State of Florida take over this duty.
Furthermore I hope that any individuals or entities that were criminal or negligent be held accountable.
as an architect who loves history, it made me so happy that you connected it to the events of the time. The amount of research you put into this did not go unnoticed!!!
My parents worked in architecture and engineering, and I worked for a pioneer in concrete building techniques before he passed away and I wish more people who work in the development world watched your videos. I also live in an HOA and I wish my board and neighbors would watch your videos too, they're very accessible, informative, and I think we all can learn from this series in particular.
The way that you look at this failure across many dimensions adds context that informs the conversation about how such tragic collapses might be prevented. I appreciate that you start with the physics and engineering and then include understanding social and government context and motivations. The importance of competent and ethical building officials is seldom understood by the public: you provide a clear example.
Well said.
Josh… Another great presentation..I lived in Fla during the construction of these buildings and later in NYC. The less than ideal ethics you project to this developer is not unusual in some segments of the real estate industry.
Very interesting, none of this surprises me. I worked as a plumber in Dade County & Monroe County in the late 70's and well into the 80's. Working housing projects, schools and 5 & 7 story buildings in Key Large & Key West. I saw first hand how inspectors of all trades did their work. I also went back right after hurricane Andrew and was not at all surprised to see the destruction. It was not surprising to see an inspector never enter a house or leave the ground on a multi story building.
And there's the story that the only houses that didn't fall down were built by habitat for humanity, because they didn't know they didn't have to build to code, so they actually tightened the bolts holding the walls to the foundation.
Carl Hiassen referred to them as drive-by inspections.
I’ve been anxiously waiting for your next video, Josh. You certainly didn’t disappoint with this one! We are lucky to have someone like you digging into the sordid details of what really happened back when CTS was built. Your channel name says it all… “Building Integrity”!
The 70s and 80s in FL were an unbelievably corrupt era. The condo buildings in FL were almost literally THROWN up in an era of MASSIVE greed! It’s amazing to me that we haven’t had other collapses before now - because a lot of these buildings were literally built as cheaply as possible, to enable the condo units to be sold for the maximum profit, as quickly as possible. And safety be DAMNED!
RIP to the many unfortunate people whose lives were STOLEN from them in this tragic, and in my opinion downright criminal, collapse.
The concept of condo HOAs, which are all-too-often populated by people who are entirely ignorant of building standards, has resulted in massive neglect of anything remotely resembling proper and appropriate maintenance of these shoddily-constructed beach-front buildings. The condo associations are much more concerned with the pretty marble walls in the lobby than they are about properly maintaining the building so it doesn’t FALL DOWN. It’s ridiculous and pathetic.
You couldn’t sell me a beachfront condo in FL for a DOLLAR!
THANK YOU for your continuing efforts to get to the bottom of the CTS tragedy, Josh!
I went to an engineering high school some time ago.
The one thing we did learn right of the start was, everything you build add 100% in strength for safety.
Thank you for mentioning the penthouse. No one seems to want to include that in part of a possible load problem. This Building seemed to be built with no room for additional loads etc, yet a whole penthouse was added after against the city bylaws….As well as lot of other issues. The corruption as you are talking about here is absolutely the big issue. Thank you for your research on this!
You’d make a great teacher Josh. Your videos are always clear, engaging, and easy to understand - but also informative.
Your the only one I will listen to regarding this disaster
Wow! That means a lot.
I agree.
Apologies for not saying earlier how much I appreciate your fantastic series that looks at the information and provides context, not drama. Well done, and with a lot of "integrity".
Another excellent video, Josh. I'm a retired mechanical engineering and don't know a lot about construction technology, but you are a great teacher.
Thank you for continuing the deep dive on this tragedy. So many others would have walked away as 'trending news' changed. Thanks for sticking with it.
After watching all of your previous videos concerning this tragedy, I really believe that you ideas on what transpired are right on. I have really enjoyed your input and applaud you efforts. I am a retired construction contractor and building inspector.
You did a great job of "following the money," to quote someone from quite another scandal. Greed is a destructive force.
As an architect, I am very interested in this video. I’m sure it be at least as good as your past videos covering the Champlain Towers.
Thanks. It's not really technical but I've been wanting to cover the human interest aspect of the building's construction for some time as I find it fascinating. We'll see what everyone else thinks!
@@BuildingIntegrity Speaking of which, I'd love to see your take on the FIU bridge disaster at some point. Not only did the bridge have design flaws as I understand it, but apparently lots of mistakes by multiple parties involved in the construction as well.
@@BuildingIntegrity I think it's the lack of technical details and your presentation that make these videos approachable for the general public. This catastrophe serves as a wake-up call for design professionals to be diligent with their drawings and specifications. Thank you for your service!
@@BuildingIntegrity I’m a Miami native, in my early 20’s in the late 70’s. Was on vacation with a lifelong friend when the collapse happened. Our instant response to the tragedy was payoffs and corruption. I moved from there in 1980 to get away from it. Your first image was a business man with guns on his desk. Yep! THAT is what many of us were fleeing from.
Thank you for the clear and nonjudgmental way you are presenting the facts. Smart man you are!
+1 on all of the wonderful comments viewers are making Josh. You’re an inspiration to so many, especially me. Heartfelt gratitude for all you do!
Thanks James! That means a ton.
Thank you for your research and honesty.
I have found all your videos on this collapse so informative and interesting. You have great skill in explaining things that laypeople can understand.
Given these findings I would not be happy living in the other sister tower. But as a result of this those condos are probably barely saleable. What a terrible situation to find yourself in.
Thank you.
Excellent consideration of the wider context to what was involved in the building collapse. Sure-footed, fine-grain reasoning and communication.
Those of us in the contracting profession have a lot of hoops to jump through in building a safe structure.
Good engineering benefits all. Thank you for portraying and presenting your analysis of concerns that should have been addressed. Life is precious and fragile thanks for your insight!
Excellent video! The research and background information you provided show the commitment you have to this topic. Thank you for doing this.
Well done, Josh. You are doing a great job distilling complex engineering and legal/ethical issues to a layman's format.
But here is the question: How many other buildings in Surf Side that were built in that era by these characters or others of their ilk that are disasters waiting to happen? Chances are that Champlain South is not the only one with issues lurking either above the surface (visible) or below the surface (invisible).
That's a cause for great concern.
Surfside is a very small town (population 5000), so it only has a handful of condos, but the wider question is valid.
That was your best video yet. Loved the story telling style used to unravel the mystery behind how something like this could have happened.
Saw it in my feed but realized it's not out yet! Guh! Waiting is the hardest part. 🤣 Love the title btw.
I totally just suffer the same fate of dejection. 😤
Thank you Kate. Thanks for watching and participating in our comments section. Means a lot!
Towards the end of my engineering bachelor's program we got hit with a little assignment not highly regarded by students but highly acclaimed by my excellent teacher from Egypt Prof Ibrahim . Ethics in engineering, probably the most important portion of the entire curriculum yet it was allowed only a single assignment. It should have been an entire course, maybe these kinds of things would be less common if people could be awarded for the what ifs they identify instead of only the has beens
I wholeheartedly agree that ethics should be an entire course... for literally every degree... but definitely those where other people's lives are in your hands.
@Lawofimprobability One of the problems with the world is people believing morality is subjective. There's some things you just don't do, no matter what. One of those is doing a half-a$$ed job that affects either the safety, security, finances, or health of people and other creatures.
One of the most important parts of engineering and building is being able to take feedback and admit mistakes, otherwise it is very possible to be lead down a path paved with arrogance and assumptions that the professionals cannot make mistakes. We are all human, and should assume that we will make mistakes in order to allow for and mitigate them. If we can do that, then we will learn and grow as professionals and people. The "Murphy's Law", "Anything that can go wrong, will" was meant as a quality control tool to counter the hubris of designers and engineers in order to help them look for failure points. This project is a very real example of the failures Murphy's law was talking about, along with every other engineering and design failure in history.
No, this isn't Murphy's Law. This appears to be more like a deadly and unfortunate confluence of negligence, apathy, ignorance and greed. I feel for the recertification engineer who likely believed that the building condition, while serious, was not as close to failing as we now know it was. Will be interesting to learn what NIST's findings are regarding conformance to the structural drawings. If there was, in fact, less resteel actually used than is shown on the plans, it could exonerate the recertification firm from significant liability for failing to issue a more dire recommendation.
@@jtd8719
In the context of Murphy's Law, what could go wrong, did go wrong. The concept of Murphy's Law means that if the right combination of conditions will cause failure, it will fail given the occurrence of that combination of those conditions. I find it very useful to use the "Swiss Cheese" model of failure. The failures at all levels of the design, engineering, construction, oversight, and maintenance lead to this tragedy. While those harmed should get recompensed for their loss if possible, it is also very important that we find ways to improve the safety of the building industry by openly addressing all of the failures involved. This is one reason that organizations like the NTSB, NHTSA, and the CSB that issue independent non binding findings can include all factors that lead to these failures, instead of just finding blame. It is most unfortunate that we seem to have to relearn some lessons over and over again.
Your clarity on this matter is most appreciated. The whole thing stunk of corruption when the building fell without warning. Buildings just don’t do that. Your report here exposes that level of corruption.
Really looking forward to this. Thank you Josh & team at Building Integrity!
(Such a great name for your channel BTW.)
Thanks Bill! We are very hopeful that Building Integrity can one day be a resource for engineers, architects, and contractors to improve their work and advance the industry as a whole.
@@BuildingIntegrity it certainly is for me !! Been building since 1985 and you are spot on with out being ostentatious.
Keep up the good work !!
In the construction industry, we refer to it as "value engineering", but structural integrity or shoddy materials should never be in that category!
As it is appearing to be the case if they had only begun the short cuts from the first floor up rather than the very bottom we may never have had this discussion. I was in a shopping structure with parking for each level and the structure construct seemed massive almost over built. I might just go back now knowing what I have gleaned from all this discussion and see what it was that impressed someone who only had an "inspiration to one day be". Go back but maybe walk in as I had one hell of a time finding my way out in my car. ;)
I can't wait to see this video, I have been Jonesing for more from you Josh. Btw, I realize how busy you are, I really appreciate your hard work and time you have devoted to this project. Your channel is by far the most definitive one out there. I say that as a fellow engineer, interdisciplinary in my case, Mechanical and Electrical from Purdue.
I have constructed several steel framed builidngs in my career, the largest by height was 4 story, 96' tall purpose built rubber mixing plant in Auburn, IN for Cooper Tire. That build sat on 96' cast in place piles. The largest H beam columns were on the order of 20x20 250#. They supported the mixer mezzanine and the upper floors. I can't recall the dead and live loads on the mezzanine floor, but the mixer was driven through a large gear box and a 3.000 HP DC motor, so the loads were huge.
Again, thanks for your time, hard work, forensic expertise, and outstanding insight into concrete structures. I and I believe many others enjoy your work.
Thank you Josh for your very informative, detailed explanations of structural engineering and the integrity of buildings and their safety. I now have an eye toward looking for these details in so many buildings in my area, whether I am going to spend a minute there, a day, or lifetime in that structure. You are amazing. I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Thank you for the info. I'm an insurance underwriter (who actually underwrites these condo buildings), and your videos are professionally helpful for me. If you can recommend any public record databases or other information sources that are searchable (or if there is a particular way you google things to gather information). Seriously, as someone on the front lines of taking care of these buildings, I'd love to help stop a disaster before it starts. On to your discussion of water damage now because holy crap yes it is a problem. Condos need to keep better records of their building updates. I'd suggest roof maintenance, shore-line exposures (please stop building pools with extensive underground piping right next to the freaking water), and the importance of knowing a building (water shut off points/sprinkler systems/stand-pipes/other small bits) as a topic for discussion
I can't recommend any particular source unfortunately. I try and mine a lot of various public records and in this case news articles. For every interesting/useful piece of information in this video, for example, I have to read through tons of what I call "fluff". It's very time consuming but I enjoy it oddly enough.
@@BuildingIntegrity thank you! Are there any easy ways to get access to these public records? I know they exist in some counties in FL (I ask for them so I can confirm what "plumbing updated in "2000" actually means). Shows public permits for the plumbing work done to each unit. Not sure how they were able to get me to those web pages, but man were they helpful. PS: typically one unit gets updated and the owner will report the "latest building updates" for the whole building as due to that one unit upgrade...
That's quite a thumbnail. I'll be waiting and watching when the time rolls around. Best wishes, Josh and colleagues.
You nailed the question on disclosure of the special assessment. I am currently looking at a condo in another state and I asked the same question to the real estate unit. Thanks for the great insight into the problems.
Yet another high quality cataloging & explanation of relevant facts, all tied together by insightful analysis, and presented in a very clear and methodical manner. Josh, if you are not already an instructor in the industry, you have missed one of your callings. Fascinating & superb job, thanks so much for your efforts.
You've obviously put a lot of work into this video. I personally appreciate your time on this. I've worked in a lot of high rises in my career, and I can reflect on your assessments of poor construction in your videos many times. Thanks again. Well done.
Absolutely brilliant video. You make an excellent case review here, with well researched factual information and informed professional analysis that continues to make your channel high quality, educational, and engaging. Thank you so much for all the time and work you are putting into this; It is very much appreciated, and you are doing a genuine public service.
I was so happy to see a new video from you!
Very well done video.
Excellent overview. Who knows where the fallout from this disaster will end.
I was born & raised in Miami - lived thru the 70s, 80s, 90s. Construction trade unions were under pressure and builders were hiring off the streets. Corruption was rampant in every sector, including development/construction. Look up Miami River Cops.
I personally know of a huge South Miami project whose developer gave a sweetheart deal to the mayor’s wife.
Hurricane Andrew exposed the shoddiness of newer construction. Most apparent in subdivisions like Country Walk, but that’s only because wood fails before concrete does. My Mom’s house in Pinecrest, built in the 60s, came thru with just some broken windows.
Scary to think of all the high rises built from the late 70s to present that may be compromised in some way.
Important to remember the invaluable role that local newspapers like the Miami Herald play - both in the present and for the history books. We need them.
If Cat 5 Andrew had struck 20 miles north, Miami Beach would have been destroyed.
You have done an incredible amount of research for us to understand the historical background leading up to the collapse. The idea of “opinion shopping” is horrific. It makes you question any property you buy. Thanks Josh.
16:40 the start of a description is why I wouldn't buy a tower apartment . Lack of maintenance by investors . Everyone should hear that portion of your talk before going up the lift !
Depends where, how big and what it used to be.
Factories are pretty damn safe. Definitely extremely overbuilt in many cases for residential.
I know of a former flooring factory that had ENORMOUS beams. Like an I beam, biggest one ever and this gigantic concrete thing, too.
Left the ceiling with very low clearance, but it was solid.
I am so happy that you made this video!!! I live in Los Angeles and spent a number of years as a neighborhood activist attempting to push back against overdevelopment and gentrification. The destruction of affordable housing and displacement of renters of modest means has been a nightmare for decades. People shouldn't have to live tenuously, waiting for their landlord to take their building off the market to either convert the units to condos or to demolish the entire edifice and build unneeded luxury housing. And as exemplified by the Champlain Towers tragedy, occupants shouldn't have to worry that their residence is like a ticking time bomb on the verge of imploding at any time.
Neighborhood residents' trying to stand up to well-connected, unscrupulous developers is like David going up against Goliath. You can't hold their feet to the fire unless you are in a position to hire expert land use attorneys to fight your battles. It's a tough pill to swallow when you've gone to some hearings knowing you have a good case against a project that's pushing the envelope, cutting corners and gaming the system...and yet you're dismissed out of hand. The developers, the vast majority of whom are primarily in it for the money, have years of experience working the system, schmoozing building & safety clerks and officials, cozying up to planning commissioners and city councilpersons...and of course, greasing their palms with campaign donations.
So the fact that you're explaining some of the backstory of the monumentally flawed development process is a real blessing. I thank you for being candid and professional in discussing how this project slipped through the cracks (sorry about the pun) so flagrantly that it resulted in this unfathomable tragedy.
Thanks! An excellent video covering some of the unexplained background of the building and what probably led to its collapse.
These videos should be viewed by all beginning Engineering students in their first week. in 1965 at University of Illinois we watched the Galloping gator over the Tacoma Straights. Josh, yours are very engineering oriented and bring up many aspects in any kind of build. I would love to share more comments.
What can I say Josh, you are awesome in your subject matter expertise. I await with baited breath.
' 'bated", as in "abated". Something I learned late in life :-)
These videos are a real public service. Thank you for helping viewers understand not only the technical details of the flawed design and construction of the buildings but the political and organizational failures that allowed these things to happen.
Great job on this.... Your entire video series on this should really be required viewing, with testing on the important concepts, in every Engineering School in the country....
This video, and the last video, really pose a lot of very interesting questions.... Being generally very cynical, I am not sure we will ever get the answers.... but in a perfect world, the questions you are posing, really really do need to be answered, at least for guidance, on future projects, so that we can all say okay, this is what happened, and this is how we make sure that it NEVER happens again....
Hypothetically, in a pretend hypothetical world, a little bird flew up to my truck window at a red light, and told me that a couple of the insurance companies involved, have already notified plaintiffs attorneys that they will be paying in full, within policy limits, blah blah blah, and to not bother suing them, because they will pay, and they will not be contesting the claim......
So undoubtedly it will be a few years before everything comes out... Before we get a look at ALL the pictures that the Morabito investigators & inspectors took... Before we see all the notes from the pre-bid meetings for the work that was scheduled to be done.... BUT, the lines are clearly being drawn, as we speak... Hypothetically of course....
SO glad I am not holding a huge note on a unit in Champlain Towers North right now.... omg....
Thank you Patrick. My goal is to one day create content specifically for architectural and engineering students to be played at universities or at least watched by students to supplement their education.
I expect some bankruptcies coming out of this too, but I'm sure the plaintiff's attornies are looking for the biggest return for the least work. Kind of like the developer. But they would be likely to be fighting over crumbs at bankruptcy court past the settlement, and not work their time.
If you saw the Morabito report, and you knew exactly what it meant, and it wasn't disclosed to certain people, would you try to sell a unit or rent it knowing this? Or is it right for someone to take a loss and refuse to potentially put someone else in jeopardy?
The game over the past 25 years is to hire a Construction Manager with a GMP guaranteed maximum price. Constant "value engineering" results. Excellent videos.
Thanks! I’ve been waiting for someone to do a deep dive on the news articles and such from when this was built. Very good job!
Thanks for tying it all together in this video. Quite insightful and clearly demonstrates exactly what most of us suspected: greed, corruption and incompetence senselessly killed a building full of sleeping people.
As a total aside; I have to say I love your lamps on the credenza behind you. They're mesmerising.
Great job on this one. You really did a lot of work on this and it shows.
Ive been waiting and hoping you would do another video, Josh! You've done an amazing job in keeping the public" in the know" with all of this information! Thank you for all of your hard work!
Thanks for the deep dive into the history, beyond just the the technicals, which makes for a cautionary tale.
This latest video was well worth the wait. Illuminating, as always. Thank you.
I know what I'll be doing in 3 hrs! These videos are so informative. The explanations and examples help those of us in other disciplines understand the forces at play.
I really appreciate how you are reporting all the information WITHOUT add your personal opinion. You lay out the facts and let the audience form our own opinion. Can’t stress how much I wish ALL “news outlets” did the same.
Thank you, once again. We appreciate the thought and hard work here.
As usual, it is a follow the dollar scenario. And look at the number of people who died because of it.
Thanks Josh. I never use the audio anyway. Thanks for always having tje closed caption available. Exvellent and informative video as always.
We appreciate you and glad you and your wife are well again.
Thank you Desiree!
I hope the other buildings they developed aren't in the same predicament. I hope and pray someone will start checking thoroughly and sharing this info with the tenants who live in them.
I really like the videos on this topic from Mr. Ostroff as well as from this channel----great content
Thanks for explaining the history of how and why this could've happened. It was thorough and provided perspective on how different things were done back then. RIP to all the victims
All your intense background investigation has provided us with all the factors which eventually brought the tower down. For those who are naive , less worldly and or not living during this era you have educated them well. Uncovering these details has fascinated me one who often cycled through the Grove and Cables while visiting and praying I would not be killed while all the drug lords were shooting it out on upscale area red lights. Thank you so much for your insights Josh.
Thank you so much for all the effort you have put into this series. Fascinating retrospect view of the 70s and 80s and how it influenced developers
I have great respect for the way you presenting this problem. The worst thing is that unfortunately people lost their lives and this is not only one time that somebody decided to make more money over the safety