Maybe someone can tell me this.....why do plumbers, job after job after job continue to put there 4inch cast down the middle of the hallways????? don't they understand that the lights and smokes have to be centered...i know this isn't the first job they've been on, but why over and over?

When you say 4 inch cast ,I think of the old cast that they used babbit and lead to make up the joints

Reasons I have heard range from, 'first on job'; 'horray for me & xxxxx"; 'don't care about your problem', etc.

Not only plumbers, but HVAC ductwork, fire sprinkler, etc.

I have to agree John.
It's usually a situation of "first up, best dressed!!"

I get the first in mentality, but you would think that job after job of them having to move there stuff, or the gc yelling and screaming until they finally drop the ceiling that it would occur to them, am i wrong?? I couldn't beleive it but i had a tin basher come up to me to discuss the job before it started about how we could work together, imagine that hun.....

What??

When I 'had the tools', fortunatley a large percentage of the jobs were with other trades that we worked with steadily. That's when co-operation was achieved between all the guys.

Todays climate of 'best price' and non-cooperation is becoming the norm.

You have to blame the job super for things like this. Ultimately they are the ones who are supposed to make sure everything works.

Great poing Greg. Sorry i didn't think about that angle before.

My wife says if you are not in every room of every house every day looking at what they are doing today and figuring out what you will be doing tomorrow you are not doing the job of a super.
One thing I always thought was a good idea was painting things on the floor, like where required outlets go, phone/TV/data jacks, door swings or anything else that may be important later. That makes it fast to see that step 1 is not screwing up step 2.