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Resisting the Snarky inner me

Things on the engineering front are starting to finally move! It is still painfully slow. It is kind of like a giant ice berg that is finally starting to move out of the way to reveal open water. We will take any movement at this point. It has been weeks of sorting things out with no real progress.


We have found two engineering firms in CT that are willing to partner with Monolithic's engineer if that is acceptable to him. We are still waiting for a quote from one on our end but we found out from Monolithic that they actually called to talk to an engineer! Imagine that, doing a bit of research before submitting a quote. We are already leaning towards hiring them just for taking that initiative! It seems like a no brainer to me to do a little research on something unfamiliar before submitting a quote, but this is not the norm. If their quote is competitive, we will be hiring them just because they are willing to ask questions and seem genuinely interested in the project.

We got one seriously wild quote from an engineer that wanted to support the areas where the domes interconnect (arches) with elaborate floor to ceiling beams. I had to resist the strong urge to be snarky and point out an arch doesn't need support. I had to rewrite my email several times to make sure it truly was free of all my real thoughts. I kept reminding myself that I am an adult and being polite is important. It's that adult filter we all have to use. Some of us are better at using it than others. I normally am pretty good at using the filter but every once in a while it is a struggle. It is always an issue with me when I am 100% sure the other person is full of #$%& and is just assuming I know nothing!

 I am not an engineer but I have studied a lot of art history and the arch was kinda a big discovery in the 2nd millennium BC!

The whole point of this design is that interior support structures are not needed.

Interior photo of our exact house layout (different openings but same overlapping domes) and not a beam in sight. 

Arches above are all doing their job just fine. He didn't understand (or didn't even look at) all the info I forwarded him about the houses and how they are made. His quote of 4x the normal cost of engineering a similar dome house clearly reflected his need to learn how to engineer the house instead of just do it (or maybe just throw out a huge number and have a nice paycheck). There was of course a disclaimer that it could be much higher and was only an estimate. Anyone that has lived in Connecticut knows that everything costs more here but 4x is not an acceptable increase. This is an engineer with very good reviews and accredited with the BBB with an A+ score. It just goes to show that you always have to do your homework. Keep looking until you find the right people. In our case the right people are open minded ones that are willing to work with others and learn from what has already been done. No need to reinvent the wheel!




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