Halp! Managing someone terrible at grammar and spelling

In reply to SV reX :

I guess my point is, many of them can't. Even the ones that dot every I, cross every T and have perfect comma placement.

I'm more interested in the content of their communication than the grammar of it. 

In reply to Toyman! :

I think that's a matter of scale. 
 

I generally don't care much about people's grammar. It is what it is, and I'm not the grammar police. 
 

But the OP said "..clients and contractors have persistently questioned the quality of their work.." and "It takes nearly as much time to fix as it does to write it myself."  That sounds like a pretty significant scale, and they may be losing business over it.

Thats not OK.

Toyman! said:

SV reX said:

In reply to Toyman! :

I'm not saying plans don't have errors. They basically all do. 
 

But if I send in an RFI and get back something that looks like it was written by a fourth grader, I'm not happy. I don't have time for that crap. 

Throw automatic doors in the mix and 25% of the time they don't answer the question that was asked on the RFI. They send back a few meaningless sentences about products they obviously know nothing about. Then I get to ask the same question a second time. I'd rather have 4th-grade responses that made sense than masters-level paragraphs that generate more questions. 

Which leads to, 50% of the time they have no clue what they are requesting. They don't understand the hardware. They don't understand the systems. They don't understand how hardware and security integrate. They copied and pasted some words from their last set of plans because they worked last time. Then you send them shop drawings based on the specs and your quote and they are confused by the information. Why didn't it include something they didn't ask for? It didn't meet their vision or something. More than likely they just copied and pasted from the wrong job. If a few of them would ask questions on the front end, my life would be much easier and the customer would get what they wanted.

I have a current job that requires an ISO 6 sealed cleanroom automatic door. I quoted a door that meets the requirement. However, due to aesthetics, the architect specified a door manufacturer that can not provide a door to meet that standard. The GC and I have been sending RFIs for clairification for 2 months now. We have offered alternative manufacturers. I have quoted this project 6 times now, including using his manufacturer with a note that it does not meet ISO 6. I have done 3 sets of shop drawings. He can't seem to understand that just because you want something doesn't mean you will get it.  

You just explained why I have job security. Many of my project's contract docs sound similar to that - I get to polish the turd. Providing feedback on stuff like this to the kids (to try to avoid a repeat in the next one) is one of the few joys I have anymore at work.

Somebody with fewer gray hairs and poor communication skills just amplifies the challenges.

In reply to Toyman! :

If you had an employee who was good at installing automatic doors but you were consistently getting complaints from the customers and contractors that his work area was messy, he swears a lot, and they don't want him on their job anymore, would you keep him?

My daughter was terrible at both spelling and grammar - she got better fast when she had to home school kids and taught - guess what? - spelling and grammar!  

Point being if you fix it for them they will never learn to do it right themselves, so make it a part of their job to learn spell check and grammar check and just do it right?

SV reX said:

In reply to Toyman! :

If you had an employee who was good at installing automatic doors but you were consistently getting complaints from the customers and contractors that his work area was messy, he swears a lot, and they don't want him on their job anymore, would you keep him?

As hard as people are to find, I'd probably put a helper with him to help him overcome his shortcomings and work with him to help him get past them. 

Do you know anyone? 

In reply to Toyman! :

Well, I did offer to work with you several years ago...