The job on paper
The SOW read straightforward: supply and install one 86" commercial display in a high-rise lobby, mount to a finished drywall wall, connect a dedicated media player for looping brand content. One day, in and out.
We've done this job a hundred times.
What the drawings missed
Day one, we pulled up to find a feature wall clad in 3/4" engineered stone veneer over metal stud framing. The structural backing spec called for 16" OC studs. Actual spacing: 24" OC, with one stud directly behind where the mount's top bracket needed to land — and nothing behind the bottom bracket location.
The GC's drywall crew had finished and left the building. No backup available same day.
How we handled it
Rather than delay the schedule or start cutting into finished stone, we sourced a 3/4" steel spreader plate from a local fab shop — same day, two hours turnaround. The plate bridged both stud locations and gave us a solid bearing surface for both mount brackets without touching the veneer.
Total added cost to client: $140 in materials, zero in labor upcharge.
What we billed — and what we didn't
We ate the time spent sourcing the plate. It was a half-day of coordination that we didn't flag on the T&M sheet. Our reasoning: the structural backing spec was in the drawings we were given. We trusted it. That's on us to verify.
What we did bill was the plate itself plus the hardware to anchor it properly.
The lesson
Verify backing before you load the van. A five-minute site visit the week prior — or even a photo from the GC — would have flagged this before day one. We now include a pre-pull site confirmation step in our checklist for any wall-mounted display over 65".
Job closed on day three. Client signed off same day as completion. No punchlist items.