Belief Protection Memory
18 challenges filed in seven months, and the reason each was ruled noise or signal.
We are the practice that says a building is wrong while it is still cheap to fix.
- v2Added 'still cheap to fix' — v1 said 'before it is built', which a contractor could also claim.
- v3Narrowed from 'buildings' to structure, after a facade challenge showed the filter was passing work we had no standing in.
The blindfold check
61% of all 18 rulings were ruled noise. Below the 80% threshold, so the filter is still letting the world in.
Rulings
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
Deptford tower: the client wants us to sign off a facade package another practice designed. £340k.
BecauseWe would be certifying judgement that was never ours. The first time we said stop they would replace us, so we would never say it.
- Signal · let throughruled by Mara Calder
A competitor launched 'Rapid Approvals' and has taken three mid-market jobs we would have won.
BecauseSpeed is not our claim and never will be. But our turnaround had been hiding behind the word thoroughness, and that is worth a measure.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A developer offered a £400k/yr drafting retainer. No engineering judgement, guaranteed income.
BecauseA retainer that pays the same whether we are heeded or ignored is the exact shape we exist against.
- Signal · let throughruled by Mara Calder
Our insurer suggested we stop putting confidence levels on written concerns.
BecauseThe concern stays and the confidence stays, but it goes to the drawing owner and one witness rather than into a circulated report. Cleared once and not re-litigated.
- Noise · blockedruled by Inés Ferrer
A housing association wants us on a framework alongside eleven other practices.
BecauseEleven interchangeable practices is a commodity position. Nobody on a framework has standing to stop anything.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A client wants to retain us as expert witness against a practice we worked alongside last year.
BecauseTaking it would mean every future collaborator assumes we are collecting evidence. The standing we would lose is with everyone, not just them.
Cites We keep the standing to say stopfiled by themselvescited 2 times since - Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
Someone offered to white-label our concern log and sell it as software.
BecauseWe would be selling the instrument and keeping none of the judgement. The log is worth something because we are the ones answering it.
- Signal · let throughruled by Inés Ferrer
Why do we not do BREEAM assessments? Clients keep asking and we keep referring it out.
BecauseFiled by a graduate and it was the right question. Sustainability concerns arrive earlier than structural ones now, so being absent from that conversation costs us the early seat.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A developer wants a fixed fee with a 'no objections raised' completion clause.
BecauseThat clause pays us to find nothing. It is the cleanest example of the thing this value exists to catch.
- Signal · let throughruled by Mara Calder
Should the concern log be published publicly, anonymised?
BecauseNot publicly — but the client's own log should be shared with the client, which is the half of this that was actually being avoided.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A large contractor offered us a panel place if we stop writing confidence levels into concerns.
BecauseThe confidence level is how we raise something at 60% without it being a wrong answer. Remove it and we are back to waiting for certainty.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
Acquire a small practice that would bring twenty residential clients with it.
BecauseWe left residential below eight storeys for a reason that has not changed. Buying twenty of them back is the same decision in reverse.
Cites We keep the standing to say stopfiled by themselvescited 2 times since - Signal · let throughruled by Inés Ferrer
Should we take on temporary works design?
BecauseTemporary works is where the earliest and cheapest structural mistakes happen, and we were not in the room for any of them.
Cites Early over certainfiled by themselvescited 2 times since - Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A PR firm pitched positioning us as 'the safe choice'.
BecauseSafe is what you call someone who tells you late. The whole claim is that we are the uncomfortable choice early.
- Signal · let throughruled by Mara Calder
Should facade engineering be in-house rather than subcontracted?
BecauseSubcontracted judgement cannot be stood behind, and facade is where the early warning is worth most. This one changed the hiring plan.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
A client asked us to peer-review a design we produced ourselves two years ago.
BecauseWe cannot be the check on our own work. Saying so cost the fee and bought the only thing that makes a review worth buying.
- Noise · blockedruled by Mara Calder
Join a design-and-build contractor as their embedded engineer.
BecauseEmbedded means the person you would have to stop signs your invoices. There is no version of this where we keep the standing.
- Signal · let throughruled by Mara Calder
Does the belief need to say 'structure' specifically, or is 'a building' enough?
BecauseThe first challenge ever filed, and it was against the wording. 'A building is wrong' is a claim a contractor can make too.
Cites Early over certainfiled by themselvescited 8 times since