Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

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Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 1:50 pm

Please see the attached images. In question 1 jpg the answer is c, retainage. Why not liquidated damages? Ballast claims that these are specified in advance - well so is retainage! The question also implies how do you get the contractor to finish the job faster right? Well the contractor would receive the retainage no matter when he finishes the project... The only part that matters here is the part saying that retainage can be used to pay off liens. Well you could also pay off liens with liquidated damages.

In question 2 jpg the answer is a... First off aren't soil tests the responsibility of the owner? Aren't soil tests field tests??? Also how is the contractor not solely responsible for claims of subcontractors? How would the owner be responsible for subcontractor claims when he has a labor and materials bond and other protections when fulfilling final payment.
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Last edited by anonymous283 on Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:11 pm

Another one. Ballast says B is the right answer. A subcontractor in my mind is only caring about his profit. I answered a because moving equipment on and off just means more pay for the subcontractor. I don't remember reading anything about tools being "available and do not represent a significant portion of the total cost".
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:36 pm

WTF? This could be the worse question by far. I knew it was either A or B but didn't pick B because it makes no sense to receive notification from the contractor that the project is ready for final inspection and then issue the certificate of substantial completion! How can they print something so wrong?
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:09 pm

anonymous283 wrote:In question 1 jpg the answer is c, retainage. Why not liquidated damages?

Liquidated damages is not an encouragement, it's a penalty.

The question also implies how do you get the contractor to finish the job faster right?

No. It's merely talking about finishing.

Well the contractor would receive the retainage no matter when he finishes the project...

Right. But he doesn't get it if he walks away without finishing.

The only part that matters here is the part saying that retainage can be used to pay off liens. Well you could also pay off liens with liquidated damages.

No, that's not what liquidated damages are for.

In question 2 jpg the answer is a... First off aren't soil tests the responsibility of the owner?

Yes, but typically, soils is done before there's a construction contract.

Aren't soil tests field tests???

In this context, field test refers to course of construction testing.

Also how is the contractor not solely responsible for claims of subcontractors?

Lien laws make owner responsible.

How would the owner be responsible for subcontractor claims when he has a labor and materials bond and other protections when fulfilling final payment.

First of all, the question doesn't mention responsibility for claims. It says "reviewing claims".
Second, just because there's a bond or other form of surety, that doesn't change who's responsible. If you cause an accident, you're responsible whether you're insured or not.

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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:19 pm

anonymous283 wrote:Another one. Ballast says B is the right answer. A subcontractor in my mind is only caring about his profit. I answered a because moving equipment on and off just means more pay for the subcontractor.

Mobilization is a cost that must be considered. If a sub misses the fact that he must move in and out 4 times vs one and that causes an underbid and he subsequently gets the job, he most likely will regret it.

I don't remember reading anything about tools being "available and do not represent a significant portion of the total cost".

It's common sense. A qualified sub is bidding on work he knows and has experience in. That means the tools and equipment typically required are not a special concern.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:03 am

Thank you for the responses. I was mostly venting but the last question I posted is the most infuriating.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:13 am

Every other practice test I take, I get close to 90% right. When I take a ballast practice exam, its like 70%... These ballast practice questions are just making me more confused. Please see the attach question. Apparently the answer is the contractor is responsible. All I've read from study guides is concealed conditions are paid for by the owner through a change order. See attached kaplan and ballast excerpts explaining why this is. What's going on here?!
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:15 pm

Study material says 1 per every 6 but not less than 1. This study material is old I guess because after researching ADA 2010, there is an exception that requires 50% of bathrooms to be accessible where they are clustered in one location.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby thd7t » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:36 pm

anonymous283 wrote:Study material says 1 per every 6 but not less than 1. This study material is old I guess because after researching ADA 2010, there is an exception that requires 50% of bathrooms to be accessible where they are clustered in one location.

The materials that you are looking at reference 2006 code, so yes, it is probably out of date. ARE 4.0 predates ADA 2010.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:51 pm

Finally a question I have professional experience in. I've done the life safety drawings for multiple residential and commercial buildings with lobbies. But not only have I never heard of these 4 categories but I don't remember reading anything about them in kaplan, ballast, are exam prep, or ibc 2012. This question is insane. When I read net assignable area, the first thing I think of is occupant load factors which are based on net and gross areas not these 4 categories pulled out of nowhere...
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:39 pm

After reading 3 study material's interpretation of construction fees, I've learned that stipulated sum or fixed price is the one where the contractor gets the savings, the guaranteed maximum price is the one where the owner gets the savings, cost plus a fee is the one where things are itemized and are good for projects which need to start construction before design is completely known. Here I get a ballast question asking me the following. Based on what I knew, I answered stipulated sum because the contractor gets the savings incentivizing him to finish as efficiently as possible. Yet Ballast tells me I'm wrong and produces a bunch of information which was never covered in the study material (see attached ballast excerpt on construction fees). I'm getting so many questions wrong and I feel like I've done more studying than I have to with other study questions yet with ballast its like I don't know shit.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:04 pm

I'm at a loss for words. I answered C. I figured the subcontractor isn't "reasonably capable" because he has a history of poor workmanship. If that still is reasonably capable than what isn't? Cause the only thing I can think of is if the subcontractor was inflicted by a horrible disease or something exactly while the picking of subcontractors is going on...
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:12 pm

Can't arbitration be appealed in litigation? I was under the impression that if a party didn't agree with the results of arbitration they can go to litigation but according to a ballast question you can't. So you can't bring up the same topic in arbitration and then again in litigation? Whose stopping you?
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:28 pm

anonymous283 wrote:Finally a question I have professional experience in. I've done the life safety drawings for multiple residential and commercial buildings with lobbies. But not only have I never heard of these 4 categories but I don't remember reading anything about them in kaplan, ballast, are exam prep, or ibc 2012. This question is insane. When I read net assignable area, the first thing I think of is occupant load factors which are based on net and gross areas not these 4 categories pulled out of nowhere...

This question relates to leasing in a multi-tenant building. It's not about codes or life safety.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:34 pm

anonymous283 wrote:After reading 3 study material's interpretation of construction fees, I've learned that stipulated sum or fixed price is the one where the contractor gets the savings, the guaranteed maximum price is the one where the owner gets the savings, cost plus a fee is the one where things are itemized and are good for projects which need to start construction before design is completely known. Here I get a ballast question asking me the following. Based on what I knew, I answered stipulated sum because the contractor gets the savings incentivizing him to finish as efficiently as possible. Yet Ballast tells me I'm wrong and produces a bunch of information which was never covered in the study material (see attached ballast excerpt on construction fees). I'm getting so many questions wrong and I feel like I've done more studying than I have to with other study questions yet with ballast its like I don't know shit.

"Fixed" overhead and profit is the key.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:52 pm

The answer is supposedly D yet this is verbatim what the contracts say in 11.8.1 about insurance:
Architect’s Consultant’s expense of professional liability insurance dedicated exclusively to this
Project, or the expense of additional insurance coverage or limits if the Owner requests such insurance
in excess of that normally carried by the Architect’s consultants;

THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT ARCHITECT'S INSURANCE!
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:56 pm

anonymous283 wrote:Can't arbitration be appealed in litigation?

Typically, no. That's the whole point of arbitration.

Whose stopping you?

The courts.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:02 pm

Coach wrote:
anonymous283 wrote:After reading 3 study material's interpretation of construction fees, I've learned that stipulated sum or fixed price is the one where the contractor gets the savings, the guaranteed maximum price is the one where the owner gets the savings, cost plus a fee is the one where things are itemized and are good for projects which need to start construction before design is completely known. Here I get a ballast question asking me the following. Based on what I knew, I answered stipulated sum because the contractor gets the savings incentivizing him to finish as efficiently as possible. Yet Ballast tells me I'm wrong and produces a bunch of information which was never covered in the study material (see attached ballast excerpt on construction fees). I'm getting so many questions wrong and I feel like I've done more studying than I have to with other study questions yet with ballast its like I don't know shit.

"Fixed" overhead and profit is the key.
Sorry I don't understand. Am I correct in saying cost plus fixed fee and stipulated sum are only different in that with a the stipulated sum the owner knows the cost up front while with a cost plus fixed fee he doesn't? So how does that encourage a contractor to be most efficient? Cost plus fee is more flexible but that doesn't necessarily mean it allows the contractor to be more efficient; while in a stipulated sum, the contractor has an incentive to complete construction under budget as the difference is all his in profit.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby anonymous283 » Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:09 pm

Coach wrote:
anonymous283 wrote:Can't arbitration be appealed in litigation?

Typically, no. That's the whole point of arbitration.

Whose stopping you?

The courts.


I really appreciate your responses and I'm sorry if I come off as an complaining jerk but thats just my anger with the CDS test and I know I failed CDS the first time around because of ambiguous or very similar conditions that get me confused. I noticed you responded to the more reasonable questions which I guess I messed up on but you didn't respond to the more egregious questions. They are the ones posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:36 pm, Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:13 pm, 5:04 pm, 5:52 pm. If you or anyone else on the forum could just let me know if those questions are good and I should study its information or if they are bad and I shouldn't please let me know. This helps clear up the ambiguity that causes confusion during the test. Thanks.
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby Coach » Sat Feb 03, 2018 2:56 pm

anonymous283 wrote:Sorry I don't understand. Am I correct in saying cost plus fixed fee and stipulated sum are only different in that with a the stipulated sum the owner knows the cost up front while with a cost plus fixed fee he doesn't? So how does that encourage a contractor to be most efficient? Cost plus fee is more flexible but that doesn't necessarily mean it allows the contractor to be more efficient; while in a stipulated sum, the contractor has an incentive to complete construction under budget as the difference is all his in profit.

With P&O FIXED -- not a fixed percentage, but a fixed, finite number -- don't you think that you'd have more incentive to be efficient?
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Re: Infuriating Ballast Practice Test Questions

Postby thd7t » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:31 am

anonymous283 wrote:
Coach wrote:
anonymous283 wrote:Can't arbitration be appealed in litigation?

Typically, no. That's the whole point of arbitration.

Whose stopping you?

The courts.


I really appreciate your responses and I'm sorry if I come off as an complaining jerk but thats just my anger with the CDS test and I know I failed CDS the first time around because of ambiguous or very similar conditions that get me confused. I noticed you responded to the more reasonable questions which I guess I messed up on but you didn't respond to the more egregious questions. They are the ones posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:36 pm, Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:13 pm, 5:04 pm, 5:52 pm. If you or anyone else on the forum could just let me know if those questions are good and I should study its information or if they are bad and I shouldn't please let me know. This helps clear up the ambiguity that causes confusion during the test. Thanks.


I can't address all of these, as I also disagreed with the example from Jan 31 2:18, but the other two that day make sense to me.

If you have a specific project expense (i.e. a client requiring higher liability insurance), of course it's reimbursable, but it would be ridiculous to ask a single client to reimburse you for upgrading CAD. That serves all of your projects.

Regarding the subcontractor, you can't hold a contractor to a price from a sub that you won't let them use. There's really nothing else to it.

On the ones that I can't address, search this forum for those questions. There's been discussion of them before. Also, check Ballast's website. They put out errata with corrections and the 2009 edition of their 4.0 materials has been updated repeatedly.
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