Dealing with a building project in Mongolia

Every building project has its quirks. I never thought that a building project in Mongolia would be any different. The greatest frustration is not the little quirks but rather the lack of workmanship that plagues Mongolia.

For example, I had an electrical subcontractor come to do all the wiring, lights, light switches, etc. I specifically asked that in one room for two switches so the lights in the back of the room could be turned off or on separately from the lights in the front of the room. Day by day as I visited the construction site I checked to be sure that two light switches were put in the room. I should have known that was not enough.

After the electrical subcontractor left, I checked the two switches. First of all, the two switches do not control the lights in the front and back but rather are tied to the lights on the right and left side of the room. Second, the two switches are set up so that the switch on the right side turns on the lights on the left side of the room. But the switch on the left side only turns on the lights on the right side of the room if the lights on the left side are turned on too. So rather than have the lights in the front of the room and the back of the room lit separately, I have a situation where the lights on the left side of the room can be on or all the lights in the room can be on. However, the lights on the right side of the room cannot be turned on independent of the lights on the left. In fact if the lights on the left side of the room are turned off and the switch for the lights on the right is switched on, nothing happens until the other light switch is also turned on. Did the electrician know this when he left the room? Perhaps not, he probably wired the switch and left the room without ever checking to see what the switches accomplished.

The switches for the men and women’s bathrooms are also wired in a non-intuitive way. In Mongolia, lights for the bathrooms are typically placed in the corridor next to the bathroom door. (I do not know the reason for this.) The men’s and women’s bathrooms are side by side which means that the light switches were placed side by side between the doors. But the light switch for women’s bathroom is placed on the men’s bathroom side. The light for the men’s bathroom is placed on the women’s bathroom side. Why?

All in all, the project is going well. When you consider that finish work on the second floor only started in the middle of September, it is apparent how much progress has been made. The crew working with Buren is to finish up their work any day now. After that, we will need to clean, touch-up, re-arrange electrical switches, and deal with numerous little pieces to the project.