Did you check your outrigger pads before making that first lift?

...and that's exactly how most of my own projects have gone too. It's like there's this unwritten rule that the first time you do something, you gotta mess it up just enough for someone else to point out the obvious thing you missed. I swear half of what I know about carpentry came from a neighbor or a random old guy at the hardware store looking at my cart and shaking his head. It's kind of the same with cooking or even fixing a car - you can read all the guides you want but nothing beats someone who's already burned their fingers showing you the shortcut. Your neighbor Bill sounds like a solid dude, glad you caught that before the whole deck twisted apart in a few years.

Dude that's always how it goes. One little thing off and the whole setup is junk. Grounding is everything with these arms.