Contract Documents

Contract Documents

As Architects, we go through school learning about design and drawings and how drawings go together for a construction project. We don’t really delve into specifications until we start our first job. This is a very basic description of what specifications are and the...
Industry Standards

Industry Standards

Quite often when architects are putting their proposals together, the Owner will outline what each deliverable is required to have. When it comes to specifications, most often what we see is a request for CSI 3-part format specifications. The other requirement you...
Division 01 vs. Part 1

Division 01 vs. Part 1

PART 1 – GENERAL is the first part of every specification section. Much of the information found in PART 1 is an expansion of requirements found in Division 01 – General Requirements. This session briefly explains this relationship to help the A/E decide the best...
Specification Resources

Specification Resources

It never fails when you get a substitution request on a product you’ve never heard of, or you are doing a QA review and realize we are missing a spec for a product. It’s always in a rush, or last minute. Here are some resources. If you are organizing the spec work in...
Capitalization and Language

Capitalization and Language

With all the different mediums we have to communicate, most all require written text. If it was a conversation, we likely have a follow-up memo. Because specifications are legal documents, it is important to use the correct language and capitalization when “speaking”...