For many of you that know me, know I am a member of CSI (Construction Specifications Institute). During the month of September we are declaring it SPECtember. Why SPECtember you might ask? Anyone who is involved in the construction industry realizes how important specifications are. If specifications are not done right, there can be costly mistakes made before, during, and after construction. Poorly written specifications can result in many things like wrong construction type of materials, things getting missed resulting in expensive change orders, and so on.

CSI has a motto called the Four C’s; 1) Clear, Concise, Complete, and Correct. This could not be more true in construction. Let’s take a look further into the meanings of these words.

Clear: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be clear in their intent, meanings, and instructions. They should not be be ambiguous or confusing.

Concise: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be concise.  They should be written in a simple and consistent style; their structure should be intuitive so that they are easily referenced and comprehended.  They should not be wordy or needlessly complex.

Complete: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be 100% complete for the intended audience.  They must have all of the information required to understand and be executed.

Correct: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be 100% correct in order for the user to properly comprehend and perform a task.  Errors and omissions in these documents cause errors and omissions in the execution.

As you can see, the 4'C’s are extremely important with specifications and constructions in order to build what was intended. MasterFormat use to consist of 16 Divisions of construction. Now there are 50 Divisions reflecting the growing complexity of the construction industry.

There is also another motto I like and that is “Say it once, say it in the right place.” Repeating something or saying in multiple places can cause confusion and result in problems or issues. I have seen documents where some thing was intended in multiple places however the same wording was not used in the multiple places resulting in confusion to the parties involved. I have also seen where something was said in multiple places, then when the project was bidding, they forgot to correct all of the areas thus causing 2 different methods of how a wall was to be built. If an issue like this is not caught in time, here comes the finger pointing pointing game; meaning what was intended, who is responsible, and who is going to pay to fix the mistake

If you get anything out of this, remember the importance of properly written specifications and why SPECTember is an important part of CSI and what we do.For many of you that know me, know I am a member of CSI (Construction Specifications Institute). During the month of September we are declaring it SPECtember. Why SPECtember you might ask? Anyone who is involved in the construction industry realizes how important specifications are. If specifications are not done right, there can be costly mistakes made before, during, and after construction. Poorly written specifications can result in many things like wrong construction type of materials, things getting missed resulting in expensive change orders, and so on.

CSI has a motto called the Four C’s; 1) Clear, Concise, Complete, and Correct. This could not be more true in construction. Let’s take a look further into the meanings of these words.

Clear: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be clear in their intent, meanings, and instructions. They should not be be ambiguous or confusing.

Concise: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be concise.  They should be written in a simple and consistent style; their structure should be intuitive so that they are easily referenced and comprehended.  They should not be wordy or needlessly complex.

Complete: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be 100% complete for the intended audience.  They must have all of the information required to understand and be executed.

Correct: Construction Documents (specs, drawings, bids) , Agreements, Instructions, and Requirements must be 100% correct in order for the user to properly comprehend and perform a task.  Errors and omissions in these documents cause errors and omissions in the execution.

As you can see, the 4'C’s are extremely important with specifications and constructions in order to build what was intended. MasterFormat use to consist of 16 Divisions of construction. Now there are 50 Divisions reflecting the growing complexity of the construction industry.

There is also another motto I like and that is “Say it once, say it in the right place.” Repeating something or saying in multiple places can cause confusion and result in problems or issues. I have seen documents where some thing was intended in multiple places however the same wording was not used in the multiple places resulting in confusion to the parties involved. I have also seen where something was said in multiple places, then when the project was bidding, they forgot to correct all of the areas thus causing 2 different methods of how a wall was to be built. If an issue like this is not caught in time, here comes the finger pointing pointing game; meaning what was intended, who is responsible, and who is going to pay to fix the mistake

If you get anything out of this, remember the importance of properly written specifications and why SPECTember is an important part of CSI and what we do.