How Much of Your Time Do You Spend on...

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message Sunny Onadipe, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP, Green Specialist, PMP, SCIP (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Friday, July 20, 2018 - 04:50 pm:    Dear Esteemed Colleagues: I will love to have your insights on this very important subject. What percentage of your time do you typically spend on developing, expanding, updating and maintaining master specifications for your office or your practice? How much of your time do you think you should be spending on these activities, if you have the liberty to do so?. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 611 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - 05:40 pm:    We don't maintain separate masters. I never have in 30 years of writing specifications. I combine the reuse of project specifications on similar projects with quick editing of MasterSpec masters. We consult for 8 or 10 firms with a dozen project types; outside of Division 01, masters are of little use to us. We do check reused specs against current MasterSpec updates in the process. Maintaining masters may work if your practice is focused on a very few project types. But beware how quickly certain sections can become out of date. Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 652 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - 06:07 pm:    I am a large architecture firm in-house specifier. I do not have a separate billing code for the maintenance of masters as a non-billable "admin" task. So like Phil, I work with the most recent version of each spec Section I have issued that is appropriate for the new Project. Selection may be based on project location, applicable codes, or a recurring client with their preferences burned into the specs. California OSHPD can be its own universe, with edits of the many things they want to see in the specs. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 418 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - 06:37 pm:    The time I spend on masters is essentially negative, because it saves time on every project. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 1915 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2018 - 01:22 am:    Ditto with Chris and Phil. For repeat clients there is usually one project that becomes a "master" for future work, but it also depends on the Project Manager and when that one project falls out of favor as new projects move forward. Sunny thanks for starting this thread, I always assumed I was the black sheep regarding specification masters.