SpecLink / BSD bought out, liquidating?

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Author Message Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: presbspec Post Number: 316 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 02:19 pm:    Just had an interesting conversation with a rep for MasterSpec. Not sure if the info is sales fluff, or verifiable. He stated that SpecLink and BSD was just bought by a European entity and was likely to be liquidated. He also stated that SpecText had always been engineering (civil, infrastructure, MEP based) which I immediately chastised him on. I grew up as a specifier on SpecText in the Architectural sections. Was not happy when MasterSpec bought it. Anyway, any info on SpecLink? Marc Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 522 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 02:32 pm:    I can verify that BSD was bought by RIB group. see their own press release https://bsdspeclink.com/press-release/ . You were correct to correct the person you talked to. Spectext was and is much more than just civil, although we do emphasize that in the current product. As for the future of BSD, who knows, call and talk to BSD. I certainly do not nor would I venture to comment on such. T.J. Simons, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: tsimons Post Number: 21 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 04:13 pm:    My impression when I first read the press release Marc shared is that the RIB Group is an organization somewhat similar to Deltek; they appear to serve some of the same market. As to what they plan to do with BSD, I have no idea-if I were a BSD customer, I'd definitely be asking the question. Totally agree about Spectext; I worked for 5 years in an office where it formed the basis of our architectural master. Brian Payne Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 191 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 04:19 pm:    I'm not a business guy, but this sounds like RIB is planning on sticking around. Aug 28, 2019 RIB to Acquire 60% of a Leading, High-Growth Architecture, Engineering and Construction Technology and BIM Services Company Headquartered in California, USA RIB U.S. Revenue Expected to Double in the First Half of 2020 (H1 2019 15.8 Million USD) and Become the Leading Market for RIB in the Midterm After investing 42 Million USD into Atlanta-based Building Systems Design (BSD) for a 60% share in June 2019, RIB is proud to announce a second investment of 26.4 Million USD for a 60% share in U.S. CAD. Based in Southern California, U.S. CAD is a leading AEC technology reseller and integrator, and BIM services provider with over 50% revenue growth compared to 2018. As an Autodesk Platinum partner, U.S. CAD offers tailored solutions and services to over 50.000 active subscribers across United States. With 10 additional offices in the U.S., the company will contribute over 30 Million Euro yearly revenue with 20-30% EBIT/DA margin to the RIB Group in 2020, not including revenue out of third-party software. Daimon Bridge (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 05:11 pm:    As the SVP of Sales and Marketing at BSD, I am happy to report that BSD is still very much a solid and will remain as such! In fact, we are incredibly excited at the opportunity to join forces with RIB (a German based company), which will enable us to deliver an even more comprehensive set of world-class solutions to our clients. I want to express my gratitude to Margaret for taking the time to ask the question and get the facts. Having spent my career in Sales and Marketing, it genuinely saddens me when people from any company use this type of "sales tactic." If you would like any more information on BSD or the RIB-BSD relationship and how it benefits our clients, please feel free to contact me directly at dbridge@bsdspeclink.com Marc Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 523 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 07:17 pm:    thanks for posting Daimon. I agree. I love a little good old fashioned competition, so I'm glad you're in the market. Margaret, thanks for asking the questions. and for questioning that source! Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: presbspec Post Number: 317 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 07:26 pm:    Thank you Daimon, Altho' I don't always agree with how SpecLink handles everything and I do a bit of rewriting on occasion, the original text came from SpecText with which I am most familiar, as I said, I cut my specifier's teeth on it, :-). I look forward to some new improvements that make my work life easier. Dewayne Dean Senior Member Username: ddean Post Number: 202 Registered: 02-2016 Posted on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 - 11:23 am:    BSD has a new Product out - SpecLinkCloud, a web based version. I do not work for BSD as some here have accused me. I am wondering if other members have switched over to the new SpecLinkCloud. I would like a dialogue with any who have. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 502 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 - 06:26 pm:    Dewayne, To me it seems crazy to want ALL my work to be on someone else's computer somewhere that I cannot always get to it. (That is what "the cloud" basically means.) As long as I can control my workflow, specs that I write and use will always be locally stored and immediately updated in the cloud as part of a sophisticated backup system with several other layers of backups. If my client requires me to work on some cloud or network system I will always save each section every time I change it, so I at least have a copy. The big guide spec companies seem to want to push us to cloud-only. I've talked with them and there is no interest in solutions such as I describe. I suspect they will eventually phase out the non-cloud methods as a means of enforcing copyright. There is a lot to be said for that, but what is the spec writer on a deadline supposed to do when there is a temporary internet outage??? Also can't I do some of my work on a train or a plane or a remote place somewhere, if not, why not? If I am in a meeting and there is not cell signal or safe wi-fi and I need to review the specs with someone, I want 100% reliability or as close to that as possible. This is all very simple. That is the way I currently work and there is no impetus whatsoever for me to change it particularly since I write my own masters and team up with others to use and maintain them. Since the remaining big two are not interested in this I'm curious if those of us who write our own masters would want to work together to streamline our efforts at developing open specs, on our own to be open-licensed except as we apply copyright to our project work so customers pay us for our services. Sort of a Linux of specs. Might even do software as such sometime. Really, this stuff is not that hard. Yeah that goes against the grain. Bigger and biggerer companies want to make millions and develop a monopoly or close to it. Where is the outcry? Dewayne Dean Senior Member Username: ddean Post Number: 203 Registered: 02-2016 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 02:00 pm:    Chris, All good points. I am not trying to change any one's mind. I know there are other BSD users on here. I would like to hear from them if they have switched to the cloud. Brian Payne Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 192 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 03:40 pm:    I havn't yet. One limitation I would have trouble getting over (if it still exists) is the inability to open multiple sessions at once for a single user. I often have current project, reference project, and template open at the same time. My understanding is this isn't possible yet bc of licensing issues. Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: presbspec Post Number: 318 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 04:02 pm:    Not sure if I have cloud version, am using e-SpecLink. But I often have at least two projects open at once, one to work and the other to reference. Have to log in separately for each one, but can have both up at the same time on my computer. Dewayne Dean Senior Member Username: ddean Post Number: 204 Registered: 02-2016 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 04:52 pm:    Brian, I can log into multiple projects in separate browser windows with no issues. Margaret, do you open a program window or a browser window when you work in e-SpecLink? Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: presbspec Post Number: 319 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 05:26 pm:    I believe it is a program window through Parallels Client. The program is definitely on the BSD server as are my project files, when I export or print to PDF I have to thread through the server to make sure I'm saving to my computer. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 507 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 06:50 pm:    For some websites I log into multiple accounts simultaneously by using 2 separate browsers (e.g. Chrome for one, Firefox for the other) when I otherwise could not even in separate windows of the same browser. I don't know if that idea would help or not for what you are trying to do. Dewayne Dean Senior Member Username: ddean Post Number: 205 Registered: 02-2016 Posted on Friday, September 13, 2019 - 06:36 pm:    Margaret, Sounds like you are not on the Cloud yet. Probably a good thing, at least for awhile Ed Storer Senior Member Username: ed_storer Post Number: 32 Registered: 05-2009 Posted on Friday, September 13, 2019 - 11:54 pm:    With the exception of Dropbox, I'm not on any cloud. I don't have to share my work, as I work alone. I see the cloud strategy as just one more thing that I really don't need - more complication for one who is on track for retirement. If I was working as an employee, then I wouldn't have a choice. I'm solo, so no clouds in my future. Gail Ann J. Goldstead, AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP, BD+C Senior Member Username: ggoldstead Post Number: 25 Registered: 03-2015 Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2019 - 08:45 am:    I am the only spec writer in my office. Even in working on projects with other consultants, I have no need for working on the cloud option that Masterspec offers. I can access my desktop remotely through our VPN, but I prefer to work in the office. Gail Goldstead Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 638 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2019 - 01:59 pm:    My workflow on an average day involves orderly specification production on one or two projects, issuing modifications on a couple of other projects, and answering inquiries on several other under-construction projects. Production process includes rapid jumping between commercial masters, in-house masters, and maybe three or four completed project files. I keep two or three File Explorer windows open, several Word documents, browser windows, and Outlook open at all times on four monitors - plus a side computer for bulk processes. We keep all project work in Dropbox for Business, and during schedule crunches I am often teaming with a remote writer on a single project. I am having a hard time seeing how moving our specification process to all be resident in a cloud-based structure such as is emerging from Deltek and BSD is going to benefit our work quality or increase our profitability as a consulting firm. I believe the vision of these companies is being driven by software developers rather than content writers or design professionals. The developers and project managers that I interact with do not understand what specification content is or how it is used in the day to day development of an architectural project - they have to be led step by step through a process in order to understand what is needed. Software developers do not have years of experience working in architectural firms. They can produce works of programming genius, but only if they are led by someone with great experience in the diverse ways that design projects develop and design teams work. I have spent nearly four years developing and maintaining a database-driven, cloud-located specification system for one of our clients. It has been extraordinarily demanding and frustrating. Its output documents have yet to match the quality of the semi-automated MSWord system it replaced. It is in the cloud because firm management felt it "ought to be" in the cloud. Brings to mind Maslow's famous quote: "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: michael_chusid Post Number: 505 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Sunday, September 22, 2019 - 10:56 pm:    We sometimes lose sight of our role, as specifiers, in the total construction industry. Our projects, though important, are but a small percentage of building related activities - an industry that extends from tract housing to heavy civil projects to building maintenance, etc. When a big firm starts buying up master spec services, it is part of a much larger effort to manage the flow of information in a much bigger picture than our world. Back in the 1980s, I was a consultant to several companies trying to automate product selection and spec writing, or at least to streamline the process. McGraw Hill, Heery - the founder of BSD, System George, Vertex, Eclat, Product Masterspec, and others. It proved impractical then, not because of technology, but because the industry is so fragmented and has different approaches to their work. The same is true now. Yet look at the mega trends: robotics, AI, globalization, a constant flood of new technology and products, BIM, growing regulatory complexity, and more. Most of the companies investing in the construction cloud will go bust or be bought up by other companies. But one or more of them will be the next Autodesk that dominates the way the industry works. The companies that are investing now are gamblers, but only 1 in 5 of there investments need to win to make it worthwhile. It is 40 years since I did the work with the pioneering computerized spec companies. I suspect that 40 years from now, if I live that long, I will still be debating the future of the cloud or whatever the next buzzword is. And, there will still be need for you and me and other people who know how to put a building together. Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS 1-818-219-4937 www.chusid.com www.buildingproduct.guru Lars Hubbard Advanced Member Username: larshubb Post Number: 5 Registered: 06-2007 Posted on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 - 10:32 am:    We have developed cloud-based specification systems, starting (believe it or not) nearly 20 years ago. Our current version is used by two of the largest specifications firms in the world (RBL and AECOM in the UK), as well as spec consultants and architects on five continents. All of our clients -- which includes the specifications team at Foster+Partners -- insist that it is superior to any MS Word-based solution, or any of the other commercially available specifications systems, cloud-based or otherwise. The increase in quality comes from the removal of information silos, consistency of terminology, rapid review and update of documents, the ability to gather comment that become resident in the audit trail... there are many, many benefits. The ability to spend more time on actually concentrating on the 'meat' of the specifications, and not having to worry about the scut work of formatting, contract terms, etc. means that, at the end of the day, the specifications are accurate and appropriate. Profitability grows as a result of being able to put out specifications faster and better than the competition. As an example: we have a system wherein one fills out a series of checklists on an iPad, or sets up a series of assemblies (exterior walls. roofing, interior walls, floors, etc.) in an online editor, and the system drafts the entire specification in the background. A long way of saying don't write off cloud-based solutions. By all means, criticize the ones that are inadequate, but technology is evolving more and more towards the SAAS model, and we all are going along for the ride. We just have to be certain that the systems we use are benefits to our practice, not barriers. Allan Baer AIA (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2020 - 05:45 pm:    Lars Hubbard: Who are "We"? Lars Hubbard Senior Member Username: larshubb Post Number: 6 Registered: 06-2007 Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2020 - 06:10 pm:    "We" are The Friday Group, LLC. Based in Middlebury, VT. http://www.fridaygroupllc.com We started developing cloud-based systems in 2000, when I was VP of Kalin Associates.