Recommendation for a great specificat...

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Author Message Priscilla Lee Senior Member Username: pjlee Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2019 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 03:36 pm:    Other than the CSI Construction Specifications Practice Guide, are there any spec writing guides you would recommend as well? I do have the Construction Specifications Writing by Harold Rosen, but Amazon sent me an ancient one--my cat hissed at it because it smelled bad and it seemed a little on the tiny side. Construction Specifications Writing: Principles and Procedures is due to arrive in 2 days. I've downloaded every specification writing document from the internet for the last few years. I've been collecting notes and articles from forums and blogs for finer points and great advice on writing. So far, I've put together an 86-page style guide for myself. I am studying for the CCS for the end of July, so I will learn more too by reading the CSI guides more closely. Thank you again! Helaine K Robinson (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 03:51 pm:    Start with the Project Delivery Practice Guide 2nd Edition. https://www.csiresources.org/home/widgettest?cobaltsrc=https://csi82widgets.cobaltsaas.com/Sales/Catalog/Detail.aspx?id=7BF50C27-F524-41E6-B820-57AE16C34574 Rich Gonser Senior Member Username: rich_gonser Post Number: 154 Registered: 11-2008 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 04:48 pm:    The architect's guide to writing : for design and construction professionals. Schmaltz, Bill George A. Everding, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 914 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 04:58 pm:    Specification Writing Guide by Rosen, with updates by Regener and Kalin. Marc Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 598 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 05:04 pm:    not totally off topic. BUT IMHO the Project Delivery Practice Guide is "nice" (look up the original meaning), but expresses the way the world worked 20 years ago. it's dependance upon Design Bid Build and the architect as the arbiter of all things construction, is just sad. Yes. Yes. I've heard plenty of discussion about why the book is organized the way it is, however it is looking at the world thru a thick pair of colored glasses...For how projects should run see https://leanconstructionblog.com/Introduction-to-Target-Value-Delivery.html they also have a small book. Think about how you would specify a job that is delivered in pieces over a five year period of time. The "spec" will not be one document (it should be a freaking database) at this time the "spec" will be several documents published over time. Rosen's book is good, the CCS book by CSI is fine, if dated. If you want to talk about what could be and not what is. I'd love to talk. Marc Marc Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 599 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 05:09 pm:    also David updated Hans Meier's book in 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Construction-Specifications-Applications-David-Wyatt/dp/1428318615 I have not read it but David Wyatt is a pretty sharp guy. Marc Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 600 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 05:14 pm:    but go to e-bay why any sane person would pay 800+ dollars for a modern book by anyone is crazy George A. Everding, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 915 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 05:20 pm:    I endorse Marc's opinion about CSI's practice guide. Rosen's book is foundational, but it's been over a decade since John Regener and Mark Kalin updated it. One of CSI's failures over the last few decades has been reluctance to address changes in project delivery. CSI has been playing catch up, sometimes successfully but more often futilely, with an industry that is light years ahead of it. We started out as true leaders in improving how we document, how we organize, and how we share information. We've ended up as followers. Further not totally off topic, I wonder if today's Crosswalk announcement heralds a transformational approach by CSI to keeping current, or if it is merely a desperate last gasp to try to find a bigger market for its solid but perhaps outdated standards. Priscilla Lee Senior Member Username: pjlee Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2019 Posted on Friday, June 12, 2020 - 11:47 am:    Thank you so much for the recommendations! Mark Gilligan SE, Senior Member Username: mark_gilligan Post Number: 938 Registered: 10-2007 Posted on Saturday, June 13, 2020 - 11:44 pm:    George I would be interested in understanding how you think the construction documents should change with different delivery systems. I am familiar with Lean Construction and at the end of the day the documents have to do two things, 1)describe what the Owner expects of the Contractor and 2) document the work sufficient to show code compliance. In the context of the technical sections I would not expect a lot of difference. In Lean Construction much of the interaction and coordination occurs before the scope is finalized and the final cost is agreed. Mark Gilligan SE, Senior Member Username: mark_gilligan Post Number: 939 Registered: 10-2007 Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2020 - 02:18 am:    Target value delivery is a design phased tool used for a Lean Construction Project. Classically these projects are governed by a contract modeled after the Integrated Form of Agreement (IFOA) contract which focuses more on behaviors. The construction documents including the specifications are the end product of the design phase. The Construction documents are not a tool to monitor and manage the design process. The design process ends when the project scope is properly documented and when there is agreement about the cost of the projected work. The construction documents are the documentation of the project scope. The technical specifications should be very similar to a classical design bid build set of specifications. How you got there is not governed by the project specifications. During construction the contractor is incentivized to control costs since by reducing project costs to the Owner the Contractor’s profit will be increased. Correspondingly if there are overruns the Contractors profit can be wiped out. The design teams’ profit is similarly at risk. If the project cost wipes out the profits of the designers and the contractor the Owner typically absorbs the cost overrun. This is not as risky as it may seem because these projects are closely monitored and the Owner has a more active role in managing the project. We are not talking about the classical arm’s length contracts of old. Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 820 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 12:46 am:    I strongly endorse George's reccommendation for the "Specification Writing Guide" by Rosen, with updates by Regener and Kalin. Boy do I miss John Regener. Talking to him about 2020 would have been....interesting.