Transitioning to Spec Writer

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Author Message Brad Kerr New member Username: bradkerr Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2022 Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 02:13 pm:    Hi everyone, new member to this forum and I was hoping to get some perspective on how I should focus my training as I transition to my firms technical spec writer role. I'm a licensed architect in California and have been working consistently for the last 20 years. Lots of construction administration on my projects mainly in the field of commercial, government and a little residential. My office also has quite a few project in hospitality, bio-lavatories and education (K-12 & higher ed). The office is located in California as is a majority of our work, however we do have projects in a few other states. I do have some limited amount of time writing / completing specification from our firms standard library of Masterspec templates. Finally, I primarily work remotely, so most of my interactions with staff members will be via Teams meetings & Whiteboard and Bluebeam sessions with occasional in person session a couple times a month. My predecessor left the firm about 3 months ago and primarily used the library of MasterSpec word files as the starting point for each project spec. As I prepare for this transition, I'm planning to study for & take the CSI CCCA & CCS exams this winter. I was hoping to get some feedback on what other education / certification opportunities that I should consider pursuing to accelerate my knowledge base. Also I would be interested to learn about the ideal way to setup my approach to writing specification (cloud based, word documents, closed specs, etc). I have done a bit of research on this site, it seems Deltek e-Spec and SpecLink are widely used. I understand that Deltek has a new cloud based system, Specpoint, but it doesn't seem many users have made that transition yet. I will also be working directly with our office BIM manger to build-in as much specification information into the modeling as possible. Thanks for your consideration, looking forward to the conversation and being a member here. Brian Payne Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 273 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 03:11 pm:    First, welcome to the dark side. I think your going to get as many opinions as you will responses. I would be glad to share my experiences over Teams if you are interested. Feel free to contact me at bpayne@dudapaine.com. Greta Eckhardt (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 03:48 pm:    Brad, it is good to hear that you want to bring your background as an Architect to the profession of specifier, and all the steps you mention should serve you well. The feedback I would offer on additional education is that I believe the more you can learn about building science, the better you will be able to advise project teams on the products and assemblies they ask you to specify. A great way to get started would be to find your local Building Enclosure Council (BEC), whose meetings bring together a range of participants from the design & construction industry, who offer presentations and discussions on a range of current topics relevant to building science. You can learn more about the BECS at this website: https://www.nibs.org/betec Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 2286 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 04:52 pm:    Read, study, and understand Divisions 00 and 01 and their relationship to all the other documents. David G. Axt, CCS, CSI ,SCIP Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1945 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 06:55 pm:    Probably the best thing you can do is study for and take the Construction Documents Technologist (CDT) exam (then the CCS later). When I was starting out I learned an incredible amount from just studying for theat exam. The best part was I could actually use what I studied at my job! David G. Axt, CCS, CSI, SCIP Specifications Consultant Axt Consulting LLC Brian Payne Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 274 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Monday, August 01, 2022 - 06:55 pm:    Greta's response reminded me of just how important my local BEC was in my education. I helped launch our local BEC about the same time as I transitioned to lead spec writer. It probably had more of an impact than I fully realize. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 717 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2022 - 02:24 pm:    Brad: Once you take my brilliant colleagues' suggestions to heart, get a look at your available time, and apply yourself to the low hanging fruit: What do your team architects need? What do your clients need? Study those things. There's lots of opportunity for continuing education that will never improve your projects, so skip those things. You can find low hanging fruit in addenda and RFIs and change orders. Welcome aboard. It really is fun! Phil Kabza FCSI CCS AIA SpecGuy Specifications Consultants www.SpecGuy.com phil@specguy.com Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 2287 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2022 - 02:33 pm:    It is definitely fun! Don't forget to rely on the many trusted advisors out there for assistance with the multitude of products, too. They are invaluable. Dan Helphrey Senior Member Username: dbhelphrey Post Number: 104 Registered: 12-2018 Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2022 - 06:10 pm:    How's your Revit? I ask because the "newest thing" that has been on the horizon for a while but few, if any, firms have really implemented is the integration of the specifications with Revit, using eSpecs, VisiSpecs, or SpecLink-e, so if you're pretty good with Revit, you could be "the guy" for that effort. Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 871 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2022 - 06:45 pm:    Brad, its refreshing to hear about people going INTO spec writing! There are far too many announcements of retirements or more final departures from the industry. I applaud and agree with your CCS certification journey, that will be very beneficial. I would continue to do what you are doing, such as being engaged here on 4Specs, and also the CSInet forum, and SCIP if they have their own forum (I am not sure). Its been a while, but every few years CSI hosts their Academy events, with three parallel tracks (Specs, CA, and Product Rep). These events are excellent training and network opportunities that I have greatly enjoyed in the past. Beyond that, I would encourage you to be an expert in your firm on a variety of topics. With your CA experience, you can host training on a wide array of topics pertaining to constructability, annotation, dimensioning, etc... The more you teach, the better your expertise is. If you are interested in bldg envelope stuff, the BEC that Greta suggested is excellent. Along those lines, I highly recommend the training classes offered by Christine at Building Science Fight Club. Really great stuff. Lastly, with regards to platforms, we use SpecLink Cloud and its decent, and the company offers a lot of webinars that go beyond buttonology and quite a bit into theory of spec writing also. John Bunzick Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1885 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, August 03, 2022 - 04:32 pm:    Quite honestly, I think your experience doing CA is going to be the most important thing you bring to your spec writing position. This is the career path I took, and it made specifying so much easier because I had a very solid sense of not only what was doable, but what really actually mattered in the field. This is not to say you should skip all the other stuff like certification - that's important and very useful. I just want to reinforce that your experience will make this easier than you may think! In the end I think the production environment (Word/cloud/etc) will be what it needs to be, and may be at times helpful or annoying, but it won't be the thing that matters most. James Sandoz, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: jsandoz Post Number: 354 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Monday, August 08, 2022 - 09:20 am:    I second Mr. Bunzick's statement and I think it true whether one pursues specification writing in particular or any aspect of construction documentation. It is unfortunate that currently, for whatever reason(s), less experienced staff spends too little time at the construction site observing and learning from those who are, sometimes literally, down in the trenches. I wish you all the best, Brad. I'm sure you will become an outstanding specification writer. I'm thinking you probably already possess some of the most important tools for that task. Brad Kerr Junior Member Username: bradkerr Post Number: 2 Registered: 07-2022 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 01:52 pm:    Thank you for all of the feedback, info and support. Looks like I should join NIBS, SCIP and my local CSI Chapter at some point this year. The Building Science Fight Club courses look promising as well. I'm planning to test out Deltek Specpoint, RIB SpecLink & Chalkline VisiSpec to see which will suit my needs. So far based on videos I've been able to watch online and talking to a SpecLink rep, I'm leaning towards that application. However I did notice VisiSpec works with the Military required SpecsIntact format, which could be useful as my office has quite a few projects that require this and we currently sub out the formatting process. Still need to chat with a Deltek rep. I was wondering, for all of the Section 1 references, ASTM, ANSI, UL etc, is it worth having access to any of these organization's full suite of documents or will the typically found free online abstracts be sufficient for verification of product information for writing specs? Any other must have suggestion I should acquire for reference & detailing, ie National Roofing Contractor Association Manuals, American Concrete Institute, etc? John Bunzick Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1887 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 04:19 pm:    Abstracts are not usually enough. Some standards-promulgating organizations provide copies free on line; many don't. ASTM does not, but they used to have a compendium of standards/specs related to design and construction. I'm not sure if that product still exists. Greta Eckhardt Senior Member Username: gretaeckhardt Post Number: 126 Registered: 08-2013 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 04:26 pm:    Access to ASTM and other standards cited in codes can be obtained through an online subscription to MADCAD for a monthly or annual fee. Ronald L. Geren, FCSI Lifetime Member, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSC, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 1617 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 06:40 pm:    If you join SCIP, you can access MADCAD and the ASTM standards used in building codes and master guide specifications. SCIP plans to expand this membership benefit, but nothing has been decided yet. Ron Geren, FCSI Lifetime Member, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSC, SCIP Nathan Woods, CSI, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 874 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 06:42 pm:    Brad, you might look into MadCAD.com, which provides subscription access to a lot of those refence documents. Between MadCAD and UpCodes.com, your bases will be pretty covered. Dan Helphrey Senior Member Username: dbhelphrey Post Number: 105 Registered: 12-2018 Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 - 07:22 pm:    To have access to ALL of the standards referenced in a typical project manual, not to mention those referenced in all applicable Codes and regulations, would cost your firm many tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds of thousands) a year. I work for a HUGE engineering company (15K employees worldwide) and we have subscriptions covering maybe maybe half of them.