The Crucial Element

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Author Message Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 1164 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 07:05 am:    100331 THE CRUCIAL ELEMENT by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Cincinnati, OH “Communicating necessary construction information, instructions, directions and requirements, in clear, concise, complete, and clear written form, to the Contractor[s] and their project personnel in their offices and on the associated job site.” Do you or can you subscribe to that description? Isn’t this the crucial element in specifications writing and the root element of the primary direction of the Construction Specifications Institute? To me, a single opinion granted, the answer is “yes”! Emphatically, yes!! Now surrounding this element we have a thick Manual, a slew of webinars, educational programs, certification examinations, open discussions, other books, magazines articles and Lord knows what all to support this effort; to say nothing of the myriad nuances, side issues, non-construction aspects, legalities [where we all do not have full functional insight] involved in this fairly simple, straight-forward statement. But bottom-line is that EVERYTHING needs to be conceived and developed to enhance, support, upgrade and facilitate this statement! We can teach, forever, the “what-ifs” and the quirky changes of circumstances that any one project can throw at us, but we need, first off, to firmly, directly and COMPLETELY instill this simple element in the operating mind of every person writing or in any way involved with construction specifications-- from entering students in design profession education to the most crusty, know-it-all old pro [like me!]. This is the single pre-eminent issue we gather in any forum to deal with, and while we grouse about contractors, consultants [of other disciplines], manufacturers, suppliers, representatives, and yes, even our clients, our charge is to work to this crucial element, everyday and in every professional way. We need not take time to be cutesy, secretive, convoluted, wishy-washy, confounding or ambiguous-- we have far too much to do in just getting this element right, and instilled in everyone on each of our projects. Few, if any, specifiers truly know it all. Fact, not an accusation, since there is far too much involved for anyone to claim the title of Master Know-It-All, when things change, for our profession, by the minute, with quirks on the ½-minute! Hence, we will always come short of being able to teach those coming behind us everything there is to know now-- each MUST be bloodied at some time for some reason [you’re best advised to try to make it some small and fairly innocuous issue!] Therefore, in our effort to prepare new folks to be their best and with high skill, we can flunk each and every examination taker simply by creating unpassable questions, so deeply convoluted it would be a chore for a long-time specifier to dissect and solve it. So, what is the “best’ way to evaluate applicants for certification? Not an educator of any renown, but seems we need to dig into a level of broad and general understanding, operation, flexibility, breadth, correctness, references, resources and interrelationships-- and not so much into neatly twisted questions that confound, and bring remote, shady sidelight issues into consideration. All of us have passed innumerable quizzes, tests, and exams, so we know the routine. Many of us have taken professional registration exams and certification exams in other aspects of construction, so we well know what to expect. Most of these are written by professional examination writers who word questions correctly, dig to the right depth for proper assessment, and avoid the ambiguous, the off-the-wall and the confusion of trying to involve too many elements in one question. We need to examine on a reasonable, appropriate and flexible level, since our examinees are not on the same level or deal in identical circumstances [unlike the registration exams]; not everyone is on the same path and using the same tools in the same overall manner. The crucial element to support our direction! Tough to discern, but good way to go!