Why Do We Keep Doing This?

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Author Message Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 1188 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 07:12 am:    100505 WHY DO WE KEEP DOING THIS ? by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Cincinnati, OH You tell me-- why do we keep doing this? Writing specs, that is! Clients and owners too often perceive or see this work as unnecessary and added costs for no value returned! Contractors still persist in ignoring them [doors still need to be propped open, etc.], obviating them, complaining about them, or purely violating them [as a challenge to us to justify them in view of schedule intrusions, unnecessary costs, convoluted construction, etc. and so on!!!] They persist in seeing them as intrusive, conniving and convolutions aimed at minimizing profit or putting them out of business.ork Manufacturers have their own little gems that often say too much of what need not be said at all. Suppliers gasp at what we require as opposed to what they “could” provide. Corporations see them as needless in view of their own “engineering standards” [whoa!!!!!]. Code agencies dismiss them as impediments to their “expeditious” processes and “extra” work caused them because of opening the books and looking for information. And of course, BIM has its insidious side to render us obsolete and inadequate to the required database [which they fill with overly verbose and questionable data]. Everybody has their own second agenda, another way to do this and an excuse to obviate use of the specs. Nobody wants them; yet everybody needs them! So why do we keep doing them? Sure some of us make a living out of doing them for others; even where the contractors dispel them in favor of how they “could” do the same projects “better-faster-CHEAPER” [let’s not get into the cheaper part too deeply]. Why do some organizations still require them, and hire us to do them? Why do in-house writers still exist? Is there an inherent value in specifications that needs validation, airing, discussion and open support of their contribution as Contract Documents [i.e., as you well know, perfectly valid and necessary companions to the drawings enumerated in most contracts-- they are to be and cannot be ignored, etc.!] It really seems like a slippery slope of benign neglect since specifications appear to really serve no “real” purpose, until, of course, a good lady or gentleman climbs onto the bench, and bangs the gavel to start the trial of the lawsuit. Then, the very first document reached for, by the attorneys, is……………………THE SPECS!!!!!! What if they aren’t there???? Whatever argument you choose to develop and no matter how fast your convictions, I think we may need NEW AND DIFFERENT! With all their words, specs cannot speak for themselves or defend their value, contribution and “honor”; they exist in the silence of needed but misunderstood! We need, sad as it may be, to re-establish specs as the important and requisite “third” CD; their interrelationship to the drawings, their function as contract documents; and the necessary information they convey. What other way is there to move information to the field, when everything cannot be reduced to a drawing? Specs are a necessity, like it or not! They are not “game pieces”; busy work; ego trips, impediments, or creative nuisances to befuddle and impair! Simply, they are part on the in-place system-- period! We need new tactics to bring specifications to higher profile, better understanding by others including allied disciplines and to all users. Even with the cloud of BIM and whatever else hanging over us, we still need to be; to produce good, valid specs, and to contribute to quality in projects, by having it required and built-in. Our clients despite their lack of full understanding still want the “biggest bang for their buck”. that we can produce, and we can defend [is that the right word?] our professional insight and expertise in that. We just need a new game plan, with a bigger game face, a wider audience and new larger megaphone. Maybe we can’t do informative advertising, per se, [why not?] or attract attention in other ways, but we can do much better for specifications than we have been. We really do need to do this!!!-- up, down and all around us, far and wide, to all even remotely effected audiences. Besides, we really love to keep doing specs! The usual Wednesday“ gem” won’t appear next week [aren’t you relieved?] I’ll be in Philly-- will you? Dennis C. Elrod, AIA Junior Member Username: delrodtn Post Number: 2 Registered: 04-2010 Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 09:52 am:    Ralph: Great rhetoric! However, I don't view BIM as a cloud, but as an opportunity to create a symbiotic relationship between drawings and specifications. Dennis C. Elrod, AIA Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 1189 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 11:16 am:    Thanks! Your insightful phrase just eluded me, so I resorted to "cloud", thinking that many of them are good, massive, eye-catching beautiful, and add to our lives-- uh, even with all the goodies promised in BIM, perhaps I stretched there!