Colin Gilboy
Member
Username: Colin
Post Number: 43
Registered: 05-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 01:20 pm: |    |
SHORT-FORM SPECIFICATIONS - 10
Copyright 2001 by Herman R. Hoyer, PE, FCSI, CCS
And now we come to the last of the basic tenets which govern the composition of short-form specifications, Basic Tenet No. 6, as follows:
AVOIDANCE OF SPECIFYING CONSTRUCTION MEANS, METHODS, TECHNIQUES, SEQUENCES, AND PROCEDURES, AS WELL AS COORDINATION OF THE WORK, WHICH ARE ALL THE CONTRACTOR'S RESPONSIBILITY
To lend credibility to this basic tenet, I direct your attention to the AIA General Conditions, AIA Document A201-1997, Article 3.3, Supervision and Construction Procedures. Note particularly the following quoted excerpt:
"The Contractor shall be solely responsible for and have control over construction means, methods, techniques, sequences, and procedures and for coordinating all portions of the Work under the Contract, unless the Contract Documents give other specific instructions concerning these matters."
The General Conditions, under Article 3.3, go on to say, in effect, that if the Architect or Owner should direct the Contractor to perform contrary to the above-quoted provisions, the Owner shall be solely responsible for any resulting loss or damage. Note also the related provisions of Article 4.2.7.
Therefore, it is not good practice to specify the step-by-step process of installing a product. Remember, when you specify an installation method, you take on the responsibility for performance of the installed product.
Project quality assurance requirements may justify exceptions to the above-quoted provisions for installations requiring conformance with product manufacturers' installation instructions or for product installations requiring conformance with certain nationally accepted industry standards. Such installations can be easily specified in accordance with the following examples:
"Install fireplace and chimney in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions and recommendations."
"Fabricate and install flashings and sheet metalwork in accordance with SMACNA's Architectural Sheet Metal Manual." (Note: The abbreviation or acronym SMACNA is defined in Section 01422 - Reference Standards.)
Also, in short-form specifications, the "Related Work" or "Related Sections" provision is not needed, because coordinating the Work is the Contractor's responsibility. Do we really need to tell the Contractor that concrete formwork is specified in Section 03100 or that cast-in-place concrete is specified in Section 03300 when, in fact, the Project Manual Table of Contents already provides this information? Of course not.
Now that we have concluded the six basic tenets which govern short-form specifications, future columns will feature sample sections, short-form specs as drawing notes, and design-build specifications, along with other short-form principles and examples. So, stay with me. The best is yet to come. |
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