Design Development Specifications

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Author Message Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 427 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 12:46 pm:    We have been asked to prepare a set of Design Development Specifications for a project in Dubai. That is the extent of our services and our clients. So my question is are design development Specifications similar to Outline Specifications? How limited or extensive do they need to be? The project is very prestigious and very high end. Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI Senior Member Username: rliebing Post Number: 683 Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 01:07 pm:    I would say that like other Design Development work, you are beginning to add detailed information to the approved design concpet. In that you are NOT providing complete information. So a type of outline spec is appropriate, short of complete detail, and most certainly NOT in a form that they can be used for construction.[uneditable disclaimer would seem to be a good addition] Jo Drummond Senior Member Username: jo_drummond_fcsi Post Number: 7 Registered: 06-2007 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 01:21 pm:    I've done a number of these (not in Dubai), and I write a comprehensive outline spec., although I call it bridging documents or whatever term the architect uses. Each division is separate, but each section is separated from the others by an extra line. I write a brief Division 1 only to define the things that the designer cares about, not the things that relate to construction administration. For example, you might care very much about some finish materials, so a substitution statement would be appropriate. On the other hand, project meetings don't matter in design development/bridging/outline, so I don't need to mention them. For the other Divisions, I say enough to establish the level of quality desired and name the materials and models that are part of the design. For commodity products, only enough to establish the level of quality. I write them in narrative, rather than outline, style, so they are hard to copy into a construction document. I agree with Ralph on the disclaimer, and it should be part of all documents, not just the spec. Architects' responsibility and liability are tricky in these anywhay, so the more disclaimers the better. Hope that Dubai is not as litigious a climate as the US. Robert W. Johnson Senior Member Username: bob_johnson Post Number: 158 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 01:22 pm:    Have you read CSI PRM 4.8 and 4.9? John Hunter Senior Member Username: johnhunter Post Number: 37 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 01:33 pm:    Our practice has been to provide Sections edited to Part 1 and Part 2 only, as the purpose of the DD specification is to document product, material and finish selections. Given that this is a high end project (are there any projects in Dubai that are not high end?) these selections are probably mission-critical and need to be well-documented. It might also be prudent to have your client confirm that your proposed format is consistent with their Contract requirements. Ralph's comments about taking steps to ensure it is not used as-is for construction are dead-on. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 627 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 01:59 pm:    I disagree with the idea of only editing parts 1 and 2. I consider DD specs as those to be used for pricing, and there are a lot of installation/execution items that will greatly influence cost of the project and the selection of subcontractors. if the project is high end and prestigious then the designers are going to care about how it is executed. You need to communicate enough information to ensure that your design intent is met. Our European projects are typically only taken to DD in the documents, with the subcontractors providing the additional design and fabrication, but they definitely need a suitable scope of work to ensure that our intent has been met, and that includes the appropriate testing.. Richard Howard, AIA CSI CCS LEED-AP Senior Member Username: rick_howard Post Number: 147 Registered: 07-2003 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 02:08 pm:    In our experience with middle east projects, contractors are more familiar with British methodology than US. They expect something like a "quantity survey" and specs are a secondary concern. They will not be expecting an outline format and may find it awkward, so go with a narrative format and make the text sequence follow the anticipated order of work. Material availability is nothing like domestic work and sources often won't have demonstrated compliance with US or any other standards. Research available products and establish a "basis of design" for the things that matter. You need to have well developed descriptive language of the expected results. They will find as skilled a craftsman as they believe they need to please you. It also helps to understand local trade capabilities. Sometimes, something we would think of as excessively labor-intensive will be cheaper to do than a simple process that is not familiar. Congratulations on becoming international. With careful attention to communication it can be very satisfying. In any case, it should be much easier to build in Dubai than it is in Iraq. Robert W. Johnson Senior Member Username: bob_johnson Post Number: 159 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 02:17 pm:    It obviously depends upon what the documentation is being used for at this stage of the particular project - that usually means a coversation with the project manager if you have not been a part of the project team. For a project in Dubai that might be considerably different from a project in the States. For many projects that often means providing a more detailed description of the proposed construction for the deeper understanding of the proposed assemblies, systems, products, and installation methods (assuming there are choices available) by the Owner and the rest of the project team. Another important purpose of the DD documents may be to provide information for more accuarate construction schedules and cost estimates. If this is the case it is important to include all available information that would affect the time schedule and the cost estimate - any information that affects time or costs. If this is the case, I would disagree with Jo's comment of only including Division 01 information that the designer cares about - you would want to include special or unusual administrative requirements that would affect time schedule or costs such as work restrictions, quality assurance procedures (testing, mockups), etc. I would agree with Anne, although outline specifications usually emphasize PART 2 PRODUCT information, special or unusual PART 1 administrative requirements and PART 3 installation requirements (special tolerances or which installation method) should also be included when they affect time or costs. I agree with the comments that these are not construction documents, but I have seen them used for that purpose when the Owner and Contractor know each other well from on-going relationships on multiple projects of a similar nature - they both know what is required in terms of how they deal with each other and the desired quality levels - they just need to document what is involved in this particular new project - probably relatively unusual.