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Author Message Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 848 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2012 - 09:45 pm:    A client (the Developer) has asked us to prepare specifications for a 60 story condo building in such manner as to reduce the number of Industrial Standards referenced, their reason for doing this is that the condo vulture attorneys nit pick every little item after construction to show that the construction did not comply with the Industrial standard, The developer agrees that certain standards that are referenced in the Building Code can not be eliminated, but they would like us to do our best to make their lives easier. I do not think this is even possible, I believe most standards are referenced back to the Florida Building Code. Am I the only specwriter who has to deal with these requests? Those of my peers who prepare specifications for condominium work how do you handle the condo vultures or are they only in Florida? Any guidance would be appreciated. I have prepared specifications for five previous projects for this developer, so I would like to continue the relationship. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1434 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 04:15 pm:    I've heard about this before, but only in Florida. Will the client allow proprietary specifications? Or perhaps specifications with only 2 or 3 named products? That way you could zero in using the standards in the usual way. Then write a short version spec without many standards, but only list the products that you know meet them, no substitutions. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 858 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 04:26 pm:    John, damn who told you my secret, thanks for letting the cat out of the bag, but seriously that is how I prepare specifications for most of my non-condominum residential projects, to date I'm been too afraid to do the same for condominium projects, fearful that condo vultures will wonder why our specifications for previous projects differ so much from current work - these condo vultures are sharp cookies, they eat nice jewish boys like me for breakfast, spit us out and eat what's left for dinner; actually most of our condominum work are somewhat proprietary, we limit manufacturers to 3 or 4 proven products that have a track record of performance in South Florida, but for condominium work we use long form specs, no short cuts. On condominium work we do not reinvent the wheel, our specs are boring and redundant, no experimenting allowed, probably a reason why we have never been involved in litigation where our specs were considered at fault for a dispute. Robert W. Johnson Senior Member Username: robert_w_johnson Post Number: 204 Registered: 03-2009 Posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 05:06 pm:    A majority of my current specification consulting work is on multi-family residential work - from mid-rise to high-rise - both apartments and condos - most include some retail space - some include a hotel as part of the project - the developers and contractors involved include some of the largest in the country. My specifications for apartments and condos does not vary by type, form, or amount of content. To my knowledge none of the projects have had any litigation. Based on all the stories in all your postings, I consider myself fortunate to never have had a project of this type in southern Florida. From what I can gather you live in a different world down there. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 861 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 05:25 pm:    Robert, our specifications on condo work differs from apartments, though it also depends on the price point; most apartment specifications barely meet minimum standards, again it depends on the developer, and some of our Developer clients are very large firms. With condo work we also have to abide by FL Statutes Chap 718. In Florida, work south of Orlando is ruled by a different mentality, its almost like a separate state and Miami-Dade & Broward Counties are like an off shore island, it gets pretty crazy down here. For example one of the biggest Florida construction problems these days is stucco delamination and cracking, I write a very tough stucco spec, stucco subcontractors north of Orlando have no problem abiding by my spec, stucco subs south of Orlando fight it as much as possible. On those projects where my stucco spec has been disputed, revised, adulterated during the VE process, the aftermath has been stucco failure, delamination, mold and mildew. Where the spec remians intact, the problems are due to subcontractor stubborness.