I compile. I don’t break out the fee, usually, but I do figure the number of times I expect to issue into my fee, because I compile.
I bookmark by section only, and I try to insist on proper file naming so that it’s easy. BlueBeam bookmarks by file name with ease.
To that end, I issue a document with instructions on formatting, no internal bookmarks inside the sections, file naming, change tracking, and due dates. I don’t always get what I ask for (sometimes like Ken’s experience, sometimes better) but I figure if I don’t ask for what I want, I won’t get it. We still have to do some renaming, but if I have gotten the consultants’ work timely, I have time to do that.
A current client has asked me to compile specifications from Consultants and our office into two volumes. I have not done this before, I typically issue PDF’s of our specs to the architect. I only accept PDF’s and specifically state in my agreements that I never touch, modify, or revise another Consultant’s specifications. Can someone explain what is involved in compiling the specifications/ How is this done without opening the Consultant’s spec?
Even worse some of the Consultant’s specs are downright horrible, some of the worse specs I’ve ever seen. The Architect has advised us to ignore the Consultant’s spec mistakes. The only good news is that this is not a condo project, thank god.
Are the consultants submitting in Word?
If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can convert Word files to PDF without opening them.
Select them in the folder, right click, and you’ll get some options including “Convert to Adobe PDF.”
I only accept Consultant specs in PDF, never in word. Legal has advised that if I modify any part of a Consultant’s spec I own that spec. So for the past 25 years I only accept PDF’s.
I use Wordperfect which does allow me to convert any word file to PDF, which I only do for specs prepared by my office.
So you’re in good shape - all you need to do is combine them, which you can do the way I indicated above, if you have Adobe Acrobat. No need to open them.
I personally open them to verify that the file name matches the section, and to review for Division 01 coordination.
Jerome - if you don’t have Adobe Acrobat-pro, you can download a trial for a month and then pay monthly as needed for ~$35 a month unless you decide you want to buy it. There are some other options as well.
Liz, same functionality exists for Bluebeam users as well. In fact, I think Revu goes one step further and preserves all the individual file names and uses those to create relative path hyperlinks between all the files that are converted and/or combined into PDF format.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, if you are working the A/E industry, and don’t use Bluebeam Revu, you are the odd man out, and paying too much for underwhelming PDF software!
Liz, I have combined the spec sections and issued them in a zip file, but apparently that is not what they want. They refuse to tell me, other than they expect me to compile the specs, yet they won’t define what they want. If they weren’t my biggest client, I’d tell them to compile this…
Jerome: Combining them in a zip is different from combining them into one PDF file. This is really a quick process. I make two folders, volume 1, volume 2, then move the appropriate sections into each folder. Make 2 TOC’s - one for each volume, then combine the files for each volume into a PDF. How do you deliver your specs? I recommend bluebeam revu as well - i think it is $179 per seat fee - very reasonable. Email me if you want to see samples of the TOC’s etc. Other than a little extra work for the TOC’s, this shouldn’t take you long.
What Robin and Liz are describing is the end result I posted the screenshot of. To better demonstrate this, I made a short (1 min) video documenting the process I use in Bluebeam. I’m sure Acrobat is very similar. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3772540/Creating-One-PDF-Spec.wmv
Well, I’ve certainly learned something here today, you guys are great, appreciate all the input, now trying to get my clients to pay anymore for this will be impossible. I do get my share of complaints about spec sections that are missing even though when I open up the zip file, all files are accounted for.
BTW, I either send zipped PDF’s or upload to FTP’s or Dropbox to send PDF files.
Liz, I’d like to go back to your remark about converting Word files to PDF without opening them. With Windows XP, I could select any number of Word files, right click to show a shortcut menu that included “Print”. As long as I had previously done this by manually opening the Word document and selecting the destination folder, it would set the default for the rest of the process doing it with the right click method. (I explained this procedure a long time ago to David Axt, but I’m not sure it was through 4specs.)
The problem is that I switched to Windows 7 a few years ago and the Print option in the shortcut menu was gone. I checked all the Windows and Office discussion sites, and did not find a solution to this issue. If you are using Windows 7, I’d like to know how you manage to do it.
My option, other than opening every Word file to print, is to use Windows 7’s “XP Mode”, a virtual OS that Microsoft implemented as a free download install with a free copy of Windows XP as well. It requires a bit of your RAM and a lot of drive storage, and it is a noticeably slower, but it does provide the shortcut Print option. It is opened from an icon shortcut on your desktop, so you don’t have to reboot either. It cuts the PDF printing process to what it used to be. One concern is that this version of Windows XP is also subject to the No Support policy that Microsoft implemented on April 8, 2014. One way to get around that issue is to turn off the network connection on Windows XP.
Even though I use Acrobat for purposes other than specifications, I plan to try Bluebeam Revu when I get a chance.
Although I’m in-house, I’ll add my 2 cents. I request consultant files in PDF format, and have recently requested they add a blank page to sections of odd number pages. So far, so good.
Compiling into 2 volumes, with the same Table of Contents in each is fairly easy then. My own sections already have that blank page (inserted by the database software I use).
I use Adobe Acrobat XI because that’s what my employer gives me. It works well.
Major concerns with specs from external consultants include:
They don’t understand that they should not try to scope trade subcontracts for their discipline.
They include general and administrative requirements that conflict with the Conditions of the Contract and with Div-01 sections.
Food service, signage, and elevator consultants write their specs as stand-alone contracts rather than as work that is part of a general construction contract.
It’s a dirty job to check consultant specs, but someone has to do it or the firm will have unnecessary Addenda, RFIs, and Change Orders, or claims.
BTW, PDF files can be marked up in Newforma and it can join separate section files into a single file.
Louis, I agree with your concerns. For certain clients (and certain consultants!) I prepare a memo or a markup of the specs that need correcting. I do this for clients with robust check-set processes. The ones who don’t require check sets before issues don’t get this concierge coordination service! There simply is no time.
The markups are explicitly so that I don’t have to change specs from consultants myself.
I agree with various participants in this thread that we shouldn’t unilaterally change specs from consultants who are registrants, but I do modify sections from food service, hardware, and other non-registered consultants. Like Vivian said, provide unambiguous review comments and then mark the specs “revise and resubmit.”
