Sometimes receiving consultants specs and turning-around is measured in hours..sometimes negative hours (i.e., late, after my deadline). No time to “revise & re-submit”.
I’m with Peter; I don’t compile for the very same reasons that Ken described above in his wonderful post. I am not an administrative/clerical service - I am a technical professional consultant to the architect, and the specifications I write are my instruments of service to the architect, who in turn provides input and ultimately takes possession of their content.
I have a couple of client architects who are not in a position to assemble project manuals, which I will offer to do for them for additional fee. I do not take responsibility for obtaining the sections from their consultants, and only review and comment on their section content if that additional service is included in my fee.
The AIA C141 requires consultants to coordinate their documents with the architect’s. I provide a coordination checklist so they know in advance what I intend to write and what I expect them to not write - we then iron out any differences. They also get a template from me.
As with owner clients, architect clients are trained by how you deliver your service. If you seek to take ownership of the entire project manual, lead its coordination, and publish it, and enjoy doing so, you should. It’s a worthy undertaking. I don’t enjoy the administrative/clerical side of this work, and dislike the stress associated with dealing with consultant formatting and delivery issues, so I try to limit it and focus on content issues that engage my professional skills.