I was recently provided with a full set of partially edited specification. This is the client’s brand new set of specifications to be used on all future projects. The masters are edited versions of commercially available masters. They were obtained from the internet without payment or apparent knowledge of the copyright holder. They are being given to all AEC firms that are working with them.
What would you do?
Did the client deliberately download the masters knowing that they were violating copyright?
If not, I’d inform them of the fact and see what their reaction is.
If yes, I’d politely decline to work for them.
I decline projects where the client wants me to use their masters. It’s like wearing someone else’s clothes. They never seem to fit right. Plus, I know they will want me to update the specifications and send them back in an editable format so they can use them on other projects without hiring me.
Whether they obtained them illegally or legally is irrelevant to me.
I will, however, review the specifications of a previous project to identify the products they want me to specify.
@Brian Payne Conspectus occasionally gets requests to complete partial work done by others. Normally I hesitate. It is usually faster, more efficient, and produces better results for us to start over. We still need to understand the project to be sure the final spec is correct. That means going through all our normal processes to collect project info. Working with partial specs means trying to understand what may have been deleted that may be necessary for the project. That takes time.
This request is akin to asking an architect to take DD drawings from someone else and complete them for construction. Would the architect do it for a fraction of the fee, since DD is already complete? Probably not.
Also, when confronted with a client’s specifications, they are often ridiculously old and populated with no-exceptions products which no longer exist.