Bought a used copy for our office some years ago. Positively diabolical, like reading The Screwtape Letters.
http://cdn.stripersonline.com/8/8f/8f105aa9_Contract_Change_Order.jpg
Facility owners, who we all ultimately answer to, surely would not like for their money to be spent in the manner shown here!
Good specifiers work to protect the owner’s investment and the designer’s intent, as do some very good contractors and even some big D designers and engineers who do get the whole picture. But they are getting harder to find. Some of the most experienced and talented people I’ve ever worked with were cut in the last recession and retired or went a different direction, and have slowly been replaced by new graduates as firms recovered. I’m less worried about how we spec writers will replace ourselves than I am about how we can help our client- or coworker-designers to at least understand the outline spec level, to mark a cut sheet and not leave it full of options or 4 totally different products, to look at the manufacturer’s limitations, confirm with their rep if the design requirements may be a bit different from the recommended applications, and save this info in a shared digital folder that they themselves will come back to half a dozen times through design phases and CA. The info is right at their fingertips when they find that detail from the manufacturer. And by the way, to think of updating their spec writer well enough ahead of the deadline. Then we can turn around some better quality reading material for them to keynote with and keep handy at their desk and/or bedside. That might keep away some of those change orders right there. With enough designers who understand the basics of specs, the likelihood also increases that some of them will discover the satisfying art of forming the written requirements that protect and enhance their design intent.
Whether designers will one day pore over every word to craft their project manuals or not, they are still specifiers, in effect, if they collect good information and communicate it to those who do prepare specs, and if they then review/mark these draft work products, and observe through CA as things become more defined or redefined in submittals and on the jobsite.
As [future] Designers of Record they really are in the best position to feed the specifications process and set the stage for well-coordinated documents. That is truly all part of design, nothing to run away from if you want to be a rock star designer in your facility owner’s eyes when there are little to no change orders and the project stays within budget. In fact those who do can save the profession from the race to the bottom and from abdicating of responsibility that has driven owners and contractors away from the profession toward excessive and late VE, forming ConsensusDocs, and running projects with minimal reliance on the architects. This is a sad state of affairs.
The questions in my mind are how do we reach the graduate architects who are just beginning to grasp that buildings are in fact made up of many manufactured products and other materials that must be selected and defined; and how do we reach the group mentioned of 28-38 year old licensed professionals some of whom do not yet seem to understand that materials must have proper interrelationships and transitions to function properly for the building to perform; how do we reach them at the levels they each need, and how do we make sure we offer them something they are [or soon will be] looking for?
One way to start is by just asking them. I’ve previously served on CSI chapter education including outreach for IDP spec training, and I’ve observed how several chapters approach education. Now that I am in a chapter again with a large student population and a few recent graduates who have stayed with the chapter, I will take this up with them and see that we discover and meet the needs both ways. I’ll echo Rich’s request to share examples of outreach programs. If anyone is interested, I can be reached at cgrimm aec-specs com. Especially need ideas on reaching the 28-38’s and how to identify the ones who know they need it.
