How does someone become a spec-writer?

Archive of Older Topics Archive - Specifications Discussions #3
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It is always a pleasure to see what people went through to become specifiers. Dennis Hall once wrote a great article a few years back about what it takes to be a specifier. Basically it can be any number of variations of the stories that appear in this thread.

To become a good specifier, you must know how to communicate. That is what we do. Becoming certified via CDT, CCS, and CCCA shows the industry that you have learned how to speak the language. Take at least a couple of classes on reading construction drawings. That will be one of the most important ways that architects will be communicating with you. You’ll know that you’ve reached a milestone when you can look at a detail and make it better.

Become detail-oriented. That’s another key aspect to our function. We’re here to make sure that every aspect of the project has been addressed in a meaningful manner.

Unlike many of us, internalize the 4 C’s - Clear, complete, concise, and correct. It’s easy for each of us to go on about this forever; we’re passionate about it.

Personally, I was a physical sciences major who went to work for my father because he had to fire 3 spec writers in a month; they weren’t focused on the details. I started out measuring buildings and drawing up floor plans. After a few months I was able to sit in on planning meetings with the hospital staff where I learned about programming space. Then I learned how to put a set of drawings together. Finally came my chance to feel like a complete idiot, writing my first spec. That was 1976 and I’m learning more now than I was able to learn then.

I’m not a registered architect, just a CCS and CCCA. Oh, I do teach Construction Specifications at the local community college (maybe a good place for you to look into classes on spec writing and drawings) and I’m involved in teaching the certification prep classes every year with other members of our profession. That’s the best way for me to learn.

Robin, I hope your brother-in-law finds his niche. I look forward to welcoming him into our little community.

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The challenge is to figure out how to get from the idea of being a spec writer to being one. More people are perceiving the need in the market place. Compensation is on the upswing. People are also encountering the unusual, rich camaraderie of the specifier guild that we see here, in CSI, and in other venues. It’s attractive, and hard to find these days.

So how do we get interested people from the idea to the reality, knowing it takes quite some time working as a spec writer before you actually are one? How do our firms and consulting practices provide a place for people to learn the ropes? What approaches do you use to bring a “newbie” on board?

Comments welcome - as we are all facing this right now in this market.

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I’ve been writing specs off and on for about 14 years now and have found the evaluations in ARCOM’s Masterspec to be invaluable (no pun intended) for information on both writing specs and the why and how of materials, components and assemblies for the built environment.

Also, a good web site to visit is http://www.aecdaily.com. They have free course downloads you can take to increase your knowledge of building materials and systems, without having to pay for classes. Free? It must be good

24

I’ve been in the biz since 75…I used to be an Arch PM. One day way back when, I was rushing to get an important project done and I asked my boss “who’s gonna write the specs?” (meaning which outside consultant)…and he said “I’m looking at him”! Panicked I said “me…why what did I do?” Well I performed a massive cut and paste job and came up with a nice thick spec (didn’t know what 3/4 off it meant) got the project permitted, built, and no law suits…so I thought I must have succeeded quite well.

Many years and many specs later, I was reborn as a spec writer when I found CSI. Studying for my CDT and CCS opened my eyes that the wheel had already been invented and I also began to realize how much I didn’t know once I began to learn how much there is to know (starting with the CSI MOP & PRM). You can become a Doctor on your own, but it’s more efficient to go to Med-School. To spec writers, CSI is our Med-School…so go be a Doctor.

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Most of us have found an individual path to becoming a specifier. My own led from an English major, through carpentry work, architecture school, contracting business, architectural practice in medium and large firms, management, and then consulting practice.

But how do we turn to interested people in the industry and help them on their paths to becoming qualified specifiers? I had some success with this in a large firm, but have any small consulting practices had similar success in “growing” a specifier?

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Age must play an significant role in becoming a spec writer. You generally don’t find fledglings fulfilling the role of specifier in most offices. You can say it’s really experience that defines a specifier, but lets face it, we’re probably not the young end of the Architectural profession. It would be interesting to survey the age of most specifiers. I’ll go first…I’m 50, or there abouts.

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I started writing specs in 1979 when I was 30. I was a licensed architect with several years of experience. Now (almost 30 years later), I cannot distinguish between the the contributions to my expertise made by my formal architectural architectural education and the ones made by my practical experience. When younger spec writers (and architects) ask me how I know what I know, I tell them that I would not be very bright at all not to have learned something in all of those years.

My assistant has a degree in professional writing (a BS in English). Many of you have probably heard that I would prefer to teach him about architecture than to teach an architectural intern (or architect) how to write. I know many well respected spec writers who came up through the ranks as administrative and then paraprofessionals, and I believe this career path holds a lot of promise. This is confirmed by my many conversations with younger architects, interns, and students who seem to believe that writing specifications is not practicing architecture.

I believe good spec writers have command of (1) forms and formats of construction specifications, (2) basics of contract law (especially as it pertains to the practice of the design professions and construction), and (3) technical knowledge about building products and systems and their integration into a functional building.

I will say that earning the CDT and CCS certifications doesn’t automatically make you a spec writer (and I would add that having a BArch or MArch doesn’t automatically make you an architect, at least in the USA). These credentials demonstrate to the world that you have a mimimum level of understanding of the first two categories I described above. What makes a good specifier? Writing lots of specifications (this is almost a direct quote from Anne Whitacre). The more specifications you write, the more expertise you should develop. It helps immmensely to have feedback from design professionals, product reps, and contractors, but at some point you have to develop enough expertise to be self-critical as well.

I would suggest that after writing specifications for 15 or 20 years in a supporting environment, the difference in the level of expertise that a specifier who is an architect and one who is not will generally diminish to the point of insignificance.

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OK I’ll admit to being 54, but I’ve been writing specs since I was in my early 20’s right out of school in addition to being a draftsman. This was mainly because I was the only “engineering aide” in a maintenance department for a retail chain. Fortunately I had good guidance from my boss and he purchased a great handbook for me in Hans Meiers’ Construction Specifications Handbook.
I also found that my experience in the field as a construction and code inspector really added to my knowledge.

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I’ll jump in: I’ll be 46 (in little over two weeks).

I wrote my first spec (and cost estimate) as a brand new second lieutenant in the Air Force. There’s nothing like being thrown into the fire right from the start.

Needless to say, I had to “unlearn” a few things as I gained a little more experience and did some self-study. I didn’t have a spec “mentor,” but always looked to books, articles, seminars, etc. for guidance.

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I was assigned my first project when I was 24 and I would suggest that it doesn’t take 15 or 20 years – it takes some number of jobs and getting yelled by the field guys. even at a minimum, most specifiers are going to work on 10 projects a year; most architects are going to work on 2. I’m almost 54 now, so my experience seems to parallel Margaret’s in that regard.

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I started doing door and hardware specifications in the early 70’s for the large design firm I grew up in. I wrote my first full spec in the late 80’s for a small firm, which I also could not have done without Hans Meiers’ Construction Specifications Handbook.
I started writing specs full time for the large design firm (I returned in 1990), in the mid 90’s and have been doing it ever since. I was fortunate to have a ‘spec mentor’ and also was mentored by both of the senior PM’s who are now principals.
I turned 62 in April and will probably continue to do this until they cart me out feet first.

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Since we’re talking about how we got here (to being specifiers), my path is also unique - I have a degree in English and yes, it helps me spell better than most architects. I came to architecture late, earning a dreaded four-year degree after I had two kids - but, I am a registered architect, and always got frustrated with the way specs were left for the fifteen minutes before the project was kicked out of the door. I am also convinced that, even with the imperfections, I write better specs than most architects. I have been writing specs full-time for about six or so years (oh, how I wish I could say that I’ve been doing it for 30 years!), and though I’m nearly 58, I plan to keep on until they take my computer glasses away.

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I admit to writing my first specification as a 28-year old project architect in 1979; I also admit to writing my first GOOD specification about twenty-five years later, after exposure to the rigors of CDT and CCS. I write BETTER specifications today as a 56-year old than I ever have, and I hope the BEST is yet to come. Thats part of the joy of this specialty, the continual learning and growth.

I admit to coming into life as a full time specifier with the bias that a well-rounded architectural background was the only way to become competent as an architectural specifier. I confess that I was thoroughly disabused of that notion by frequent exposure to many of the folks who are posting on this thread.

The most amazing change I have noted in three decades of being an architect: how much specifiers have changed. To illustrate, when I was first working in architects offices, specifiers seemed to be washed up withered old architects who were quite dull and uninteresting. Now, thirty years later, specifiers seem to be young vibrant exciting and even, dare I say, sexy. Why is that?

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I agree with George on the transition/change in writers over the 4 decades I’ve practiced., but

Started college; 1953 [see 54 years does have a real meaning other than births]

Registered; 1963

First solo spec; 1964 [for a building my dad was associated with]
Also first in office to use gelatin stencils and Gestetner mimeo as opposed to blue-printed, back-carboned onion skins!!!

First million dollar project specs; 1966

Since you all saw me in THE SPECIFIER, I will avoid any and all allusions to “sexy”!!

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George, I guess it’s all in one’s point of view.

How do you suppose we (I have 8 years seniority to you in age, if not experience) appear to the “young, vibrant, exciting and…sexy”? Are we now the “washed up withered old architects…dull and uninteresting”?

(Or was that your point…?)

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I’ll take young, vibrant exciting and downright sexy!

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I’ll take that, too!

Where do I go to become that? And how much would it cost?

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I wrote specifications for my own projects, beginning in my late 20’s. I also occasionally wrote specs for other projects. During this time as a recently-annointed registered architect, I was invited by my employer to join CSI and learn more about specifications. I was exposed to and learned about specifications from highly-professional specifications writers in San Francisco. They modeled what it means to be a spec writer and they did it in a way that imparted professionalism and honor in the job.

From early on in my career, I participated in construction contract administration, eventually doing it full-time for several years. This provided insight and battle scars about how construction contract documents do and don’t work. Along the way I also learned about detailing and drafting: the graphic form of construction contract documents.

Later, while continuing to write specifications for my own and other’s projects, I became involved in the world of “forensic architecture,” a great opportunity to learn at the expense of others.

After relocating to another region, I took on the job of full-time, in-house specifier and wrote specifications for architectural and engineering disciplines. When the firm dissolved, I became an independent specifications writer. My first client was my previous employer, a situation that many others have followed. That was 15 years ago.

I joined SCIP a little more than 20 years ago. At the time, one could be a member if there was the intention of becoming an independent specifications writer (consultant) within 5 years. I met that criteria. Now, the Affiliate category is available for in-house and other specifiers to belong to SCIP, without a time restriction or commitment to becoming independent.

So, my career in architecture is 34 years overall, with only the first couple of years excluding spec writing and with the last 20 as a fulltime specifier.

I’m looking at another 10 years of work primarily in written construction contract documents (whatever “written” means in the future). I see the role of “specifications writer” evolving into more of a resource person than document producer. And considering the BIM discussion, I foresee the “specifications writer” being more involved with the Schematic and Design Development phases of a project, while still providing resources and guidance to those producing detailed information during the Contract Documents and Construction phases.

How does one prepare to be a specifications writer? This is one example and one that I know many others have similarly followed. There are other paths and they are valid too.

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Ron from what I saw you are doing just fine!

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Sexy?? …reminds me of the Barbie Specifier thread from several years ago when I first joined this fine group.

Ralph, you really are older than dirt!!

I joined the same architectural firm that the late Everett Spurling had just left when he became one of the first independent specifiers back in the mid-1960’s. While there, I learned more about spec preparation and was amazed how fast those old IBM punchcards could spit out a spec. Just don’t trip while carrying them across the room. I would have to say that having Everett and Carl Ebert as my mentors helps not to neglect all the other very fine members of the DC Metro CSI from those early days.

Later, for a very short period of time, I worked for Everett in his office. That is a humbling experience. I learned how much I really didn’t know. After that I worked in several architectural firms as a project manager who wrote my own spex. In 1971, I become the Chief Specifier for the largest local architectural firm in DC [75 professionals]. When they were bought out by HOK in 1976, I became independent.

I agree with Anne and John, youre not a complete specifier until you have some experience in the field complete with the resulting scars and eye opening experiences of reality.

Would anyone believe 39?