Any body know of, has, has seen, or knows where to find SPEC WRITERS’ HANDBOOK by a John A. Weyl? Also, can any one comment on this book? Is it of value? Good read? Good information? OR?
You are probably looking for “The Specifications Writer’s Handbook” by H. Leslie Simmons. The publisher is John Wiley & Sons. Copyright 1985. ISBN 0-471-88615-7.
I’ve got a copy of The Spec Writer’s Handbook by John A. Weyl in near mint condition that I will sell for $75, if anyone is interested.
David:
If you feel the book’s worth it, I’ll take it off your hands.
Thanks all, at least I know this book still exists, but, please, since I missed David’s offer, what do you know of or about this book? Is it worth the price [whatever it is] and does it provide some good information? Incidentally, amazon.com shows that it is virtually non-existant and there is just 1 copy-- used-- available [???] Where is it available?
In addition to 3 editions of Harold Rosen’s book, there are a couple of other books, quite old, that I have:
Specifications for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, by Chesley Ayers, P.E., ISBN 0-07-002642-4, 1984, McGraw-Hill
Specifications Writing for Architects and Engineers, by Donald A. Watson, Lib of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-22555, 1964, McGraw Hill.
As an idea of what inflation has done: inside the cover on the second reference above, the cost is listed as $8.50.
I think that Rosen/Regener’s book is probably the best, certainly the most current, though when one has written specs. for as long as I have, the interest is more curiosity than anything else.
I have the Ayers, Rosen & Simmons books mentioned. I also have the following:
A Guide to Writing Successful Engineering Specifications ~ David C. Purdy ~ Hardcover: 168 pages, Publisher: McGraw Hill Text; (September 1990) ASIN: 0070509999
Engineering Construction Specifications: The Road to Better Quality, Lower Cost, Reduced Litigation ~ Joseph Goldbloom ~ Hardcover (September 1989) Van Nostrand Reinhold (Short Disc); ISBN: 0442229941
Dunham and Young’s Contracts, Specifications, and Law for Engineers ~ Joseph T. Bockrath ~ Hardcover - 495 pages 4th edition (December 1986) McGraw-Hill Book Company; ISBN: 007018237X
The Practical Specifier: A Manual of Construction Documents for Architects ~ Walter Rosenfeld, AIA, CSI ~ Hardcover: 181 pages ~ Publisher: McGraw Hill Text; (March 1985)~ ASIN: 0070537798
Construction Specifications: Managing the Review Process ~ William T. Lohmann ~ Paperback: Publisher: Butterworth Architecture; (April 1992)ASIN: 0750691484
The Building Professional’s Guide to Contract Documents - by Waller S. Poage ~ Hardcover: 393 pages; Publisher: Robert S. Means Co; 3rd edition (November 2000)~ ISBN: 0876295774
I use these for reference. Since specs aren’t very popular, I wait until the book clubs put them in the Clearance Sale. You might also want to try Ebay’s Half.com…
I have a copy of Architectural Specifications by Harold Reeve Sleeper AIA, 1940 (6th printing, 1948) John Wilet & Sons, in moderate to good condition available if anyone is interested.
I haven’t investigated a fair price but I would like to pass it along to someone who will appreciate it. Please contact me privately at beardccs@erols.com.
The “SPEC WRITERS’ HANDBOOK” by John A. Weyl, RA is very similiar to “Construction Specifications Handbook - 4th Edition” by Hans Meier AIA FCSI.
They both contain information found in the MOP along with sample sections.
Of the two I would prefer Mr. Meier’s book over Weyl’s book. Meier’s book is more thorough. Both books could have done without the sample sections…at least that’s my opinion.
Contact me if you are interested daxt@bassettiarch.com
I fully agree with David about Hans Meier’s Construction Specifier’s Handbook. That’s the one I “teethed” on as a novice engineering tech right out of school and credit for putting me on this career path as a specifier. I still have my original copy (2nd edition) as well as the 4th edition David refers to. Would not give them up for the world.
I also have a copy of Architectural Specifications by Harold Reeve Sleeper AIA, 1940 (6th printing, 1948) John Wilet & Sons, in moderate to good condition available if anyone is interested. It’s full of good stuff that we’re no longer using now (such as magnesite concrete) but are sometimes needed when doing remodeling work.
If you’re interested, please contact me at gs.csinc@verizon.net.
I recently acquired a second copy of the classic 1935 book “Architect’s Specifications and How to Write Them” by Goldwin Goldsmith, Ph.B.
If anyone is interested, please contact me privately at >.
Ron
PS: I will be out all day Thursday but will respond to those interested on Friday. …“GONE HIKING”
And then there’s my all-time top ten favorite candidate for extracurricular reading …“Contractor’s Guide to Change Orders” authored by Andrew M. Civitello, Jr., pub. by Prentice Hall, 1987. There are currently two available on Barnes & Noble’s website (under ‘Used and Out of Print’ category). Least expensive one is $187.00 +/-
Just when you think you’ve nailed down that Section for a planetarium dome, this one is great to reread! It makes me revisit any/all possible inconsistencies, ill-defined intent, coordination with MEP disciplines, etc.
A must-have for any practice, though it may seem like you’re inviting the devil into your house!
As to classics, I have a copy of “Specification Writing” by David B. Emerson, copyright 1924 & 1936 by International Textbook Company. Also, by the same publisher: “Specification Writing Memoranda” by the I.C.S. Staff, whatever that is. Both are short hardcover books, roughly the size of a paperback. They are also both copyright in Great Britain as well as the US, but it’s not clear if they are written there or here.
Another interesting document I have is a copy of “Pencil Points” of Jan. 1923. This magazine covers the writing of specifications with quotes by a number of architects. Interestingly, one of them includes a “standard construction classification system” with 47 categories (they didn’t call them divisions). One of the most startling aspects of this document is that everything we seem to say about specs today, architects were talking about over eighty years ago. For example “The writing of specifications is one part of the work of the architect which the average draftsman or student of architecture has ad no training..”, Robert Maurice Trimble, Pittsburg. William Stanley Parker of Boston referes to an effort in 1913 with the Boston Society of Architects and the Master Builder’s Association to create the “right arrangement of sections and the principle divisions” for specifications. LeRoy Lewis, Jr. of Chicago notes that “in many architects’ offices the man writing the specifications does not see the plans until they are practically ready for the specifications…” (nothing’s changed there.) “Observation has lead me to believ that general specification writing is a much neglected art, realizing as I do that the specifications are the most important of the contractual documents.” George A. Chapman, Minneapolis. Interesting stuff.
Finally, I have a copy of an actual specification for a victorian home built in Eastham, MA in 1867. The spec consists of 16 pages. Also, there are two elevations, three floor plans, plus two framing plans. That’s it. Today, this house would probably be worth a million or more–can you imagine building a million dollar project with this little information?
well John, back in 1867 you could get away with 7 drawings and 16 pages of specs because you probably knew the guy building it, you knew his father and brother and you know that he tipples a little too much on Saturday nights so that you don’t want him doing critical work while he’s still hungover. You also know who is next client will be, and where to find him if he messes up your job.
Now… if you can say that about everyone on your project teams today, you could also probably get away with 7 drawings and 16 pages of specs, but considering that we are using products that are made 2000 miles away, constructed by some guy who blew into town in a pick up truck last week, and employing people who only have PO boxes for addreses, well then I would like about 200 sheets of drawings and 400 pages of specs.
There probably weren’t as many lawyers back in 1867, either.
(ps, I used to have a set of documents for a high school that consisted of 10 pages of drawings, and about 30 pages of specs; built in 1927 in Wyoming.)
There is a second edition of the Goldwin Goldsmith, FAIA book “Architect’s Specifications - How to Write Them” dated 1948. (Last edition that I am aware of) Something happened that date!
Also, I have an interesting book titled “Ready Written Specifications” by Leicester B. Holland and Harry Parker. The first (maybe?) master specs (1926).
The preface has some interesting text:
“Specifications are a load assumed with bravado, borne with groans, and shifted, when they can be shifted, universally without regret. The architect who is not a specialist in writing them, is apt to look on them as a set of quasi-magic formulae, which he does not fully understand nor really care to understand but repeats dutifully and wearily, as a ritual handed down to him by wiser men.” - 1926.
So what’s their point?
Here lies the answer to the question in the other thread here on 4specs: what to call the specifications if not “specifications”.
How about “Quasi-Magic Formulae”?
Kenneth, that is amazing. I hope no one minds but I copied that preface, pasted in Word, blew up the text, printed it out and hung it behind me on the wall next to my licenses and CDT certificate. I certainly don’t feel like a specialist, but I can identify with the sentiment. Now, all the actual “non-specialists” can read and bow to the awe and mystery. I was once who they are now…