As a seasoned specifier, I never use a manufacturer “guide specifications.” I prefer to write my own using my own writing style and language, customizing my master to the project requirements.
I wish that the manufacturers would provide sufficient technical data, installation instructions, pertinent codes and standards, current testing data, and whatever else is necessary for a full understanding of the product so I can write a good, solid, enforceable specification section consistent with the requirements of my architect and owner and the project. After all, it’s my CCS credentials and my professional liability. I am being paid to professionally and responsibility prepare correct and applicable project specifications (not just one section).
I have to ask - What liability will the manufacturer accept if there is an error in the downloaded document? For the manufacturer it is a “guide spec,” they are not the paid professional; they have no way of knowing the project or owner’s requirements. The manufacturer is not responsible for coordinating the section with related sections or the drawings or with the project requirements. That’s my responsibility.
Being in a rush or on a deadline is not an acceptable excuse for using downloaded spec sections from various manufacturers’s websites and pass them off as a coordinated, project specific set of specifications. That’s bad planning and a poor excuse.
Most (not all) manufacturer websites, offer “guide specifications” (and I use that terms very loosely) in lieu of posting technical data. There are 1001 and drawings details, but the technical data is limited to a page titled “Specifications.”
How does that tell me what I need to know or how to defend what I wrote if I ever have to go into court or into arbitration? Other questions - how long has that “guide spec” been posted; when was it last updated; who wrote it and what are their credentials; is there a date on it? Is the version I used archived on the website for future reference if necessary or will it have been deleted and replaced with no written record of the manufacturer’s actual recommendations. Along with convenience of instant data, electronic media has made it easy to not have original copies of data. That makes it difficult if we should ever end up in any legal proceeding or need to produce the original data from which our sections are written.
At many web sites, the “guide spec” is a USE ME very proprietary spec with no performance criteria or physical properties of the various proprietary components. It is often written using the dreaded “The Contractor (or subcontractor or installer) shall…” phrase in lieu of the imperative mood.
I utilize manufacturers’s websites. I read their limited technical data and see if there is something new or that I should be aware of, ask my friendly rep about, or incorporate into my masters. I don’t rely on the websites or the proprietary data posted. Many sites are product teasers with very little useable technical data.
I know of many spec editors and word processors who use downloaded guide specs. That is their option. I’ll stick with the way I was trained. I’ll continue to reseach the products and maintain my masters to avoid concern about technical inconsistencies and lack of coordination with the other 90+ sections I wrote using my masters and the architect’s drawings.