Support the LEED for Nesting Construction Student Design Competition

CSI's Philadelphia Chapter is continuing a grassroots tradition within CSI to support our student members in their professional and scholastic growth toward their chosen professions. The chapter is hosting the LEED for Nesting Construction Student Design Competition at  CONSTRUCT2010 & CSI Annual Convention.

You can help, too! We need your financial support to continue this tradition!

 

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CSI 2010 Election Results

Results of the 2010 election, including proposed bylaws amendments and candidates for national and region office, are as follows:
 

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CSI to Elevate Six Members to Fellowship at Annual Convention

CSI announced today that the organization will elevate six members to Fellows of the Institute during the Honors and Awards Gala at CONSTRUCT2010 & CSI Annual Convention in Philadelphia on Friday, May 14, 2010.
 
 

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Construction Industry Icon Passes

By Gary L. Beimers, FCSI, CDT

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of a member of the CSI family. MasterFormat 95, an icon of construction documentation, died December 31, 2009.

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Suggested Topics for Future Meetings

We have received a number of topics for discussion for upcoming Sustainability Practice Group meetings. Your thoughts and ideas are always welcome. Please feel free to submit future topics here.

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Draft 3 of UniFormat Released -- Comment by March 19, 2010!

CSI is now inviting comments on Draft 3 of the new UniFormat, the standard for organizing preliminary project descriptions, cost estimates, BIM objects, and early project information. Download the draft and post your comments about it in CSI’s forums at www.csinet.org/forums. Comments are due by March 19, 2010.

CSI and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) expect to publish the final version of the new UniFormat in May 2010.

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Meet Paul Bertram, Jr., FCSI, CDT -- 2010 CSI President-elect Nominee

By Gilman K. M. Hu, FCSI, Lifetime Member, AIA
Phoenix Group
CSI Members have until NOON ET March 3 to vote in the 2010 CSI Election. For more information about the candidates and issues on the ballot, or on how to vote, visit www.csinet.org/election.

Paul Bertram, Jr. FCSI, CDT, is the nominee for CSI President-elect. We took this opportunity to ask Mr. Bertram a few questions.

- Please tell us a bit about yourself – What you do for a living, which chapter do you call “home”, whatever you want to share with the members so they have a better idea of who you are and what you do?

PB - After a 6-year obligation in the Navy as an electrician/electronics technician, I started my career as a production artist with Walt Disney World in Design & Development in Orlando. In 1978 I formed PRB Design and specialized in developing communication strategies for the Building Team. This practice required understanding the communication, organization and management of project information for delivery of the built environment. The CSI CDT program was critical in developing core knowledge and industry relationships. CSI was and continues to be the foundation of my life-long learning resource and knowledge base as related to construction documentation, processes and communications.

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The Introvert's Secret to Networking

One of the best services provided by CSI is networking opportunities. But do we, as members, take advantage of this service to its fullest potential? Most of you know we architects and specifications writers can be a taciturn, introverted bunch, preferring to keep to ourselves or our small circle of friends and acquaintances. We may feel intimidated by the thought of having to put ourselves out there every month, doing our best to keep the interaction to a minimum, and rushing out of the room at the end of the evening, as soon as it’s polite.

I recently listened to a very informative webinar produced by Society for Marketing Professional Services, titled “The Introvert’s Secret to Networking." It was presented by Tim Klabunde, director of Marketing at William H. Gordon Associates, and had a number of revelations I’d like to share with you. The sheer number of advantages to being an introvert when it comes to successful networking blew me away!

Introverts have a key advantage over extroverts: When it comes to networking, introverts innately focus on a small group of relationships -- a network -- and establish stronger, deeper, relationships, than extroverts.

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What Is Expected of a Specifier?

Project manuals, technical research, product selection, addenda, RFI responses, change orders – specifiers deal with all of it.

But if you had to summarize what is expected of a specifier, you could say “technical research.” Much of what specifiers do comes down to knowing how products work together, which means means people in this field do a lot of product research, explained David Stutzman, CSI, CCS, AIA, SCIP, LEED AP, leader of CSI’s Specifying Practice Group.

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Demonstration by USG Design Studio

USG Corporation demonstrated its Design Studio, the free, web-based tool they offer for developing specs and submittals, during a recent Sustainability Practice Group Meeting.

Download a brochure about the Design Studio (PDF).

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What Happens with a Product Rep Loses a Line in a Down Economy?

“Losing anything is an unwelcome surprise, especially in the construction community, where we're struggling to find different ways to manage our time and work,” said Stirling Morris, CSI, CDT.

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Specifiers Property Information Exchange

The Specifiers Property Information Exchange (SPie) is trying to solve what many consider BIM’s number one problem: Organizing data so that the model has the data it needs, and ONLY the data it needs.

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Getting a Job in a Down Economy

Think of your next employer as a driver in a car. Is your resume looking backward through the rearview mirror, or looking forward through the windshield? Are you something the employer’s driven by, or the key to navigating what’s coming?

Lee H. Orosco, FCSI, CCS, posed this question during the December meeting of CSI’s Emerging Professionals Practice Group. The group holds free, monthly meetings by webinar. Join the group at www.csinet.org/empros.

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Return on investment

To celebrate our sixtieth birthdays, my wife and I took a three-week vacation in Germany and Italy. Of the many remarkable things we saw, the most amazing was the age of the buildings. Coming from a country just over two hundred years old, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that every place we went had a history much longer than ours.

It’s interesting to consider what we saw in the context of “sustainable” design. I’m pretty sure the early Europeans weren’t terribly concerned about sustainability, yet they built cities that survived to this day with essentially no maintenance. Although logic tells us our world is built on the past - the inspiration, artistry, genius, and brute labor of our predecessors - it’s easy to forget what has gone before and accept everything we see as normal. If we occasionally took the time reflect on the wonders around us, or the long chain of events that led to their creation, we might better appreciate what we have, and plan better for the future.

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What Do You Want to Discuss? Topic Ideas for Future Meetings

CSI Specifying Practice Group leader David Stutzman, CSI, CCS, AIA, SCIP, LEED AP, is compiling ideas for future meetings. Have an idea to suggest, or like one listed here? Leave him a comment.

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MasterFormat 2004 Experiences

Who hasn’t converted to MasterFormat 2004 and why they haven’t were hot topics during the first meeting of CSI’s Specifying Practice Group. “Share your experiences. What has worked for you? What hasn't worked? Where do you think it's going?" said group leader David Stutzman, CSI, CCS, AIA, SCIP, LEED AP.

More than 70 people attended the web-based meeting. Most were involved in spec-writing -- when polled, 74 percent said they “create project specifications.”

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Box Lunches for Architects are a Waste of Good Food!

"I can't believe the guy was reading a newspaper during my lunch presentation!"

"He had the guts to ask me if he could sign up for the CEUs even though he missed the presentation! I gave him a cookie and said no!"

"At $18 a pop for lunch just to hear this guy snore in his chair, I doubt I'll be back to give this firm a box lunch presentation anytime soon."

Members of CSI’s Product Representation Practice Group shared ideas and best practices (and vented just a little bit) about box lunches during their last meeting.

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Designers are Drowning in Sea of Environmental Products, Labels & Standards

Architects and specifiers are nervous about some of the products they are being pressed to use in projects. While the drive for sustainability has brought new solutions to market, it’s also meant that skepticism about what an untried product may offer can be overruled by the need to meet green goals for a project. This puts the design team in the uncomfortable position of specifying a product that doesn’t have much of a history – good or bad – in construction.

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What Do You Want to Know About BIM?

CSI’s BIM Practice Group is now a little over a year old, so this month, Chair Robert Weygant, CSI, CDT, SCIP, invited members to discuss where the practice group’s monthly sessions should go in 2010. Do members want more demonstrations from leading thinkers in BIM? Tips and tricks they can use today? More focus on using CSI’s formats to reach BIM’s full potential?

Members answered “yes” to all, and then offered more ideas for future sessions, which are listed below. If you’d like to suggest a topic, volunteer to host a session or help in any other way with future sessions, comment below or email CSI Director of Technical Services & Development Roger Grant, CSI, at rgrant@csinet.org.

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Specifiers Property Information Project advanced at buildingSMART Meetings

In a recent blog posting, David Stutzman wrote a great article about the Specifers Property information exchange (SPie) project that was on display during a workshop at the recent buildingSMART meetings in Washington, DC. Read the article for a good background on the project at http://www.conspectusinc.com/blog/2009/12/spie---specifiers-properties-information-exchange.html.
In the article, David references the role of CSI and SCIP in the project to date. We will be talking a little more about the project, how it worked and where it is going at the next meeting of the CSI BIM Practice Group which is scheduled for Friday December 18 at 1EST. If you are a BIM PG member already you should have received an invitation for the online meeting. If you would like to join the BIM PG go to www.csinet.org/bim and follow the link to sign up for the practice group. At the meeting we will talk about how the project is envisioned to progress from here, how you can get involved to review the property sets and if you are a manufacturer to create product data that can be used with open exchange standards. We will also discuss related information organization activities that CSI and the BIM PG are working on.