Outline Specs - Useful or Not?

• By: admin
• On: 03/17/2010 14:36:56
• In: Specifying Practice Group
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According to polls taken during the group’s web-based meeting earlier this month:

• Outline specs aren’t regularly produced or used these days
• Most group members have abandoned outline specs for something else – usually PPDs
• Most group members believe the role of outline specs will be filled by another document in the future
  

See the presentation:




You can also hear a recording of this presentation or read a blog entry about it written by group leader David Stutzman, CSI, CCS.

Outline specs have traditionally been recommended by CSI. The 2004 Project Resource Manual states, "The Design Development Documents shall also include outline specifications that identify major materials and systems and establish in general their quality levels."

“One of the big items I see for outline specs is the coordination of terminology between specs and drawings,” Stutzman said. “That's a constant problem, and if we use the outline spec to get the designers and the specifiers to agree on some of the terms, it becomes a roadmap."

Outline specs are usually written during design development, and organized by MasterFormat level-2 titles and numbers. They don’t list every detail – that’s what the actual specs will do. Instead, outline specs focus on conditions that affect cost and quality, and help record early decisions and begin the process of organizing construction information. They document materials, describe products and systems, and note design decisions and special conditions and requirements.

"If it may not be intuitive for the contractor, it has to be documented so he can get the best pricing, and so the owner knows what he’s buying,” Stutzman said.

In their favor, outline specs:

• Are easy to produce
• Create concise major materials lists
• Document important project aspects
• Set criteria for construction documentation
  

On the other hand, they also:

• Are inconsistently approached by individual consultants
• Name few basis-of-design products
• Are throw-away documents
• Require specifiers to duplicate their efforts
  

One group member is using Microsoft Excel to develop outline specs.

“We use SpecLink, and find that because our projects can take a year between schematic design or design development and completion of construction documents, we are better off not trying to start our SpecLink file in early phases, even though SpecLink has UniFormat-based Perspective and MasterFormat connected in the same database file,” he explained. “By waiting to start the project in SpecLink, we capture our user-added updates, which can be extensive.  Hence the separate Excel approach. The autofilter keys are to the left of the print area, and are just ‘y’ or ‘n.’  We shade the ‘n’ rows in light green, and send a PDF of all rows to the consultants. They just mark what needs to change.”

Stutzman and several members agreed, outline specs are losing their status as a best practice.

Instead, PPDs are winning over specifiers. Their advantages include:

• Create information once
• Use the PPD throughout project life
• It’s easy to add & remove data
• Make decisions in context of full specs
  

Stutzman demonstrated how he uses the hidden text feature in Microsoft Word to hide the text of a full specification and create an outline spec all in the same document, so that none of his work goes to waste.  However he is encouraging his clients to use PPDs as an alternative approach.

"This is what we're suggesting to most of our clients as an alternative to outline specs,” he said.

"Owners really like these things,” one caller said. “The format appeals to their understanding. That's why you're going to see more and more of them come into use. In my experience, government agencies are asking for them more and more -- they're useful for generating estimates. We see the potential to link them to BIM."

"It gets architects and designers to think about decisions they may have been putting off."

Clifford Marvin reported to the group that CSI is now developing “PPDFormat: A Guide to Developing Preliminary Project Descriptions,” and plans to publish it this year. What CSI’s recommendation will be on outline specs versus PPDs will be determined by the CSI members and volunteers who develop the Institute’s standards and formats.

CSI’s Specifying Practice Group is a community for those who want to talk about specifying. It meets monthly by webinar. The next meeting will be April 1 at 3pm ET. Join the group! It’s free!

Got a suggestion for a topic the group should discuss? Email Erica Cox at ecox@csinet.org.