written documents describing in detail the scope of work, materials to be used, methods of installation, and quality of workmanship for a parcel of work to be placed under contract
Specification
Any standard set of general conditions is intended to apply to a relatively broad range of construction and must be amended and/or supplemented at times to conform to the idiosyncrasies of a given project.
Supplementary Condtions
Prepared by various public authorities or trade associations for use throughout the construction industry.
General Specification
prepared by designers for specific projects
Particular Specifications
Allows competition to supply a material or product within broad limits of equality. One way to achieve an open specification is to follow a brand name or names by the term ‘or approved equal’. It can provide competition but, by permitting substitutions, introduces the possibility of materials being used that are inferior to those desired.
Open Specifications
If a material or process specification is worded such that only one proprietary product will be acceptable, and if no provision is made for substitutions
Closed Specifications
Involve designers in preparing detailed description of end results desired by the owner; the method used to achieve that end is left up to the contractor.
Performance Specifications
These specifications present verbal descriptions of the technical requirements of the work to be accomplished, with emphasis on the levels of quality to be achieved.
Technical Specifications
Also referred to as a prescriptive specification or a materials and workmanship specification, the drawings and specifications spell out in explicit terms what must be done to accomplish a desired end result.
Design Specifications
(Those that are financed by the government) would be classed as modified open or modified closed. The specifications’ writer selects several manufacturers, at least three, whose product he is familiar with, the quality, appearance, or other features of which fit the project.
Commercial Specifications
While not perhaps a type of specification but more accurately a style, there have been a number of attempts to shorten the actual length of the written specifications. They try to create a shorter version by eliminating certain words that may not be necessary to the required meaning.
Streamlined Specifications
The 10 precepts to ensure quality of specifications writing
a. Be complementary. Relate all parts
of the contract.
b. Be concise. Say only what have to be
said.
c. Be consistent. In style, attitude and
firmness.
d. Be current. Eliminate out-of-date
references.
e. Be correct. Check errors and accuracies.
f. Be fair. Contract should be a bargain to
both parties.
g. Be objective. The job has to be bid and
built.
h. Be organized. Use standard formats
where possible.
i. Be practical. Contractors are not
magicians.
j. Be specific. Do not talk in generalities.
Specifications should be written in as simple language as possible so that no misunderstanding of words is possible, and if technical terms are necessary, they should be those used in common practice and easily associated with local usage.
Specification Language
Specifications are instructions to the contractor and suppliers of materials and should indicate exactly what is expected and what will be accepted. This means the specifications are mandatory upon the contractor. To be mandatory, they must be imperative.
Mandatory Construction
It is vitally important in the writing of specifications and may change the meaning of a sentence. The misplacement of a single punctuation mark may change the meaning of the specification. To eliminate problems, reduce the number of punctuations. Extra care is necessary to ensure that the sentence meaning is clear.
Punctuation
They are the bane of the contractor who uses the specifications
Escape Clauses
Difference between Shall and Will
Shall is a command, a positive statement, but will means maybe something will happen at someone’s convenience.
Specifications, as one of the Contract Documents, deserve as much care and attention as working drawings. They should be clear, concise, and written in simple language to come up with the best results.
Writing a Specification General
The specifications should be started in the form of construction outline or outline specifications to accompany the schematic drawings and be further developed as preliminary specifications to accompany design drawings.
Preliminary Review
It is this document that establishes the ground rules for administration of the construction phase of the project.
General Conditions
Part 3 of the specifications relates to the installation or construction of the various parts of the work and to the materials used in the work.
Technical Provisions
Are documents setting forth the changes, modifications, corrections, or additions to the contract documents that have been issued after the project has been advertised for bids, but before the time of opening bids—sufficiently in advance of the bid opening date to allow the bidder time to make the necessary changes in his or her bid.
Addenda
A preprinted set of specifications, usually comprising both a set of General Conditions and complete technical specifications for all types of construction and materials that the originating agency expects normally to cover in its kind of work.
Standard Specifications
International projects have their own standards, usually FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers). The documents are used almost universally on international engineering projects financed by the international banking industry, the UN, and others.
International Construction Contracts
