Working drawings and specifications are the primary working documents used by a contractor to bid and execute a project. Specifications are the written documents that go with the construction documents and describe the materials as well as the installation methods. They consist of precisely written documentation that describes a project to be constructed, supplementing drawings and forming part of the contract and describing qualities of materials, their methods of manufacture and installation into the project, workmanship and mode of construction, in addition to providing other information not shown in the drawings including description of the final result. Many designers have considerable difficulty preparing a competent set of standard building specifications, partly because it demands a shift of gears by having to use a different medium to express design content—using written documents instead of drawing. It also propels the designer into the technical realm of materials that are not normally dealt with on a daily basis and which the designer may not be up to speed on.

The need for construction specifications is mainly because drawings alone typically fail to define the qualitative issues of a scheme. Specifications generally describe the materials and workmanship required for a development. They do not include cost, quantity, or drawn information, and so need to be read alongside other information such as quantities, schedules, and drawings. Well-executed specifications form the written portion of the contract documents that are used to execute the project. Design decisions are continuously made as drawings develop from schematic sketches to detailed design to construction documents. Drawings are intended to depict the general configuration and layout of a design, including its size, shape, and dimensions. It informs the contractor of the quantities of materials needed, their placement, and their general relationship to each other. Technical specifications are a critical component of the contract documents as they reflect the design intent and describes in detail the quality and character of materials, as well as the standards to which the materials and their installation are required to conform, in addition to other issues that are more appropriately represented in written, rather than graphic form. The bottom line is that no matter how beautiful a designer’s concept is, it is difficult to envisage the project being properly executed without clear, concise, accurate, and easily understood contract documents that include well-written specifications.

In preparing a specification document, the specifier has to make an early determination in the process on which format or method is to be used to communicate the desired design intent to the contractor. Specifications vary considerably depending on the stage to which the design has been developed, ranging from basically two broad categories of specifications, performance specifications (open specifications) that require further design work to be carried out, to prescriptive specifications (closed specifications) where the design is already complete. Also, the advantage of having a prescriptive specification when a contract is tendered offers the client more certainty regarding the end product, whereas with a performance specification suppliers are given increased scope to innovate and adopt cost-effective methods of work, potentially offering better value for money. Within these two broad categories, there are four generic types of specifying construction products that are industry standards. These are:

The CSI developed the first standard format for organizing construction information in 1963 and which later became known as MasterFormat. In 1964 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) developed the concept of the “Project Manual,” primarily to meet the pressing need for a consistent arrangement of building construction specifications. The Project Manual consists of an assemblage of documents related to the construction work on a project, and which is employed to guide the construction process. It typically includes bidding requirements (contract forms, bonds, certificates, etc.), sample documents, conditions of the contract, and the technical specifications which together with the drawings, constitute the contract documents. The project manual has gained general acceptance in the industry and is greatly preferred to the traditional method of organizing the project manual which was previously a matter of individual preference by the design firm producing them, resulting in a wide diversity of method around the country that became very confusing. As design firms and contractors became increasingly nationwide in their operations, the Project Manual continued to develop and while it may differ depending on the size and type of project, a typical project manual may include, but not be limited to:

Over the decades, many revisions and expansions to MasterFormat have occurred due to changes in the construction industry. The CSI and CSC originally created the 16-division MasterFormat in 1963. Today, this format is widely used both in the United States and Canada for preparing construction specifications concerning nonresidential building projects. MasterFormat has become the standard for titling and arranging construction project manuals containing bidding requirements, contracting requirements, and specifications. Since its inception the CSI struggled to try to standardize the specification numbering system and the format of the Sections, which produced a modified MasterFormat in 1995.

The term “greening specifications” seems to be increasingly being used in the industry. But when greening your specs, e.g., by introducing resource- or energy-efficient methods or materials, there are two important questions that should be asked:

Computer technology has been evolving at an unusually rapid pace in recent years, which may be why the era of manually prepared building specifications finds itself rapidly disappearing into the annals of history. Indeed, over the past decade, a number of firms have emerged that have developed various versions of automated specification writing systems and many now offer these services online to architects, interior designers, engineers, and others. And while computer-aided drafting (CAD) has revolutionized the drawing process, many architects and designers no longer possess the knowledge, expertise, or interest to write specifications for their projects. Computer software has reduced the need for some of the traditional skills shaped by years of experience writing construction specifications. Computer resources offer practitioners greater efficiency and the ability to deal with continually expanding compilations of information and provide almost immediate access to information from thousands of applicable electronic databases. This is coupled with an increasingly complex construction industry, changing methods of procurement, and the tremendous pressure on architects and designers to prepare contract documentation, including the specifications of the highest quality and in less time. This is further complicated by the fact that the complexity of new commercial construction requires continually updated knowledge, particularly with the adoption of new “green” codes (e.g., The International Green Construction Codes) and more eco-friendly products. With the changing nature of the industry and its new energy-efficient products, laws, environmental regulations, techniques for assembling products, and building industry practices cannot be adequately presented in educational courses for engineers and architects. Specialists are therefore urgently needed to manage and update information gathered from the many new products and innovations in the construction industry.

There are several international associations in place to facilitate legal, technical, and political issues of international concern to the construction industry. All professionals including architects and engineers are expected to exercise reasonable care and skill in the implementation and execution of the various aspects of their work. The level of performance by professionals should be consistent with that normally provided by other qualified practitioners under similar circumstances. However, this does not imply that projects will be executed to 100% perfection at all times, although the risk is now increased with the presence of “green” liability issues. In this respect, Advanced Control Corp. claims that “Many challenges facing risk managers and insurers in developing coverage for “green” construction projects are similar to traditional construction risks with just a few differences. The difference generally being new technology and materials, which are untested and often experimental, and can lead to unfounded expectations. Green construction focus has brought to the table a whole new set of problems regarding what kind of damages may arise from green building projects, all the way from how to define them in insurance policies to coverage of damages and the services provided.”