Next week I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on substitutions in the construction industry at the monthly meeting of the Denver Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI).
Panelists will include an owner’s rep, a general contractor, a subcontractor, an architecture firm’s construction contract administrator, and a specifier. It should be a lively discussion.
All are welcome! If you’re in the Denver metro area, I encourage you to come. You must register in advance, by Friday at noon. The meeting is on Tuesday, January 13, at the Lakewood Country Club from 11:30 am to 1 pm. Lunch is included. For non-members, the cost is $20. For more information, and to register, go to the Denver CSI website.
I’ve written about substitutions in our industry before, here, here, and here, but only from my point of view – that of an architect and specifier. This panel should have various points of view on the issue… and that should be helpful to all of us, as we strive to do our work better.
Comments From a Spec Writer 
Have fun with this one. Substitutions is always a hot topic and entirely dependent on a particular point of view. Let us know how it turns out. Epiphanies appreciated.
Thanks, Dave. It should be fun.
This subject reminds me of articles about masonry; both have been with us for a very long time, yet both are a source of apparently eternal discussion. I can’t count the number of articles that show the result of too few or missing joints, misplaced joints, use of the wrong mortar, missing or incorrect flashing, and so on. And I can say much the same thing about substitutions.
One of the first chapter meetings I attended, almost thirty years ago, included a presentation about “or equals” (a term I loathe), and I’ve seen the same subject at chapter, region, and Institute programs, along with an endless stream of articles in magazines, newsletters, and blogs.
I realize we always have new people who need to know these things, but doesn’t it seem that we should have exhausted both of these subjects by now? Obviously not; as David said, this is always a hot topic. I’m sure you’ll have an interesting discussion; please summarize the comments in a future column.
We’ll never exhaust these topics!
We could have gone on for a while longer, but we ran out of time. Here’s a summary of the panel discussion, and some great questions and comments from the audience: https://lizosullivanaia.com/2015/04/01/what-did-we-learn-about-substitutions/