Tag Archives: design

“How Do You Write the Specs?”

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I know it’s late… in the project.

I know you’re weary… of the hard questions.

I know your plans… for this last week before the deadline… don’t include me.

“How do you write the specs?” I was asked recently at an untimely point – late – in a project – by the project manager at the architecture firm.

I took a deep breath.

I have been working with many of my architect-clients for many years, and sometimes I forget that people who are new to me may be new to specifications altogether. Mea culpa.

So. When I write the specs for your project, the first thing I do is sit down with my notepad, and my pen, and your drawings.

Yes. First, I need your drawings.

I know it’s late.

I look at the drawings and I make notes about them on my notepad. Some info from my review starts to live in my memory. Some needs to be written down. Either way, I need to get going on the written work very soon after my drawing review, before another project’s buildings lodge themselves in my head.

When I review your drawings, I look at the graphics, but I really study the notes.

I worked as an architect before I became a specifications consultant – I have been in your position before, visually communicating the design through drawings. But something important that I didn’t fully realize until I became a specifications consultant is that much less information is communicated in the graphics than some people think. A lot of the design that you’re drawing is in your head – in your personal understanding and memory reservoir. It can’t all get out through a drawing, or even a model. You are filling in some gaps with your mind.

I know you’re weary.

Part of the process of doing a good job writing specs is helping to fill in the gaps in the actual construction documents – I do need to know what’s in the gaps to be able to write a complete project spec. And the contractor will need to know what’s in the gaps to be able to build the building according to the design intent and the owner’s wishes. So, I am probably going to ask you a lot of questions.

A specifier is interested in both the minute details and the overall big picture in a way that an architect involved in the daily or weekly preparation and communication of the design and drawings often cannot be. If your spec writer is also an architect, you may be getting a “second set of eyes” on your drawings, a person who notices a few little issues here and there that an in-house reviewer might not notice because of the historical knowledge of the project that is stored in their head, even if they just overhear things about the project occasionally.

Regarding the very specific details – most architects understand why the specifier is interested and involved in those. (We put in the specs the info that shouldn’t go on the drawings because it’s too much, or too detailed, or related to process more than products.)

Regarding the big picture – I think a specifier’s grasp of this has to do with the way most specifiers approach our work. We work through a database or checklist or a sort of subtractive process. (Don’t need that, don’t need that, wait – might need that – need to ask, yes need that, nope don’t need that anymore. Oh, we’re gonna need that, because I see the old one going away on the demo plan and prep for a new thing is called out even though the new is actually not on the construction plan yet. I think we need this even though it’s not on the drawings because I see this other thing on the structural drawings…)

I know your plans don’t include me.

Architects, I have been in your shoes. I know what it feels like to coax, push, drive, drag yourself forward through fatigue and “overwhelm” to get to the deadline… encouraging yourself by telling yourself that it will all be over after the deadline and that you only have “this much” left… and then someone like me comes along and tells you there’s more to do. I feel compassion for you in your position. I have been there before and I truly know how it feels.

Let’s find a way.

Let’s find a way… to work together better to help get beautiful buildings built. I will keep in mind how you work. I will keep in mind that not all architects are familiar with specifications. Please ask me anything, anytime, about how I work. We’ll find a way.

(Apologies for doing weird things with a great song.)

Nice Curbs!

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One thing I’ve noticed about upstate New York is that they have some really nice curbs.

Stone sidewalk and curb, Lake Placid, New York

I first noticed the curbs on a college campus in Geneva, New York. They’re great components of the college landscape – granite, durable, long-lasting, probably hold up really well to the snowplows that I imagine are regularly operating in that gray, snowy place. Actually, I’m pretty sure the orange streaks on the stone are rust stains from the snowplows that scrape these curbs each winter.

Stone curb with rust stains, Geneva, New York

I figured that the granite curb was a campus standard, so I was a bit surprised when I noticed the same curb in nearby downtown Geneva, and then I really couldn’t believe it when I saw the curb design again on the side of some little state highway near a new strip mall and big box retail development in the middle of nowhere in the Finger Lakes region in New York. Apparently, the New York State Department of Transportation has the nicest design standards for curbs that I’ve ever seen for highway use, and it looks like the college campus decided to go with that standard.

New stone curb being installed, near Seneca Falls, New York

I’ve encountered some terrible curbs in Denver, where I live, including at one decaying median with disintegrated curb with a corroded rebar sticking out on a busy US highway that runs through south Denver. More typically, I see unreinforced concrete curbs cut up by snowplows and work trucks. No orange streaks of rust staining on these – the concrete seems to just get scraped off.

Damaged concrete curb, Denver, Colorado

Over time, the concrete disintegrates.

Detail of damaged concrete curb, Denver, Colorado

A big piece of granite will last a lot longer than a chunk of cast-in-place concrete. This natural stone material will cost more than concrete, but stone curbs may not cost more in labor than concrete curbs do, and labor costs these days are really something to consider. The granite will look better, year after year, even under harsh conditions that seriously damage other materials.

The old quality-time-cost dynamic is at play in the stone curb vs. concrete curb design question. We rarely get good quality, with fast construction time, with low cost. Something can be built well – good quality – but it’ll cost more and may take more time than producing something of lesser quality. Something can be built quickly, but compared to something built on a more typical schedule, it will either cost more or be of lesser quality, or both. Something can be built cheaply, but the quality is likely to be poor.

For me, quality always includes durability – effectiveness and appearance over the long term. A higher-initial-cost, more durable building component can cost less in the long run, because of lower maintenance costs over its service life. Durable building components almost certainly look better over the long term, too. With cheap materials, there is often a period of time after their beauty has been exhausted but before they have been replaced, during which they are unbearable to look at. Durable things age gracefully. The beauty of an object, whether it’s part of a building, a piece of furniture, a good quality leather bag, or even a curb on the side of the road, is an incentive to keep and properly maintain the thing so that it continues to serve its purpose. Those nice curbs last long, look good for decades, maybe centuries, even when scraped by snowplows, and therefore probably cost less in the long run. Win-win-win.