The MasterFormat CSI Division 48 Electrical Power Generation
The SimpleSpecs™ Concept
Adding More Words Does Not Make Specifications More Enforceable.
Design professionals are accustomed to seeing lengthy project specifications, so why is SimpleSpecs™ so short?
Specifications have grown evermore wordy over the years for several reasons:
- The mistaken belief that specifications must be lengthy and legal-sounding to be enforceable. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Having shorter, easily understood specifications makes us less likely to have problems in the field.
- A belief that having lots of words protects us from a Contactor making mistakes. There is no way to include enough statements to protect yourself from a bad contractor, regardless of the length of your specification.
- Our desire to be in control of the project by specifying means and methods instead of including simple, enforceable statements.
