New and Different

The industry is changing. The emerging revolution is that licensed architects and engineers owe a fiduciary duty to owners. This change will have dramatic effect on communications and documentation between design teams (including..

First published and presented at GlassCon Global 2018, Chicago, IL October 6, 2018

Successful construction projects rely on complete, accurate, timely, and understandable communication; maximizing all of these reduces the likelihood for disputes to arise.  Unfortunately, many project teams fall short of proper communication, and that's..

Specifications must be written following the "Four C's" of effective communication: Clear, Concise, Correct and Complete.  Getting each "C" done right presents its own challenges.  To be correct, a spec must avoid errors and properly describe the scope..

One of the significant reasons for the existence of specifications is to describe the level of quality to the products and work that go into a building project.  Specifications establish the performance of the products and assemblies and their..

Almost all architectural firms and specifications consultants maintain full sets of office master guide specifications, which, among their many benefits, serve to streamline the development of project specifications.  Development and maintenance of..

This paper was first presented by Louis Medcalf, FCSI, CCS, SCIP and David Stutzman, AIA, CSI, CCS, SCIP at the National Institute of Building Sciences BEST 5 triennial national conference in Philadelphia, PA April 16, 2018.

David Stutzman visited Chicago last week to stop in and talk to some of his current clients as well as to try to grow Conspectus's business into new firms, and I was fortunate enough to accompany him on some of those meetings.  When you work as a remote..

Architects and specifiers alike face significant and continuous challenges when it comes to identifying and validating reliable information about construction products.  Using an incorrect product for an application can lead to significant failure, and..

Imagine you're a project architect and you're nearing completion of CD's.  For half a year, you've been neck-deep in the project meetings, made myriad decisions large and small, and are intimately knowledgeable of the design intention and you know all of..