What does it really take to understand specifications, not just pass a certification exam?
In this episode of What a Week, Elias Saltz and Steve Ganter welcome Conspectus senior specifier Marty Thornton for a look inside Conspectus’ new specification education class. While the course can help participants prepare for CSI certification, its larger goal is teaching how specifications are developed, coordinated, maintained, and used throughout a project.
Marty shares some of the real-world discussions already emerging in class, including Basis of Design, acceptable manufacturers, finish schedules, phased projects, maintaining office masters, and preserving design intent. The conversation demonstrates what makes the class different: it connects specification principles to the decisions and problems practitioners actually encounter on projects.
At its core, the class is about building better specifiers through education, experience, conversation, and mentorship, while passing that knowledge to the next generation.
Learn more about the spec writing class: https://www.conspectusinc.com/study
Industry Insight
Specification education goes beyond learning document structure or preparing for a certification exam. Understanding why requirements are written and how they affect design, bidding, construction, and CA is essential to becoming an effective specifier.
Practice Takeaway
Basis of Design, acceptable manufacturers, finish selections, and schedules require more than listing products. The class explores how those decisions can preserve design intent while giving contractors clear, workable requirements.
Process Lesson
Decisions made early can reduce work later. Clearly defining acceptable products and coordinated finish schemes upfront can simplify submittal review and reduce substitution requests and RFIs during construction.
Professional Development
Learning specifications shouldn’t happen in isolation. Marty emphasizes mentorship, peer review, and conversations with architects, contractors, owners, and product representatives as critical parts of developing specification expertise.
Future of Practice
AI can assist with research and specification development, but it does not replace the experienced professional who understands the project, evaluates the information, and brings the pieces together.
We want to encourage the next set of spec writers. Never lose that.