Specification Fundamentals: Organization, Methods and Best Practices

Course Description

This course introduces the fundamentals of construction specifications, drawing from Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) standards and their certification programs. It demystifies specification organization and best practices, explaining the complementary roles of drawings and specifications in construction documents. Participants will touch on key aspects, such as: specification formats that structure the document (including narrative form, outline, sheet spec, short-form, and full-length); classification systems that organize the content (such as UniFormat, MasterFormat and their subsets); methods that convey the requirements (including descriptive, performance, reference standard, and proprietary); and how specifications are updated. Through this structured approach, participants will gain the knowledge and confidence to navigate specifications in their professional practice.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the complementary roles of drawings and specifications in construction documents.

• Identify the major organizational formats for specifications and their applications in practice.

• Explain the structure and purpose of the three main parts of a specification section and their role in construction project communication.

• Compare the different methods of specifying methods by defining each method and discussing scenarios for their use.

• Analyze the evolution of specification titles, including the shift to action-oriented naming conventions.