Secrets of Metal Building Systems Specs

by Jonathan McGaha | January 31, 2013 12:00 am

You know them-those densely worded volumes covering everything from nuts to bolts (literally), legalese-filled and heavy enough to counterweight a crane. Throughout my career producing project manuals, I’ve had the opportunity to review many: some well-written and efficiently organized and more than a few cobbled-together messes awaiting a lawsuit. To help you better understand the complexities of these documents, I have compiled a few trade tips to guide you through the project manual.

1. The front end is important; read it.

The project manual begins with administrative and contracting requirements, informally known as the front end. This essential component of a project’s specifications includes procurement documents describing the bidding process, various contracting forms, the Conditions of the Contract, and Division 01 General Requirements.

The Conditions of the Contract provides the overarching framework for administrative and legal matters related to construction. Of the several models used, AIA Document A201-2007 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, known as the General Conditions, is the most popular. It lays out the basic obligations and duties of the owner, contractor and architect, and set the rules for everything from payments and completion to changes in the work and handling of claims and disputes. If you’re an industry veteran and haven’t read it lately, I can almost guarantee you’ll find at least one nugget that might have resolved an on-site dispute, if only you’d known earlier!

The General Conditions are not to be confused with the Division 01 General Requirements. While the former is truly universal in nature, the latter is specific to the project at hand. Within these sections resides a wealth of information about allowances, alternates, substitutions, payments, submittals, quality control, product selection, warranties, record documents, and anything and everything relating to administrative procedures common to the entire project.

Often, subcontractors receive only “their” sections and do not have access to the front end or even other technical sections with which they need to coordinate; this is a disservice to all. Every trade on the project needs to see the entire project manual and abide by its full contents.

2. Familiarize yourself with MasterFormat’s consistent section names and numbers, and rely on them for easy information retrieval.

In the 1950s, an industry guideline was developed called MasterFormat. This standard provides a list of consistent section names and numbers, conveniently separated into divisions for easy information retrieval, which has become the bedrock of project manual organization.

MasterFormat offers a single number and title for pre-engineered metal construction: Section 133419, Metal Building Systems. This section is somewhat unusual in its extent. It can include main frames, secondary framing, roof and wall panels, insulation, walk doors, windows, accessories and anything else required to assure that a complete metal building system results.

Spec writers may opt to include all accessories, options, and subsystems in a single Section 133419 or they may spread the information over multiple sections. For example, door hardware may be included in Section 133419 or specified separately in Section 087100, Door Hardware. A well-written specification places door hardware information in only one of those sections, not both, and clearly cross-references its location from the other section.

It is important to understand that the order and content of specification sections does not govern division of work into trades or subcontracts. The General Conditions assign the responsibility of determining means and methods of construction to the entity defined as the Contractor in the owner’s agreement.

Ultimately, everything required by the written specifications must be supplied and installed. If the specifications require a type and style of door hardware, for example, that is what must be provided. If a particular requirement is specified in more than one section, it is incumbent on bidders to request clarification from the architect in the form of an RFI during the bidding stage.

3. Look to the future of specifications with integrated BIM capabilities.

The long-promised Building Information Model (BIM) revolution may be upon us. The steel industries-structural, cold-formed, metal building systems-have pioneered the emerging technology of 3-D interactive computer modeling of building components. According to Engineering News Record, 70 percent of architects and 74 percent of contractors now report using BIM. Building drawings, as well as specifications, are getting smarter.

The integration of written building specifications with a 3-D BIM model is a topic of considerable interest. ARCOM, produces a nationally renowned guide specification system, AIA MasterSpec, that provides user-friendly specification section text, including options, editing notes and automated editing capabilities, to designers and spec writers across the country. Once an AIA MasterSpec user has electronically edited their specifications to meet a particular project’s needs, the user can interface the specifications with InterSpec’s e-SPECS software, which serves as a bridge to the BIM model.

Now specs can really get smart. ARCOM SpecAgent currently links to enhanced-listings manufacturers and offers product information, which is ready for import directly into each specification section, and from there, into the BIM model. With ARCOM’s next-generation, data-based software, Altarix, sections will become even denser with information, providing vast repositories of intelligence about project-specific product and assembly characteristics, options, materials, finishes, environmental impacts, costs and availability.

At some point, the BIM model and written constructions documents will become one, with full information about all aspects of any building available throughout its life cycle-from conception through construction, occupation, maintenance and all the way to demolition. It’s an exciting time for specifications.

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Joseph Berchenko, AIA, CSI, CCS, is the assistant director of architectural specifications at ARCOM, publisher of MasterSpec specifications. To learn more, visit www.masterspec.com[1].

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