Most people in the construction industry think of the specifier as the person who pays careful attention to the written bidding and contract documents. In mechanical and electrical engineering, the word “specifying” is often also used to mean selecting equipment. Calculating not only the performances of many interconnected machines but also the conditions of the building, and choosing the equipment that will do the job, is an absorbing and challenging task. Preparing biddable and enforceable written specifications is something engineers may not have been educated to do, but it’s essential to getting the systems you want.
Besides being the only nationally promulgated reference that gives you a checklist and example of what should be included in an invitation to bidders, MOP includes chapters on all the basics of preparing written construction documents. One of these is titled “Specification Language,” and in five conveniently outlined pages, it covers many of the issues that typically show up as problems in creating or interpreting written construction documents.