STAY INFORMED BY FOLLOWING CSI BLOGGERS

A few years ago the predominant way for CSI members and others in the AEC industry to express themselves in writing professionally, and reach a national audience, was to write articles for industry magazines and newsletters. It wasn’t easy to get published in magazines.  Your message had to fit into the magazine’s overall editorial focus. And it took months for an article to progress from the draft stage all the way to its appearance in a hard-copy magazine.

All that’s changed now. The Internet has eliminated the magazine monopoly on expression by making it easy to get one’s message directly out to the industry by establishing and writing a blog. Lots of interesting, experienced, well-informed AEC industry specialists have jumped into blogging.

Here are just a few CSI member blogs. Some write about CSI governance and the CSI experience; others write about their areas of consulting or construction expertise.

Some write frequently; others only occasionally. 

Some appeal mainly to CSI members; others have achieved a much wider audience.

All accommodate, and usually publish and respond to, reader comments, enabling great dialog. If you haven’t already discovered their blogs, I urge you to check them out.  

• Charles Hendricks, CSI, CDT (@thegainesgroup): http://harrisonburgarchitect.wordpress.com/
• Liz O'Sullivan, CSI, CCS, CCCA(@LizOSullivanAIA): http://lizosullivanaia.wordpress.com/
• David Stutzman, CSI, CCS & Randal Reifsnider, CSI, CDT (@dstutzman @conspectusinc @rreifsnider): http://www.conspectusinc.com/blog/
• Michael Chusid, FCSI, CCS (@MichaelChusid ) : http://www.buildingproductmarketing.com/
• Eric Lussier, CSI, CDT (@EricDLussier): http://ericdlussier.wordpress.com
• Neal Turner, CSI, CCPR (@draperinc):  http://blog.draperinc.com/about-the-authors/neal-turner/
• Ron Geren, CSI, CCS, CCCA (@specsandcodes): http://specsandcodes.typepad.com
• Robert Dye, FCSI, CCS, CCCA (@robert_dye): http://www.robertdye.us
• Mitch Miller, CSI, CCS (@m2architek): http://m2architek.wordpress.com
• Sheldon Wolfe, FCSI, CCS, CCCA (@swolfearch): http://swconstructivethoughts.blogspot.com
• John Guill, CSI, CCS, CCCA (@specmonkeynorth): http://specmonkeynorth.posterous.com
• Lori Greene, CSI, CCPR (@LoriGreeneAHC): www.idighardware.com
• Tara Imani, CSI (@Parthenon1): http://www.indigoarchitect.com/
• Marvin Kemp, CSI, CDT (@BaltoCSI): http://felttips.blogspot.com

Come to think of it, why not share your expertise with the AEC industry by starting a blog?

Tap into your inner writer and join the club. Your fellow bloggers will engage with you, and help you promote your message by spreading links to your blog around the Internet like the proverbial Johnny Appleseed.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF EXISTING CONSTRUCTION ARE ESSENTIAL WHEN DESIGNING AND SPECIFYING RENOVATION PROJECTS

Studying photographs of what’s existing helps me as a spec writer to be a proactive member of the design team, especially if the directive from the owner is to “match existing”.

Many owners of existing buildings do not have drawings or specifications for their buildings. Even if  drawings or specs of the existing construction do exist, undocumented changes may have been made during the construction process.  Many more changes may have taken place over the years as owners added, deleted or modified systems, and performed routine maintenance and replacement of building components.

That’s why it’s important to take plenty of photographs when surveying an existing building for a renovation or addition project.  You’ll want to provide a wealth of information to the design team - especially the spec writer -  so the construction documents can be done correctly, and within available fee dollars.

Many projects these days are designed and specified on a compressed time schedule. This often means that specification production must be produced simultaneously with drawing production.  When writing specs, I don’t have the luxury of waiting until all the details are drawn and the door schedule and room finish schedule are completed before starting the specs.

I have to start specs while drawings are in progress.  I have to wing it, sometimes using a healthy dash of clairvoyance.   A thorough photographic survey can help me do my job better.

Here are just a few examples of how information gleaned from photos helped me to get the specs right on recent projects.  Photos:

• Helped establish the profile of existing metal industrial siding.
• Showed that a pair of doors to a conference room swung out of the room, rather than in - as depicted in original drawings (hardware implications).
• Showed that floor finish was terrazzo, and without a flash cove base.
• Showed that existing CMU was laid in stack bond rather than in running bond.
• Showed that door hardware finish was satin chrome or stainless steel on exterior doors, and satin bronze on interior wood doors.
• Showed that painted piping in a mechanical room was color coded, not painted the color of the room’s walls.
• Showed that an overhead door was a coiling door rather than a sectional door as depicted in original drawings.
• Showed that an automatic door operator was pneumatic, showed the manufacturer's name and model number, and showed that the actuating device was a pull cord.
• Showed what was painted, and what was not painted, in an industrial space.

Some advice for maximizing the usefulness of photographic surveys to the project design team:

• Take only digital photos, and file them with other project reference information on your server.
• Take multiple, overlapping, photos of each exterior elevation, and from multiple vantage points. Taking another shot from a few feet to the right for example, may reveal a louver, a downspout, a sign, or something else, which was hidden by a tree in the previous view.
• When photographing existing roofs, document more than just the areas that look to be problems. Take several overall views.  Then take closeup photographs of every different parapet and edge condition, and every object penetrating the roof.
• Take multiple, overlapping photos in each room.  
• Don’t just look straight ahead.  Look up to photograph the ceilings and soffits.  Look down to photograph flooring and bases.
• If your camera’s flash is too wimpy to illuminate a big or dark space, use a tripod or monopod to steady the camera so the auto settings don’t cause long shutter openings resulting in blurred, useless, images.
• When photographing interior spaces, indicate the location of the photo.  Sometimes it’s obvious where the image was taken. Sometimes it’s not. If you don’t rename each photo, try preceding the photos in a room with a photo of the floor plan of that room.
• When taking closeup shots, put an object into the view to establish scale.  Include a pen, a scale, a dollar bill, a quarter, or even your own hand.

Take lots of photos, because that’s much less costly than returning to the site for another field visit.  Your project design team, including your spec writer, will appreciate it

CREDENTIALS MATTER (ESPECIALLY CSI CREDENTIALS)

Are you still on the fence about taking CSI’s CDT exam? There’s no doubt about it. Studying for the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) certification exams requires a substantial investment in your time (to study) and your money (to purchase the CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide, and for the exam registration fee).

But if you’re serious about being a part of the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry, CSI certification is something you need.  CSI’s Construction Document Technologist (CDT)  certification shows that you understand, and are committed to, the AEC industry with all its quirks and complexity, and with all its constant change.

My experience: I haven’t taken the time to sift through decades of personal records to refresh my memory about when I took, and passed, the CDT exam. All I remember is that it was soon after the credential was available. I passed the Certified Construction Specifier (CCS) exam shortly thereafter. I’m embarrassed to admit that I actually let both certifications lapse sometime in the late 80’s. I was busy with two small children and a demanding job. We moved from one home to another in 1985,  and I’m blaming an errant address change form for the slip-up.  Sometime thereafter, I came to my senses and passed both exams again, on the same day. Years passed before I got interested in the Certified Construction Contract Administrator (CCCA) exam.  I took it in about 1998, and failed it by 1 point.  In 2002, I think, I took the CCCA exam again and passed it.

• Why I decided to become CSI certified: I looked at CSI certification as essential to professionalizing the art, craft, specialty, or whatever you want to call it, of specification writing. People with all sorts of educational and business backgrounds wind up in the AEC business, and enrich it because of their diversity. The industry thus needs a common core, and CSI Certification provides it.
• Toughest material I studied: I don’t think any of the material in any of the CSI Certification exams is hard to understand.  What is difficult, however, is to get back into the test-taking frame of mind. In addition to understanding the material, you have to be an extremely careful reader when taking the test. You need to understand some extremely fine distinctions between possible answers to the questions.
• Who helped me to pass: I  first took the CDT exam before the Chicago Chapter had study groups, so I was pretty much on my own.
• CSI Chapter Certification Program: I belong to the Northern Illinois Chapter now, and we haven’t had enough exam takers to enable us to offer a certification study group program in the last couple of years. If we get an avalanche of interest from this blog post, however, our Certification Chair Ken Moore and I might just be persuaded to offer a few webinar-style coaching events. If you’re interested, please say so in the comments to this blog post and Ken and I will get back to you. If we offer the coaching webinars, we will not limit attendance to members of the Northern Illinois CSI Chapter.
• Why CSI Certification makes me a better choice for people who are hiring:  For reasons I’ve never really understood, lots of people in the AEC business run for cover when asked to deal with the written word. CSI Certification shows that I have the patience, and the confidence, to deal effectively with the critical written components of construction contract documents.

Why am I trying to talk you into taking the CDT exam?  For your own good, friend.

First, you’ll learn a lot just in the process of studying for the CDT. If your career is anything like mine has been, you learned a lot about how the AEC business works from the school of hard knocks, and from assorted mentors, buddies, cronies, sages, hangers-on, etc. But when you study for the CDT and read The CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of why industry roles, rights, and responsibilities are the way they are. Especially if you participate in a CSI Chapter certification study group, and get the benefit of the group’s camaraderie.

Second, the credential signifies to the world that you took the time and the trouble to learn about all those arcane contract and spec factoids. Nobody can flim-flam you about your rights and responsibilities under a construction contract. You read the book. You know how to navigate a 1000-page Project Manual and find what’s pertinent to you. Your colleagues - most of whom come down with the vapors when called upon to read anything, let alone write anything - will come to you to find and interpret specification provisions.

Third, although there are plenty of other professional credential programs out there, and they’re no doubt valuable, CSI certification has the clearest focus on construction documents. And the construction documents define the rights and responsibilities we in this industry live by every day.

So, just do it.  You know you need it!  Buy the CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide and register for the CDT exam.

Here’s a FREE opportunity to learn more about CDT certification, the gateway to the advanced CCS, CCCA, and CCPR certifications:  Mark your calendar now for CSI’s FREE CDT 101 Webinar on Wednesday, January 26, 2012 at 1pm CT.  Register for the webinar at www.csinet.org/certification.   In this FREE webinar, speaker Lee Orosco, FCSI, CCS, will advise exam candidates on the benefits of CSI’s Construction Document Technologist (CDT) certificate program, and how to successfully prepare for the exam. This webinar will be accompanied by a tweetchat on Twitter.  Use hashtag #CSICertified during the webinar to chat with CSI members who have passed the CDT exam!

And here’s still more information about CSI Certification:

General CSI Certification Information: www.csinet.org/certification
Registration link:  https://webportal.csinet.org/Conference/RegistrationProcessOverview.aspx?id=80
·       Exams will be offered April 2 - April 28, 2012, in the U.S. & Canada.
·       Early registration deadline: February 2, 2012
·       Final registration deadline: March 2, 2012

CDT Information
General information about the CDT exam: www.csinet.org/cdt
·       Cost Before Feb. 2: $235 (member) $370 (non-member)
·       Cost after Feb. 2: $295 (member) $430 (non-member)
·       Cost for qualified students: $105
The CDT exam is now based on the CSI Project Delivery Practice Guide: www.csinet.org/pdpg

Advanced Exam Information
Cost of an advanced exam:
-          Before Feb. 2:  $275 (member) $410 (non-member)
-          After Feb. 2: $340 (member) $475 (non-member)
CCS information: www.csinet.org/ccs
-          Now based on the Construction Specifications Practice Guide (www.csinet.org/cspg)
CCCA information: www.csinet.org/ccca
-          Now based on the Construction Contract Administration Practice Guide (www.csinet.org/ccapg)
CCPR information: www.csinet.org/ccpr
-          This is the last year this exam will be based on the PRM (www.csinet.org/prm)
You don’t have to be a CSI member to register for an exam – but if you join first, you get the member discount! www.csinet.org/joincsi

R. I.P., SECTION 10 17 16 - TELEPHONE ENCLOSURES

Searching CSI’s MasterFormat 2011 Update for something the other day, I came across a product I haven’t had occasion to specify for many years - telephone booths.  MasterFormat calls them telephone enclosures, but everyone else calls them telephone booths.

The near universality of personal cell phones has made them obsolete. I can’t remember the last time I saw one.

Good thing Superman is just a fictional character.