Engineering Consulting Services

Engineering Services

Specifications

In 2006, DTR Consulting Services expanded its in-house consulting services to independently write engineering/ consultant construction specifications, including design and Constructability/Peer Reviews to assist our A/E clients and Design Build Contractors.

Engineering Firms have traditionally developed and edited their own in-house specifications. DTR however has been working with Engineers and Architects since 2002 developing specifications. Many firms have in-house specification masters which have fallen out of date, while other firms have their Engineers edit specifications given to them by the Architect or some other source.

Over the years we found that our firm works with many Engineering firms very well in producing specifications specific to individual firms as well as projects. Engineering specifications vary greatly from Architectural specifications in that much of the project specific material falls on the drawings, in such items as light fixture schedule, mechanical equipment schedules or plumbing schedule, structural design criteria, planting schedule, etc, so there is no need to duplicate that information within the specifications. This is true for most engineering specialties.

So what should be in your engineering specifications? First, there is the need to include general requirements in each specification Section, such as field or manufacturers qualifications, source testing, specific shop drawing requirements, "current" industry standards, contractor qualifications, field testing and/or commissioning, identifying spare parts and warranties as well as documenting product accessories and finally, detailed installation requirements.

After a facility design is complete and construction products have been selected, construction specifications should be clear, correct, complete and concise (4 C's). Specifications should conform to recognized standards for formats in order to be expediently produced and used.

DTR develops constructions specifications with our clients that demonstrate a high standard of care for quality construction. We strive to represent the best approach to meet our client's budget, long-term needs, and schedule. Specifications are prepared in Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) 2004/ 2010 format (50 divisions). Construction specifications developed with the engineer are to be complete and accurate, which historically has demonstrated few change orders. DTR averages less than 1 percent of overall construction costs in construction change orders, when we prepare the project specifications.

This does two things for your firm:

 Increases the confidence that others have in your firm to produce quality documents and limit change orders.

 Improves your profitability on each project through reduce man hours on providing supplemental documents during construction as well as minimizing time spent responding to RFI's.

An engineering specification serves several important functions. It clarifies agreement on design goals; serves as the learning guide for new hires in the engineering team; and often becomes a starting point for other essential documents, including patent applications, user documentation, and marketing collateral. In all of these functions, the audiences change but much of the specification's content is reusable, if that content is written and formatted with maintainability in mind.

Engineering Sheet Specifications

Drawings specifications can still be acceptable for very small and simple projects. However, most sheet specifications we see on engineering drawings have been used repetitively for many years and are little more than expanded notes with outdated references and procedures. While even the best of these, should be used with simple projects where the contractors have been hand selected to do the work on a cost plus basis or at lease a negotiated bid with a high quality contractor.

Constructabilty/ Peer Reviews

DTR can best assist your firm in being that outside source, a third eye that can review your drawings and specifications to verify that all information is properly indicated, documents are coordinated with other disciplines, information is clear and concise and meets your level of quality. Hundreds of studies have been done which indicate the costs saved on these reviews more than pay for the fees to conduct them.

This is why many project Owners hire outside reviewers. Unfortunately, too many are conducted by unqualified or loosely focused people, whereas many of their comments are made without a complete review of the documents, or are design related.

DTR has always had on goal in mind… Save our clients money in the Construction phase by assisting in a better coordinated set of documents.

See our Constructability/Peer Review & Construction Confilict Resolutions webpage for additional information.