Optimizing the Building Product Specification Process Without Overhauling Your Proven Workflows.
In the commercial construction industry, our customer is the building owner, and the building is the final output. Throughout the project lifecycle, the building evolves into a marketplace of ideas, products, and services at varying scale through the ebb and flow of design, tender and facilities management to its subsequent demolition.
The process from conception to the building’s turnkey moment gradually and sometimes not steadily manifests into a journey quite unique to our great American construction industry. From architects, engineers, and consultants to general contractors to subcontractors, the varying demographics drive an eclectic use of technologies, new and old, still even done with paper, pen, and printers. OH MY! And through all this the product manufacturers and their distributor network work diligently with every member of this generationally fickle network to get their products specified and sold in this grand and unique product and services fair. It is a wonderful show that never ends. Truly, it is, I love it!
This all said, the best buildings are the result of tight design product integration and there is no integration without collaboration and the tighter and snugger and fluid the collaboration, from the beginning to the end of the project, the better the result.
One of the areas where things can begin to disintegrate is the product specifications. Lack of communication and seamless collaboration and clarity on product specifications will lead to gaps and misinterpretations resulting in needless requests for information (RFI)s and the much distained value engineering (VE) of products and a diversion from the owner’s intent. Poor communication results in confusion, wasted time, and unnecessary and unplanned costs.
What are the answers to this dilemma? Well, as one of our top industry academics puts it. “The creation and practice of Interdisciplinary Fluency,” (a common language to be used by the building team) would go a long way toward improved communication.
Another impediment is the still regular use of Design – Bid – Build as a delivery process, over those that foster much more cohesive interdisciplinary communication and coordination, i.e. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Design Build, and CM at Risk.
The theory of concurrent, multi-disciplinary communications and decision making has, in an exceptionally low percentage of cases, become a reality. However, in building product research and selection there are very few solutions that are designed to keep those on the building team connected, to ensure that the right products to satisfy the owner’s intent are selected, properly specified, and installed on their project.
Proper use of advanced technology should not be to reinvent the industry workflows, but to track, enhance accountability and serve as an engine of growth to the companies that apply them and enhance the wellbeing of their respective industries. Conspectus Cloud is such a platform.
Conspectus Cloud was created 4 years ago initially to make Conspectus Inc.’s large and rapidly growing product specifications consultancy more efficient by automating:
The five core tenants of Conspectus Cloud are:
Someone once said: “There is no shortcut to sustainable success, operational pliability and proven fundamentals triumph in the end.”
At Conspectus, we believe in making the fundamentals faster, better, and more profitable for our users, not changing them.
We would like to have you attend one of our scheduled tours, or we can work with your schedule and give you a proprietary demonstration of Conspectus Cloud.