David Stutzman
Imagine it is 1970. Graduation from high school just completed. Students were looking forward to starting careers or finding that summer job to help pay for college. One took a job at C. F. Smith & Son, a Kennett Square, PA contractor to lay pipe for a new Westinghouse small appliance manufacturing campus in Laurel, MD. He signed on as a union laborer to lay pipe and instantly increased the probability of paying for college. He gave up his $1 per hour farm hand job to earn $3.65 per hour at what he thought would actually be a physically easier job. (To the right is a photo of me at Rehoboth Beach, constructing a sand design.)
The work was hard - harder than expected. The progress was slow - about 20 feet of pipe per day. Machine excavate to 12 inches above invert. Hand excavate to 12 inches below invert. Shape the bottom of the trench to match the pipe. Place the pipe bedding and shape that to the pipe too. The graduate sweated in the summer sun as his aching muscles and calloused hands excavated the hardpan clay that may as well have been concrete, except concrete and even farm manure smells better. He labored all day, every day to remove 8 cubic feet of clay for every foot of pipe. Why? The spec said so.
Workers in the pipe trench.
The graduate was not work averse. On the farm, he was attuned to production to finish each day's work and move to the next task. After battling the clay daily, the frustration built. All the hand excavation seemed senseless. He watched the excavator sit idle and the oiler tend to the machine maintenance while the laborers struggled. Dare he make a suggestion knowing he was the newest hire and youngest on the crew? It did not take long until he formulated a plan. Soon, he found the courage to make a suggestion to the foreman. "Why not have the excavator shape the trench and eliminate all the hand excavation? Just cut a plate shaped to match the pipe and weld to the excavator bucket teeth." The foreman listened. "The plate will bend," was the reply, promptly dismissing the idea. "Then reinforce the plate," the graduate suggested. The day ended without a hint the suggestion was taken seriously.
The next day, the welder arrived along with the inspectors. Clang! A steel plate struck more steel. Sparks flew as the excavator was fitted with a new large tooth shaped like a pipe, reinforced on the back side. The operator skillfully dug to 12 inches below invert and following the required gravity slope. The trench was perfectly shaped to match the pipe. The inspectors hovered at the brim of the excavation watching the process. They jumped into the hole, marveled at the result, and enthusiastically approved the new method.
Photos from my archives. On the site of the warehouse project in Laurel, MD.
And what about daily production? Well it soared 500% to more than 100 feet per day. Yet, the laborers were not all happy. The improved production would have them finish the work more quickly and needing to find other work sooner than expected. Eventually they realized the ended each day far less sore and far less tired. You might say they came to appreciate this new idea, but would never openly say so.
Helping the company make money by saving time was a great satisfaction for the graduate. However knowing that the idea was likely part of the dinner table talk between Marley Smith the crew oiler and the & Son of C. F. Smith was even better.
The compactor I ran in the field.
This was my first encounter with a specification, as a 17 year old high school graduate and ex farm hand.
The story does not end here. I was able to influence my first spec, but only after the fact. The owner already accepted the contractor's bid based on the spec that restricted production. Had there been an opportunity to influence the spec beforehand, the owner could have paid less and had the exact same result. There must be a better way.
Now specifications are my career, and I know there is a better way. I want to engage the entire project team in creating specifications that allow construction to be effective and efficient. Allow everyone to participate - owners, designers, contractors, suppliers, and even laborers. Leverage everyone's experience and expertise. Explore options together and decide the optimal solution.
The better way is Conspectus Cloud. This is a truly collaborative and completely transparent specification production tool, by design. Making the entire system transparent transforms individual behavior with improved collaboration, transforms content with improved reliability, and transforms outcomes with informed decisions.
See for yourself. Explore the possibilities.
https://www.conspectusinc.com/request-a-demo
My first time in the ocean - Rehoboth Beach, DE