Stay in Your Lane!

Stay In your lane. Remain behind the curtain. Take the drawings, create the specs. Question when necessary. Provide input when asked.

Specifiers, can you sympathize with that? Conspectus has never been good at following directions when we know there is a much better way to say things or express things. Which is how we grew to a team of 12 specifiers, located across the country, as an independent specification firm. This growth comes from a cycle of craving product and systems knowledge, a curiosity to fully understand the design function and Owners Project Requirements, and to simply to make the team better and project more successful.

No! We won’t stay in our lane! We remain hungry for not just technical knowledge, but for the best way to collaborate with the ENTIRE project team. This is why we have participated in many fall conferences across the country – presenting, attending, sponsoring, learning, and networking. How do specifiers engage in CURT (Construction Users Round Table), CSI (Construction Specification Institute) DBIA (Design Build Institute of America), LEAN Congress, LCI (Lean Construction Institute), and COAA (Construction Owners Association of America)?

Bring the specifiers and specifications out of the black box and into the conversation sooner!

CURT – Construction Users Round Table, Sept. 2023 ESG Summit (Environmental, Social, Governance) 

Membership base: Construction Owners in the pharmaceutical, industrial, manufacturing, data center, and other markets, insurers, contractors and industry associates that support them.

Conspectus Team: Tina Montone, Industry Liaison, is active with the Procurement and Contracting team.

Photo is information provided by CURT on how ESG is predicted to evolve.

Photo is from CURT workshop on project team, information flow, and technology. 

Results: The processes put in place by these members heavily impact the trends in the AECO industry across the globe. The challenges identified and best practices put in place, help us as specifiers understand the impact our documents have on the measured risk. Within the decision-making process, specifications impact the outcomes of the project and trust in information management. It is critical to understand this and improve the transparency and trust.

CSI – Construction Specifications Institute, Sept. 2023, CSI Annual Conference

Member Base: Specifiers, architects, building product manufacturers and every person who touches the construction project, from conception to decommissioning.

Conspectus Team: Melody Fontenot, Senior Specifier, who is a very active member of the Portland, OR CSI chapter and NW region; Terumi Woods, San Francisco Specifier and head education coordinator; David Stutzman,President, his CSI reputation precedes him; Jan Stutzman, similar to David; and Doug Bevill, Conspectus Cloud General Manager.

Photos are from Conspectus Cloud reception at the Newsroom Restaurant in Minneapolis.

Results: Conspectus hosted its very first Conspectus Cloud reception amongst our very good friends and colleagues. Dave has been presenting and evangelizing to CSI on the approach of collaboration, the utility of UniFormat® and the benefits of preliminary project descriptions (PPD) for decades. Launching Conspectus Cloud – the tool that supports these principles and also is THE spec writing tool developed for specifiers by specifiers – during the conference week, was the BEST place to do it. We are thrilled to have provided an in depth look at Conspectus Cloud for our CSI comrades.

Melody Fontenot was also a presenter on a panel at the conference: "CHANGE IS HERE: Helping Professionals Navigate Rapid Shifts in the AECO Industry".

Doug Bevill, Terumi Woods, Melody Fontenot, David Stutzman at the reception.

LCI – Lean Construction Institute, Oct. 2023, LEAN Congress

Member base – Anyone who engages in or wants to better understand LEAN principles.

Conspectus Team: David Stutzman, President and Steve Gantner, Executive Vice President.

Results: Dave and Steve were a part of the workshop “The Flow State Experience” with Charlie Dunn of DPR, and many others who exercise LEAN practices and principles in their teams and on their projects. We were excited to put into practice and share with this audience how creating specifications, through decision-management, can truly impact waste. We plugged into the Takt exercise via LEGOS. Specification writing is quintessential when it comes to the flow of information, throughout each LOD (level of development) and stage.

Photos from The Flow State Experience Workshop

DBIA – Design Build Institute of America, Nov. 2023, Annual Conference

Member base: Contractors, designers, and owners who practice the design-build project delivery method, and everyone who supports them.

Conspectus Team: David Stutzman, President, Steve Gantner, Executive Vice President, and Doug Bevill, Conspectus Cloud General Manager.

Conspectus Cloud booth at DBIA Conference. 

Results: Conspectus was a sponsor of the VDC (Virtual Design and Construction) Leadership Exchange and was an exhibitor on the expo floor. The Conspectus approach, implemented using the Conspectus Cloud tool, is an ideal solution in the design decision management in a design build delivery process. During the VDC event, Conspectus engaged with the directors and leading contractors such as Whiting-Turner, DPR, Skanska, etc. Contractors and owners understood the benefits of timely and appropriate documenting and development of information that results in reduction of RFIs (request for information) and VE (value engineering), and waste in general. On the expo floor, showcasing Conspectus Cloud, attendees experienced first-hand, how a specification tool becomes a decision-management tool, and how it provides transparency to the process through its collaborative functions.

COAA – Construction Owners Association of America, Nov. 2023, Annual Fall Connect

Member base – Construction owners in higher education, healthcare, government, etc. architects, contractors and other associates who support them.

Conspectus Team: David Stutzman, President; Tina Montone, Industry Liaison and COAA Cares committee member. 

Results: We have two ears and one mouth, so at COAA we love to listen to everyone.  What are the owners and contractors saying and what are their biggest pain points?  Can specifiers support the challenges they face? Over and over we heard the same sentiment - a strong emphasis on trust in documentation. Are standards kept current? Is design being validated against standards? Are there coordination issues? How does all of this drive risk on the project up or down? David was invited to participate in the Rapid-Fire Session focused on the Power of Engagement.  In 6 minutes and 40 seconds, he provided an understanding of the importance to engage a specifier early in the process to drive transparency and collaboration for the entire project team. 

COAA has a strong 'give-back to the community' component to the event, through a committee called COAA Cares: Connecting Attendees with Rewarding Experience and Service.  At this year's conference, over 100 attendees put together 50 bicycles through Wish for Wheels organization.  The bikes will be donated to the children of veterans who have served our country, distributed through the Camaraderie Foundation.  Attendees also made greeting cards to be donated to veterans. 

Rapid Fire - Power of Engagement Panel: Carli Cole (HGA Architects), David Stutzman, Ann Leiner (Stacey & Associates), Sarah Smith (Auburn University), Ken Ausley (Ausley Construction). 

Discussion with Owners - Stuart Cullen (University of Florida), Ken Stonecipher (Global Gaming Solutions, LLC).

COAA Cares team members - left to right, Bobby Brown (PMWeb), Sarah Delphin (MD Anderson), Carli Cole (HGA Architects), Tina Montone, Cy Rangel (Purdue University).

As you can see, we will cannot stay in our lane.  It is critical to documentation, to team relationships, to project success, to the INDUSTRY....that we continue to listen, educate, and celebrate the advancements in decision management that come through excellence in spec writing and effective, intuitive specification tools.