Construction Industry Trends
June 2005
The Truth about MasterFormat 2004 Adoption: Two Case Studies
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While some organizations are biding their time in their transitions to MasterFormat 2004 Edition, others have already begun making the switch. Some, such as the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), are breaking new ground within their industry sector by adopting the standard, while others, such as the State Architect’s Office in Ohio, are taking the lead to ensure swift transition to the latest edition of MasterFormat.
One of the first organizations to adopt MasterFormat 2004 Edition was BART, an organization considered to be outside the scope of previous editions of the standard. That’s why when the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) first formed a task force to oversee the revision of MasterFormat, BART District Architect Tian Feng became a leading advocate for updating the standard to meet the previously unmet needs of groups outside the traditional building construction industry.
“For over 30 years, BART has developed a variety of specifications that had to extend beyond 16 divisions,” says Tian, referring to the number of classification divisions that comprised earlier versions of MasterFormat. “BART’s ongoing need is to determine how we can systematically organize our specification information, but it requires more than 16 divisions. So when it came time to revise MasterFormat, I thought it would be a unique opportunity for BART to learn what the task force was doing and to contribute to it if necessary.”
One reason Tian was interested in participating in the revision work was the older edition’s lack of focus on the needs of the transit industry. He believes that because until recently MasterFormat was not able to meet all their needs, transportation organizations have been hesitant to fully adopt a standardized way for writing their specifications.
“In the transportation industry, our main business is to develop, operate, and maintain our systems. We’re not experts in developing documentation conventions,” Tian points out. “I also see tremendous value in being in line with industry documentation standards because the transit industry relies on multiple broad manufacturing and construction entities… The implication of having your own conventions is there may be a higher cost for development, construction, and maintenance.”
In Ohio, the State Architect’s Office is also adopting MasterFormat 2004 Edition as a way of ensuring standardized communications among all parties working on state projects. Lane Beougher, a senior project architect with Braun and Steidl, has worked with State Architect Roger Booker to help with the transition.
“One of the things Roger sees is the opportunity to more fully coordinate the specifications,” says Lane of the state architect’s decision to migrate to MasterFormat 2004 Edition. He says that a lack of consistent adoption of previous MasterFormat editions had created a number of inconsistencies in how people were classifying and numbering their specifications. “Roger sees MasterFormat 2004 Edition as an opportunity to clean up the system and get everybody on the same page, using the same numbers.”
For that reason, as of July 1, 2005, the State Architect’s Office will make MasterFormat 2004 Edition a recommended and preferred method of organizing specifications for all state public construction projects. Then, starting on January 1, 2006, the standard will become a requirement.
The architectural firm where Lane works is also pushing for adoption of MasterFormat 2004 Edition among their consultants. It has been a bit of a challenge, he admits. “Every time there’s a change, it causes a little pain. One of the things we discovered… is that changing the numbers and titles is a small part of the work. Upgrading the specifications, making sure all the referenced standards are current, and making sure the specifications are clean is a much larger project in terms of the time involved than just changing the numbers.”
For further information about the MasterFormat 2004 Edition subscription service from IHS email construction@ihs.com, visit http://aec.ihs.com, or call 800-716-3447. If you would like details regarding MasterFormat 2004 Edition, visit the CSI website at www.csinet.org.