This tip looks at the trade package Specifications – their danger.
Regards Trade Package Specifications: No Master Spec exists for Trade Package Specifications as they can vary greatly in content from job to job and from Builder to Builder.
Trade Package Specs are used where a ‘fast-track’ procurement is employed, where packages can be issued to Subbies doing earlier work while the work for later packages is being documented.
The only way to produce Trade Package Specifications is to construct them (according to what content individual Builders stipulate) from a reliable lump-sum Master. This is a very time-consuming process and is also it is dangerous as something can be inadvertently left out.
The cost to produce them is also very high. I must charge 8-10 times the fee for a Trade Package Spec compared to a lump-sum Spec.
I always recommend the best way to document this sort of thing if the Builder asks for it, is to just do a lump-sum Spec (it needs however to be concise and easily navigated and readable – like ArchiAssist) and have the Builder do up a one-page summary of the work included in the Package. The Subbie just goes then and access those parts of the lump-sum Spec he needs (this is where the concise and easily navigated and readable Spec comes in).
