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Specification software

Margaret Montgomery

Principal

NBBJ Architects

LEEDuser Premium Member

34 thumbs up

August 16, 2023

Our specification team is currently piloting and testing new software to replace E-specs without an easy favorite, and would really love to know what other firms are using.

First question - what software does your firm use for specifications and why?

Second question - would you/your specifier be willing to chat with ours about it?

Thanks for any feedback!

Margaret

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Jason Hainline

Senior Project Manager

Dake Wells Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

0 thumbs up

Wed, 08/16/2023 - 14:25

Would love to learn what you learn, Margaret, as we've struggled with spec writing software for years. We've been a bit locked into SpecBuilder Cloud (Deltek) because we've been long time Master Spec users, but it has plenty of shortcomings and they are transitioning to a new plateform that seem even more cumbersome (albeit, I don't have direct experience). Look forward to what others might offer.

Seonhee Kim

Director of Sustainability

Design Collective

LEEDuser Basic Member

19 thumbs up

Fri, 08/25/2023 - 03:32

We've been long time Master Spec users as well, but I believe we are transitioning to RIB SpecLink. Our speckwriter would be happy to discuss what others are doing in the wake of Deltek's retirement of Masterspec.

Dave Hubka

Practice Leader - Sustainability

EUA

LEEDuser Expert

510 thumbs up

Fri, 08/25/2023 - 13:11

We use SpecLink. When coming aboard this architectural firm earlier this year, one of my first tasks was to re-vamp the spec. It was outdated, onerous, mis-leading, impossible credits were specificied, it did not know which v4.1 credits to spec (or not to spec), it could not keep up with the most recent v4.1 editions that were issued every month, etc... So i authored the attached general LEED spec. This was born out of all my experiences on international projects over the years. Hope this network of experts find this to be helpful.

Mike Manzi

Bora Architects

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Mon, 08/28/2023 - 17:46

Unless I've missed something, Deltek will be maintaining MasterSpec content on their Specpoint platform, but no longer updating Word documents. Having tried and hated E-specs years ago, I have no interest in converting to Specpoint. But, I do like the MasterSpec content so am hoping to use Specpoint just for updates and will continue to use Word for our in-house master specs and projects. I've never tried SpecLink. We do a fair amount of customizing of content and it's not clear to me how to integrate that with Specpoint. Also, and more importantly, I'm a luddite in my last decade of working so just trying to get to the finish line. Happy to discuss with anyone. Mike

Kristian Kicinski

Associate Principal / Director of Sustainability

Bassetti Architects

LEEDuser Premium Member

7 thumbs up

Mon, 08/28/2023 - 18:34

Margaret: We have been using e-SPECS for several years and it's still our preferred alternative, mostly because we haven't found anything better not because we love it. We tried SpecLink a number of years ago and it was a bit of a disaster - it kept erasing all our customizations. Our specifier is willing to chat, but she's out of town starting Aug 30 and gone all September. Email me at kkicinski@bassettiarch.com I can connect you to her. Kristian