CSI Master Format Gaining Users After a Year
Jan 26, 2006 8:00 AM
Late last year, the construction industry passed an anniversary that may not have been widely marked but which has the potential to significantly affect AV systems integrators and other building industry participants. Master Format 2004 (MF), published by the Construction Specification Institute, turned a year old.
The Master Format is a kind of Dewey decimal system for the construction industry, according to CSI. The MF provides a set of common definitions, descriptions, and other vocabulary to ensure that all parties in a building project are speaking the same language.
The problem from the AV industry’s perspective was that MF was more than four decades old, and for the most part, its 16 traditional sections reflected familiar and established building crafts and specialties. Plumbing and carpentry got plenty of detailed attention, but the modern communications and other technologies that are so prevalent in many of today’s new buildings were not accommodated very well.
AV tools, for instance, were spread around several sections but chiefly covered along with electrical products.
Chuck Wilson, executive director of the National Systems Contractors Association (NSCA), was among the strongest voices urging an update of the Master Format. For several years, an initiative known as “Division 17” sought to compile MF-like documentation for projectors, screens, audio systems, telecom, Internet connectivity, building-wide security, and other technologies.
The new Master Format expanded from 16 divisions to roughly 50, including several numbered divisions with no content yet—they’re being held in reserve for additional expansions down the road. Most AV systems and components are now described in Division 27, “Communications.”
Wilson sees several advantages in the new format, for both designers and integrators. For designers, there’s an opportunity to specify, and make money from, systems they used to dismiss as “furnished by owner.” For the integrator, there’s the promise of a seat at the design table earlier in the building process and a more complete appreciation of AV and IT systems’ place in construction.
Technology, Wilson notes, is a large and growing portion of the total budget on new construction, often 10 percent or more. Building owners and facilities managers want the design firms they work with to know more about technology and just take a pass when it comes to specifying systems, Wilson adds. He makes his argument for designers becoming more tech-savvy in the current issue of Archi-Tech magazine.
CSI says the new Master Format has been warmly received, with a growing number of large design firms and major general contractors making the transition to the new format.
A further boost, however, is expected to come as various publishers of so-called master specs adapt their specifications to reflect the Master Format’s numbers, titles, and nomenclature. CSI says all of the leading master guide specification publishers in North America have agreed to make this transition, with some providing a temporary dual structure to help their clients through the process.
For AV integrators, one of the big remaining challenges is persuading designers and other specifiers that AV systems are just that: systems, and not simple equipment lists. NSCA is tackling that mission with a new section on its website called “A/E Toolkit,” offering diverse resources for designers, as well as a continuing professional education program.
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