Reading Plans and Specifications

Plans tell you where and how much. Specifications tell you what and how good. An estimate built from one without the other is half an estimate, and the missing half is usually the expensive half.

Why it matters on the job

Every quantity you take off comes from the drawings. Every unit price you attach to that quantity depends on the specs. The same 2,400 sq ft of corridor wall is a cheap line or an expensive one depending on what Division 09 says goes on it. Estimators who skim the specs bid the drawings and eat the difference on every job they win.

What each document owns

• Plan sheets. Architectural (A), structural (S), mechanical, electrical and plumbing (M, E, P), civil (C). The sheet index on the cover tells you what should exist. A referenced sheet that is missing from your set is a question to raise before bid day, not after award.
• Schedules. Door, window, finish and fixture schedules are tables printed on the drawings. They carry counts and types the floor plans do not repeat.
• Specifications. Organized by CSI MasterFormat divisions: Division 03 concrete, Division 06 wood, Division 09 finishes, and so on. Each section has three parts: general requirements, products, execution. Products is where quality and brand live, and quality is where money lives.
• Addenda. Changes the design team issues during the bid period. They are part of the contract documents, and most bid forms make you acknowledge each one by number.
• General and supplementary conditions. The rules of the job: payment terms, temporary facilities, insurance requirements, who pays for utilities. These cost real money and belong in your general conditions pricing, which the bid preparation lesson covers.

When drawings and specs disagree, do not guess which governs. Send a bid question (an RFI) and price the answer you get in writing. If the answer never comes, price the more expensive reading and say so in your bid qualifications.

A reading order that works

1. Cover sheet, sheet index, general notes.
2. One full pass through the drawings for the shape and size of the job.
3. Read the spec section for every scope you are pricing, all three parts.
4. Cross-check schedules against plans: count the doors in both places.
5. Log every conflict and gap as a bid question before the deadline.

Worked example

The drawings show 2,400 sq ft of corridor wall to be painted, and you price paint labor and material at $0.55 per sq ft per coat. You assume primer plus one finish coat: 2 coats × $0.55 × 2,400 sq ft = $2,640. Spec section 09 91 23 actually calls for primer plus two finish coats: 3 coats × $0.55 × 2,400 sq ft = $3,960. One unread sentence costs $1,320, and it comes straight out of profit, because the wall the owner is entitled to is the one the spec describes, not the one you assumed.

Quantity comes from the drawings, quality comes from the specs, and the estimate needs both

Where it bites

• Bidding from plans alone. The drawings almost never state product quality. If you did not read the section, you did not price the job.
• Old revisions. An addendum that reissues sheet A-401 makes your marked-up print obsolete. Date-stamp your set and log addenda as they arrive.
• “Or equal” language. Price the named product. A cheaper substitute saves money only after it is approved in writing.
• Schedules that disagree with plans. Twelve doors on the plan, fourteen on the schedule: that is a bid question, not a coin flip.