CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS



      Home owners seldom have recourse to the same protection 
for their construction dollars as do commercial building owners. 
Almost without exception, before expending any money on building 
materials or engaging a contractor, a commercial building owner 
will order the preparation of CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS.  
These specifications are highly detailed technical descriptions 
of both the materials that will be purchased and the workmanship 
required for proper installation.  These specifications are 
usually tied to industry accepted standards of quality and serve 
as a measuring stick to aid the building owner in determining 
whether a dollars worth of value is received for each dollar 
spent.

      Home owners must usually resort to their own intuition or 
the experiences of friends or relatives or the opinions of those 
who have a financial interest in the materials or services 
offered for sale. Only when the cost of the project justifies 
engaging the services of an Architect does the owner receive the 
benefit of CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS.

      It is the intention of the Construction Designer's Library 
to make available to the home owner, CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATION 
GUIDES which the home owner can put on computer and modify to 
suit his / her needs.  These specifications then become a basis 
for providing an accurate description of materials which the 
home owner can use for comparative shopping or soliciting 
estimates from contractors.  These specifications, because of 
their detailed nature, help to reduce disagreements about 
expected results, give the home owner greater confidence that 
the dollar spent is bringing back a dollar's value and give some 
recourse if results are not as specified.  These specifications 
may become a part of the agreement between the home owner and a 
contractor and when coupled with a Request for Estimate and a 
Terms and Conditions of Agreement, can give the home owner a 
degree of control over the materials purchased for home 
improvement, the workmanship of contractors and the contractors 
use of the home owners property during construction.  Of course, 
it is always good practice to seek legal council before entering 
into any contract.





      The specification presented here along with this file is 
typical of what can be expected from each entry in the 
Construction Designers Library. A partial list of specifications 
currently available includes:

    Roof Shingles
    Windows, Clad Wood
    Lumber (rough carpentry)
    Cabinet Work
    Finish Carpentry (mill work)
    Ceramic Tile
    Painting
    Vinyl Wall Covering
    Carpeting
    Chain Link Fence
    Request For Estimate
    Terms and Conditions of Agreement

      These specifications, prepared by a Certified Construction 
Specifier, are available in  Multimate, WordStar or as ASCII 
files.  For a complete list of all available specifications, a 
price list and order form, send a business-size self-addressed 
stamped envelope to:

Construction Designers Library
P.O.Box 81
Belleville, NJ   07109