The CSI Community Connect Page is buzzing with a variety of thoughtful responses to this question: “We often hear that the quality of construction documents has declined. If that's the case, what specifically has made it so? If you don't believe so, then why do you think you they are about as good as they've ever been, or even better?”
Below is a sample of the nearly two-dozen replies. You can read all the replies, and add your own thoughts to the conversation, right here.
“I agree that it has declined. In my opinion, the major reason for that is the habit of Copy-and-Paste from archived documents without sufficient review and quality control. This has lead to many mistakes.”
Nabeel Ali BS, CSI, PMP
“The perception that the quality of documents has declined is because of higher expectations of computer generated documents. Constructors these days are looking for every connection and every condition to be accurately detailed, in spite of the fact that more detail than ever is included in the documents.
These days, it is refreshing to arrive on a jobsite where the contractor has asked for a specific bearing elevation and I am able to answer by giving them the criteria needed to calculate the elevation and have them establish the elevation in the field based on actual field conditions rather than giving them a theoretical elevation that is likely incorrect because it is dependent on something that was constructed slightly differently than originally conceived.
The reality is that, because of technology, construction documents are better than ever.”
Raymond Gaines FCSI, CCS, CDT, AIA
“As independent specifications consultants, Conspectus provides the opportunity to view drawings from multiple firms across the country of different sizes and we are very concerned about what seems to be an industry-wide problem of decreasing quality.
There are exceptions of course, even within a single firm, but across the board we see a steady decline. David Stutzman and I presented a paper titled "Construction Document Quality Crisis" at a NIBS conference in April 2018 that outlines what we see as causes of the problem and includes some suggestions for improving quality management. Here are some factors in the decline of quality in construction documents:
- * Lack of a coherent, consistent quality management program.
- * Poor production planning--it's ironic architects require detailed production schedules from the contractor but do not utilize such planning themselves.
- * Mindset focused on drawing instead of creating and communicating information.
- * Increasing complexity of projects combined with decreasing fees.
- * Increasing pressure from owners and construction teams to reduce document production time.
- * Lack of in-house training for junior staff for basic drawing skills and non-drawing tasks.
- * Drawing ahead of research and decisions.
- * Lack of basic technical knowledge.
- * Insufficient time for effective off-team reviews.”
Louis Medcalf, FCSI, CCS, SCIP