Blogs

How I Earned My CDT: Nuha Alfahham

By CSI HQ posted 15 days ago
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The Construction Documents Technology (CDT®) certification provides a comprehensive program of study for anyone seeking to enhance and demonstrate knowledge of writing, interpreting, enforcing, and managing construction documents. It is a valuable resource for project architects, contractors, contract administrators, material suppliers, and manufacturers’ representatives, all of whom are realizing the advantages of being Construction Documents Technologists. Here, recently successful CDT candidate Nuha Alfahham discuss her career in construction and shares her perspective on what it took to earn this elite certification. Can you provide an overview of ...
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Three Community Threads to Follow—and Contribute to—On the CSI-Community Forum

By Peter Kray posted 19 days ago
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The CSI Community and CSI Blogs/News are your go-to resources to connect with other construction industry professionals, keep up on current events, and even share some more interesting information about yourself. Here are the timely, current conversations you may want to follow—and contribute to—right now.   1) How Many Firms are Using Full Time Specifiers Wayne Smith CSI, Member Emeritus, CCS, CDT, AIA posted: We see frequent reference to how architecture firms are using fewer full-time specifiers, but does anyone know a source of actual data? Where can I find how many or what percentage firms have in-house full-time specifiers. How many use outside ...
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CSI Welcomes National Gypsum Company as Official Career Center Sponsor

By CSI HQ posted 21 days ago
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CSI welcomes National Gypsum Company as the official sponsor of the CSI Career Center. Here, National Marketing Manager Architectural Services and Sustainability Amy Hockett, AIA, CDT, LEED Green Associate, shares why supporting the AECO professional community is so important to National Gypsum Company, their commitment to your success, and the brand’s goals for the year.   Please share some information about the history of National Gypsum and your role in the Architect/Engineer/Construction/Owner community.   National Gypsum Company is headquartered in Charlotte, NC and is the exclusive service provider of reliable, high-performance building ...
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How I Earned My CDT: Seun Olatunbosun

By Peter Kray posted 27 days ago
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The Construction Documents Technology (CDT ® ) certification provides a comprehensive program of study for anyone seeking to enhance and demonstrate knowledge of writing, interpreting, enforcing ,  and managing construction documents. It is a valuable resource for project architects, contractors, contract administrators, material suppliers, and manufacturers’   representatives, all of whom are realizing the advantages of being Construction Documents Technologists. Here, recently successful CDT candidate Seun Olatunbosun discuss his career in construction and shares his perspective on what it took to earn this elite certification. Can you provide an overview ...
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Shop Drawings and Submittals—Submittal Review Stamps

By Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, CDT posted 29 days ago
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This is the fourth in a six-part series of blog posts on shop drawings and submittals.  Previous posts have addressed: definition, purpose, and necessity of submittals; the various types of submittals; and liability associated with submittal reviews. Forthcoming posts in the series will address submittals with deviations from contract requirements and delegated design submittals. Much attention has been devoted to the topic of review stamps (or, in the digital era, facsimiles of stamps) for shop drawings and other contractor-furnished submittals. This blog post presents recommended practices and language for submittal review stamps. Submittal review stamps ...
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Trade Hounds’ Peter Maglathlin Talks About Building a Better Network for the AECO Industry

By Peter Kray posted 03-08-2021
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The Trade Hounds professional platform for commercial trades workers counts more than 200,000 workers on its network, which focuses exclusively on the AECO industry. Here Co-Founder and CFO Peter Maglathlin talks about the brand’s mission to “Improve the lives of the hardworking tradespeople who are building the world around us,” grow the trades, and provide a unique resource for a ‘show vs. tell’ industry.   Can you provide a little background on Trade Hounds, and how you thought this platform could help professionals in the AECO Community? Our fundamental belief at Trade Hounds is that the construction industry deserves a networking and hiring ...
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Shop Drawings and Submittals: Liability Associated with Submittal Reviews

By Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, CDT posted 03-02-2021
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This is the third in a six-part series of blog posts on shop drawings and submittals.  Previous posts have addressed: definition, purpose, and necessity of submittals; and the various types of submittals.  Forthcoming posts in the series will address: submittal review stamps, submittals with deviations from contract requirements, and delegated design submittals.   It is a mistake for design professionals to treat reviewing contractor-furnished shop drawings and submittals as a mundane, plug-and-chug task to be delegated to under-qualified reviewers. As discussed in this blog post, there is substantial professional liability and other risk associated ...
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A Project that Inspired People and Reestablished Why CSI Matters

By Ken Lambert, CSI posted 02-25-2021
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Editor's Note: CSI is pleased to publish this blog from Ken Lambert, Director of Industry Development and Technical Services for the International Masonry Institute. He can be reached at  klambert@imiweb.org . If you have an idea or opinion you would like to share with your colleagues in the construction industry, please contact CSI Content Strategist Peter Kray at  Pkray@csinet.org . He would love to help publish your thoughts.   Recently our section of the country and of the CSI landscape, the Northeast Region, embarked on a journey of creating a 2 ½ minute video (a commercial essentially) of why you should join CSI, and more broadly, what CSI means ...
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FY2022 CSI Chicago Board Slate

By CSI Chicago Chapter posted 02-16-2021
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Written by: Jennifer Friedland, CSI, CDT | CSI Chicago Chapter Nominating Committee Chair As Chair of the CSI Chicago Chapter Nominating Committee, I am pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the FY2022 (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022) Board. We received a total of 12 nominations for our open board seats with an excellent variety of skills and types of members represented. Sincere thanks to the Nominating Committee for their hard work and wisdom: Brad Schwab, Andrea Baird and Heather Salisbury. Following the November 30, 2020 deadline for nominations, the Nominating Committee reviewed all the nominations very carefully. We assessed the skills and ...
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The Future of Specifiers: One Member Shares A Brief History

By George Wadding, CSI, Member Emeritus posted 02-09-2021
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Editor’s Note: CSI is pleased to publish this blog from George R. Wadding, Construction Specifications Institute Member Emeritus, Arizona Roofing Contractors Assn. Life Member Award, and author of 59 Bidding Pitfalls and Issues from 59 Years of Experience . If you have an idea or opinion you would like to share with your colleagues in the AECO industry, please contact CSI Content Strategist Peter Kray at pkray@csinet.org. He would love to help publish your thoughts. Though the “The Future of Specifiers” panel at Construct Virtual on the CSI Connect Community Forum, I was particularly interested in hearing comments from Building Product Manufacturer’s Reps ...
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Game Pass: Chip Hayward Talks About Building the Super Bowl Stadium in Tampa Bay

By Peter Kray posted 02-02-2021
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The world’s biggest standalone sporting event will take place Sunday, February 7, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida. For the first time in the history of the event, the home team will play in the big game as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs.   CSI Board of Directors Treasurer William “Chip” Hayward, CSI, CCCA, had a direct role in building the stadium, especially the iconic “Pirate Ship,” with replica cannons that fire every time the home team scores. Here, Chip shares how he came to work with the team, how he came to possess a Super Bowl Ring, and where he will watch the big game this weekend.   How did you get involved ...
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Behind the Build: Delaware Innovation Space Creates a Community of Success

By Peter Kray posted 01-25-2021
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In this new CSI Behind the Build video, Marvin Kemp, FCSI, CDT ® , a Principal at Design Collective, and Mark Dorsey, FASAE, CAE, take a virtual tour of the Delaware Innovation Space, in Wilmington, DE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn12QepArfo CSI also sat down with Tim Mueller, PhD, VP of Facilities and Operations, to discuss the impact this space will have on the success of its tenants, and for the future of our planet. What were some of the key factors you first considered in redesigning the Delaware Innovation Space, especially in regards to what to keep, and what to renovate? Laboratory renovations are highly complex and expensive, so they ...
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Shop Drawings and Submittals--Types of Submittals

By Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, CDT posted 01-21-2021
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Editor's Note: CSI is pleased to publish this blog from Kevin O’Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, CDT. If you have an idea or opinion you would like to share with your colleagues in the AECO industry, please contact CSI Content Strategist Peter Kray at pkray@csinet.org. He would love to help publish your thoughts. This is the second in a six-part series of blog posts on shop drawings and submittals. The first post addressed definitions, purpose, and necessity of submittals. Forthcoming posts in the series will address: liability associated with design professionals’ review of submittals, submittal review stamps, submittals with deviations from contract requirements; ...
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Understanding Our CSI Chicago Foundation

By CSI Chicago Chapter posted 01-20-2021
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Written by: John McKevitt, CSI | CSI Chicago Foundation President I’m honored to have been selected to be the President of your CSI Chicago Foundation for 2021. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank those that put in a substantial amount of time and effort to found and organize the foundation. I have the easy job of building on what has been put in place. In this brief, I’ll cover the common questions we hear of why the chapter has a charitable foundation, where the money comes from, and how money is allocated.   The CSI Chicago Foundation was established in 2018 as a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization to facilitate the receipt of tax-deductible donations ...
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The ABC’s of CDT & Beyond Panel Discussion Recap

By CSI Chicago Chapter posted 01-19-2021
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The ABC’s of CDT & Beyond Panel Discussion Recap Written by: Paul Fogarty, CSI, CDT | CSI Chicago Certification Chair For those who were unable to attend our recent ABC’s of CDT & Beyond Panel Discussion focusing on CSI certifications, we wanted to provide a brief recap and FAQ that may help answer the questions we often see.   There are four certifications available through CSI: Construction Documents Technologist ( CDT® ), Certified Construction Specifier ( CCS ), Certified Construction Contract Administrator ( CCCA ), and Certified Construction Product Representative ( CCPR ). Attaining one or more certifications can strengthen and demonstrate ...
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Construction Professionals Continuing Education In-Person Class: Key Takeaways

By Ken Lambert, CSI posted 01-13-2021
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Editor's Note: CSI is pleased to publish this blog from Ken Lambert, Director of Industry Development and Technical Services for the International Masonry Institute. He can be reached at  klambert@imiweb.org . If you have an idea or opinion you would like to share with your colleagues in the construction industry, please contact CSI Content Strategist Peter Kray at  Pkray@csinet.org . He would love to help publish your thoughts. Recently, I attended a six-hour in-person continuing education class for my state’s Construction Supervisors license renewal. Here are some interesting takeaways from the experience: Given the past nine months of partial shutdowns, ...
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Happy 2021—Three New Year’s Resolutions to Supercharge Your Career

By Peter Kray posted 01-01-2021
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Happy New Year! Here’s hoping you are comfortably celebrating the end of 2020 and looking forward to a fresh start in 2021. As we press fast forward from a year of uncertainty and upheaval to one filled with new promise and opportunity, the CSI Team wanted to suggest three key ways you can expand your professional community, supercharge your career, and hone your public image in the New Year. #1) Volunteer Giving back to your professional association is rewarding, and helps you get to know your CSI community more deeply. Not only will you gain new knowledge and skills, but you are able to share your own expertise. Besides bragging rights that your volunteerism ...
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COVID-19 and the Holidays: Timely Tips for the New Year

By Billy Mathis, FCSI, CDT posted 12-24-2020
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I was reminded by a good friend and co-worker that we humans need to learn from our experiences. As he put it “Experience is THE best Teacher.” However, multigenerational remembrance is something we are not good at. If we were, the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 should have taught the world a valuable lesson. It did for the next two or three generations, but the subsequent generations failed to heed the lessons learned back then since it hasn’t happened in their span of their collective memory. Because of this we have repeated many of the same mistakes.  With at least 50 million dead worldwide, you would think that we could at least have protocols in place ...
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College of Fellows Update – A Christmas Wish from the Chancellor

By Casey Robb, FCSI, Lifetime Member, CCPR, CDT, LEED AP, LEED GA posted 12-22-2020
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As the Holiday Season is upon us, we all find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped us through the chaos. Many have suffered unprecedented difficulties. We also reflect on those who have helped shape our business in new ways to meet these challenges, to mentor others and to re-shape our professional journey. Fellowship in CSI is a significant recognition, celebrating those who serve at the highest levels, who make significant contributions in many ways…! Unfortunately, this year's Class of 2020 got the "virtual" treatment for their annual Celebration. Although it was the best possible alternative, they deserve further celebration and ...
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The Best Holiday Gifts for AECO Industry Professionals

By Peter Kray posted 12-21-2020
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The CSI Community and CSI Blogs/News are your go-to resources to connect with other construction industry professionals, keep up on current events, and even share some more interesting information about yourself. In a post last week, Community Members were asked, “It's the holiday season, and presents will be exchanged. What do you think is the perfect gift for an AECO industry professional?” Read all of the replies, and share your thoughts on holiday gifts for the industry. https://www.csiresources.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=85&MessageKey=60c5a63f-3fd3-4928-af7a-354f8a987383&CommunityKey=80c3b4dd-0d3f-4d4e-90f2-3bc6e4135dc2&tab=digestviewer&ReturnUrl=%2fbrowse%2fallrecentposts ...
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