Specifications Matter

Location - Somewhere in Texas

Date - Spring - 2023

Scenario - Small town dealing with product failure

“We have always done it this way”

“We have never had any problems before”

“We just put it all in the same way”

Sound familiar? Some of you may have heard one, two, or all of these used as justification for not following standards and specifications.

Specifications and standards were created to help ensure that the owner of an infrastructure project receives a finished project, constructed in a manner that will adequately perform its’ function and provide a desirable service life.? Additionally, the Engineer is ethically and professionally tasked to consider the health, safety and welfare of the ?public in his or her design of the project.? Those governing specifications were created through collaboration between engineers, contractors, material suppliers, and the owners.? National standards are consulted, and through the combined experience and expertise of the interested parties, the specification is written.? Stakeholders are ?typically given the opportunity to review and comment, and then a final version is issued.?

Inspectors are deployed to ensure that the contractor is constructing the project to the specifications of the Engineer and the owner.? This will then provide a useful piece of infrastructure for the benefit of the ultimate owners, the taxpayers of the community.?

When projects are constructed without following the applicable standards, problems can occur.? Not always, of course, but how many times is acceptable?

A project comes to mind, where a material was used in an application that was not allowed by the governing specifications.? It was also not installed per applicable local and national standards.? Because of this, the taxpayers of this community were rewarded with the need to pay for this project twice.?

“We like paying taxes and love paying twice for the same project”.? The next time I hear this will be the first.?

This failure required a complete replacement of the sewer line, as well as the concrete roadway above and adjacent.? ??

Ironically, the product chosen is not to blame.? The contractor chose to use a material that could not meet the loading requirements of the project, (thus not allowed in the specification) and did not follow the proper installation guidelines.? Someone should have had to review, and either approve or deny the contractor’s request to use a material not allowed by the municipality for this application.? Or, did the engineer disregard the municipality’s design standards by allowing the product’s use on this project?? Should the inspector have been looking for compliance of this product with, and installation per the municipal standards?

While the answers to these questions ultimately determined who was at fault, the reality for the residents is that they will pay financially, and with the detours, dust and noise from the construction, for a second time.

Specifications AND their enforcement matter.?