At the outset of a project, it’s absolutely remarkable how clear in our minds’ vision the finished creation is.

It’s also very comforting when we hire an Architect, Designer and/or Contractor and entrust them with our vision. We aspire to be positively amazed leaving lots of room for unexpected alchemy.

Our expectation is that our vision will be translated into a really good specification.

Sadly, that’s the last we’ll see of our vision until it’s built. At which point it’s either too late or too costly to change it.

Studies show that more than 50% of the cost of a building is waste. Delays, cost overruns, change orders, poor quality, rework and…not building what was really needed or intended!

Given the state of technology today this disconnection from our vision and the resulting waste is all very unnecessary. It is possible to build and explore our vision in detail before we spend time and money on specifying and building something we don’t need.

If the vision matters, it’s worth writing a really good specification without surrendering that vision to a process where we lose sight of it.