Specification

The job specification is the written description of what you are providing. In SmarteBuild it is built out of the bill rather than written separately, which is what stops the two drifting apart.

How it works

Each item has a Specification field. Add to Specification takes the selected items and includes their specification text in the job specification.

The result is a document assembled from the items you actually priced. If an item is not in the bill, it is not in the specification — which is exactly the property you want.

This is the point of the feature

The classic dispute is a specification promising something the estimate never priced. Building one from the other makes that mismatch structurally difficult rather than merely unlikely.

Writing specification text

The specification is read by the client, so it needs different wording from the item description you send a subcontractor.

Field	Audience	Example
Description	Your subcontractor	Supply and install SL72 mesh to slab, 40mm cover, laps 300mm min
Specification	Your client	Steel reinforcement to engineer's design
Includes	Both	Includes bar chairs, tie wire and laps

The client does not need the mesh grade. They need to know reinforcement is included and designed.

Includes

Includes records what an item covers. It matters most on lump sums and allowances, where the scope is not obvious from the description.

Bathroom fitout — $8,500 tells nobody anything. The same item with Includes: vanity, mirror, shower screen, towel rails, toilet suite; excludes tapware (PC item) is a scope statement, and it is the difference between a variation conversation that goes well and one that does not.

PS and PC items

Items flagged PS/PC carry a Provision — an allowance for something not yet chosen.

These are the items most likely to become variations, so they need the clearest specification text of anything in the bill. State the allowance explicitly:

Tapware — prime cost allowance of $1,200 supply only. Client to select. Any difference in cost will be adjusted by variation.

A client who has read that is not surprised when the tapware they choose costs $1,900 and a variation follows. A client who has read Tapware allowance is.

Worked example

Three items from the slab, as they appear in each place:

Item	Description (to trade)	Specification (to client)
Concrete	N32 concrete, 80mm slump, supply and place	Concrete slab to engineer's design
Mesh	SL72 mesh, 40mm cover, 300mm laps	Steel reinforcement to engineer's design
Vapour barrier	200µm vapour barrier, taped laps, sealed to edge	Damp-proof membrane under slab

The client gets a readable statement of what they are getting. The subcontractor gets what they need to price and build it. Both come from the same item.

Keeping it current

The specification follows the bill, so it updates as the bill does. Two things still need attention:

• A new item added late needs its specification text written, or it will be priced and built but not described.
• A switched-off item should not be describing something you are no longer providing. Check the specification when you switch options on and off.

Where it goes

The specification is available from the Reports menu, and is the document to attach to a quote or a contract. See Reports.