What Is MasterFormat? How to Read Construction Specifications Before You Bid
The drawings show what to build. The specifications tell you how. If you skip the specs, you will miss materials, methods and requirements that cost real money. In the video above, Stacey Johnson explains how to use MasterFormat to find exactly what applies to your scope.
What MasterFormat is
MasterFormat is the standard list of titles and section numbers used to organize specifications on commercial building projects in North America. It covers every kind of work you could find on a job, organized by division. A given project only uses the sections that apply to it.
How the numbers work
Sections use a numbering system that starts with the division. Some divisions estimators use constantly:
- Division 00 and 01: procurement, contracting and general requirements (bid forms, submittals, scope and paperwork)
- Division 02: existing conditions, including demolition
- Division 04: masonry
- Division 05: metals, including metal stud and structural framing
- Division 06: wood, plastics and composites, including wood framing
- Division 08: openings, including windows, doors and skylights
How to use the specs when you estimate
- Find every division and section that touches your scope. Framing can live in both Division 05 and Division 06.
- Read those sections first and write down everything specific to your work: materials, products, methods, testing and submittals.
- Take that list into the drawings and do your takeoff with it in hand.
- Put the two together to build the estimate.
Think of the specifications as the written words that go with the pictures. Every element on the plans has something in the specs that tells you how it must be done.
Practice it
In Stacey's classes, students get a scope (for example, light-gauge metal stud framing or selective demolition) and have to name the exact division and subsection they would read. It is the fastest way to stop missing items.