July 9, 2009
MasterFormat™ Task Team members share insights
At the recent Construction Specifications Canada conference in London, Ont., Keith Robinson and Gary Beimers spoke with Reed Construction Data about their roles as members of the MasterFormat Maintenance Task Team.
MasterFormat is like a Dewey Decimal System for project information. It provides a master list of titles and numbers for organizing data about construction requirements, products and activities used for more than 70 per cent of the commercial and institutional building projects in Canada and the U.S.
The resource aids project delivery by facilitating communication among architects, specifiers, contractors and suppliers, helping them to meet building owners’ requirements, timelines and budgets.
In 2006, MasterFormat was taken online, enabling the resource to be updated in real time and, as such, offer complete and current information as well as a searchable database that can serve as a valuable reference tool.
The MasterFormat Maintenance Task Team is the review body for proposed changes to MasterFormat. In addition to its members, the team includes industry experts who can lend advice on critical subjects, such as which MasterFormat numbers and titles are best assigned to a given product.
In their interview with RCD, Beimers and Robinson discuss the ins and outs of the Task Team’s review process, make recommendations for those suggesting revisions, and offer their thoughts on the future direction of MasterFormat.
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