The structure of the specification
Five parts: general and particular contractual clauses, general and particular technical clauses, and a schedule of quantities and prices. Each has its object and its author.
One rule decides the coherence of the whole: the hierarchy between documents must be written down. It cannot be inferred, and a package with no declared hierarchy leaves the decision to a judge, long afterwards.
- What a specification contains
- Why the base is standardised
- Contractual and technical clauses
- General and particular
| Part | Object | Usual author |
|---|---|---|
| General contractual clauses | Common legal framework | Standardised document |
| Particular contractual clauses | Adaptations specific to the contract | Client and adviser |
| General technical clauses | Common rules of execution | Standardised document |
| Particular technical clauses | Requirements specific to the project | Designer |
| Measurement and price schedule | Quantities and unit rates | Quantity surveyor |
Measurement and the schedule
The schedule is the only document that makes two bids comparable. Its quality determines that of the whole tender.
The decisive technical point: the rule outranks the unit. The unit names the quantity, the rule names the method. Two schedules in the same unit may carry different quantities for the same works if the rules of deduction differ.
Tendering to contractors
The structure of the package recurs in public and private contracts alike. What changes is the source of the obligation: statutory in public work, contractual in private.
Direct consequence: in private work, what is not written is not owed, and no default framework supplements the documents.
Comparing bids
Comparing does not mean ranking by amount. The amount is the last piece of information to look at, and looking at it first distorts everything that follows.
Comparability is not observed at analysis; it is built at tender. A common schedule aligns the items, a common description aligns the content, common circulation aligns the information.
From contract to site
The amount signed is almost never the final amount. Additional works, price revision and the account of actual quantities move it.
One argument ties the whole guide together: the more situations the schedule covers, the more additional works can be valued against prices bid in competition, rather than negotiated once the contractor is established on site.
The five rules to remember
Write the hierarchy of documents, annexes included, without assuming it goes without saying.
Never leave the measurement rule implicit, and apply at the final account the rule used at measurement.
Check the schedule before issue, a later correction requiring every contractor to be re-approached.
Take site records before covering up, failing which a verifiable quantity becomes a negotiated one.
Check thresholds and the version of standardised documents before each package, these changing without announcement.
What this guide does not cover
Three subjects belong to other guides. Estimating cost, covered in the guide on construction costs. The building permit, covered in the corresponding guide. Tax and support, covered in the guide on housing VAT.
This guide reflects practice and rules at the date of checking and serves professional orientation. It reproduces no content from normative documents and does not replace consulting them.