Specification Section for "Perforated Pastry Units"

Do you need a Division 01 specification section requiring the contractor to provide donuts at construction meetings?  What would such a spec section look like?  I can imagine developing such a spec must have been a fun group project. 

Click here for a laugh when you read a delightful specification section for "Perforated Pastry Units."

Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 

© 2011 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLC 

http://PublicContracting.blogspot.com

No Bids Received

Many bidding issues in 1906 were the same as they are in 2010.

The following is a great quote from the book Novels in Three Lines, which is a collection of more than a thousand items that appeared anonymously in the French newspaper Le Matin in 1906.  This book by Felix Feneon has been translated by Luc Sante.

"On a contract to transport coal to ships at Toulon (France), none of the 24 bidders made an offer; they were daunted by the stipulations."

And the size of specifications and scopes of work has only increased in the last 104 years!  I'm sure we have many bidders today who are also "daunted by the stipulations."

How Should a Contractor Price This Spec Requirement?

Sometimes, just one word can make all the difference.

Here's a blooper from a real specification:  "Pedestrian traffic around the perimeter of the construction site should be provided."

So how would a contractor price this?  Let's see, how many pedestrians need to be used and for how long do they need to be used?  Should they be lined up around the perimeter of the site or moving?  And what's the purpose of the pedestrian traffic?  Maybe just to encourage the construction workers?

What they really meant is this:  "Pedestrian access around the perimeter of the construction site should be provided."

Please contact me or comment below if you've got a good specification blooper to share.  Thanks.

Did Anyone Really Design This?

Forget about the snow! This is a tough drive anytime!

Say Again?

A public agency recently received a letter from a company hired by the surety who provided the payment and performance bond for a contractor on a construction project for the agency.

Apparently, the contractor is experiencing financial difficulties, and the company put the public agency on notice to not make any further payments to the contractor without written permission.

However, their letter lost some of its impact when they closed with this statement: "Failure by [the public agency] to ignore this request may result in double liability on the part of [the public agency]."

So how does this brain twister of words actually work? Does this mean that the public agency would only have liability if they fail to ignore the request? Is this an invitation to ignore the request?

Reaching for the Money!

This ATM was installed for giants!

Top Security!

Did the drawings really say to install the equipment like this?

Climbing the Stairway to Success

Hmmmm....Was it the Designer or the Contractor? How does something like this get built without anyone noticing that there may be a slight problem?