Building Specifications/Contracts

[Anonymous]

I would like to use Adobe Acrobat 6.0 to formulate specifications and Contracts. Is there anyone offering that? That way it would be cross platform etc.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

If I understand you correctly you are looking to draft, edit, revise, etc. a variety of documents as PDFs directly. This is possible in Acrobat but only barely. The editing tools are minimal and really just suitable for minor revisions and tweaks. I think for now MSOffice (or ThinkFree, etc.) is the best cross platform option. InDesign is another possibility if you want to get REALLY serious about the looks of your documents and it provides excellent controls for publishing to PDF.

In the bigger picture I think you have a fantastic idea. It would be great to have a multi-purpose program like AppleWorks with the ability to use PDF as its native format. I don't know if the PDF specification would allow for this but it seems like a potential killer app. (It reminds me of the tantalizing but unrealized promise of OpenDoc.)

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would like to edit, layout, revise, etc.

The proprietary programs out there (masterspec, AIA electronic documents) are very rigid and usually not cross platform.

I would also like to know if a specification software has been put together using a database program like filemaker pro that works similar to masterspec?

E-spec is a software that has been developed to read info from dwg's and now Revit files to coordinate your specifications with your model. For instance, if you delete metal windows from your project it will delete or add whatever sections to or from your specifications. I asked if developement for ArchiCad was on the horizon and the answer was that they would like to develop for ArchiCad as well. That could be very good.

[Scott Davis]

E-specs can be used as a stand-alone app as well. You can use a pre-defined spec format, or E-specs can be set up to use your own set of specs. When used by itself, you check on/off the spec sections you need, rather than it reading from the drawings and building the spec for you. Not sure if they will develop a version for ArchiCAD, they just signed a joint marketing agreement with Autodesk.

[SeaGeoff]

We need someone to write a spec extractor that uses IFCs as it's base.