Developers: how do you organize your typical specifications?

[Ross Leavitt]

I work with my dad developing a few new houses for our portfolio each year. The pace has been picking up lately, and especially since we're considering another GC, we're realizing we need to be more organized about all the details that need to be communicated to our builder. I've heard that on government jobs, the spec book is several inches thick. Obviously that's an extreme example, but that tells me there is a more methodical way to do this.

This year we did our biggest project yet, 12 townhouses. Because of the scale, there have been a lot of minor things that he did that are not bad, but aren't what we would have wanted. Somehow, these details were easier to manage when we were just building two identical houses at a time!

So, developers out there (especially @Jay Hinrichs) what does your sheet/book of specifications look like? How is it formatted? Were you methodical about building it, or did you just add items as you thought of them? Would you be willing to share yours with me to point me in the right direction?

Thanks so much!