Two-for-One Product Bundle: UniFormat™ and PPDFormat™: A Guide to Developing Preliminary Project Descriptions
Author(s): Construction Specifications Institute and Construction Specifications Canada
Note: PPDFormat and UniFormat are download-only products.
These two related formats are offered now and for a limited time together at a lower price. PPDFormat™ provides a recommended format for the organization and presentation of Preliminary Project Descriptions, as well as guidelines for their authoring and use for project documentation. UniFormat™, which provides the organizational basis for preliminary project descriptions and other early project information, is a standardized classification of facility systems and assemblies for the description, economic analysis and management of a building for its life cycle.
Used together, UniFormat and PPDFormat provide a comprehensive approach to organizing and presenting project information during the Schematic Design phase. They can save the design team time when the development of construction documentation begins, and help estimators keep the team on budget.
PPDFormat is intended to assist design professionals in preparing Preliminary Project Descriptions that provide descriptions of the systems and assemblies comprising the project shown in Schematic Design drawings, organized using a standard format. It provides guidance on the authoring of quality preliminary project descriptions, their use as a design tool, and their correct organization and preferred level of detail.
UniFormat is most often seen in the hands of estimators and design teams, who use it as a cost analysis format or arrangement for early project design documentation. Because it breaks a facility into the systems that perform distinct functions – shell, foundation, interiors, etc. -- without naming the specific solutions used to achieve them, it provides a consistent method for tracking and estimating costs and evaluating options even before the design team has finished developing drawings and specifications. UniFormat also has applications in BIM, in organizing the data that is attached to a model during the preliminary design stages.
The 2010 edition of UniFormat is the result of five years development effort, including five workshops and commentary on three public drafts, resulting in a major enhancement and improvement to the 1998 edition. Changes to the 2010 edition of UniFormat include:
The UniFormat 2010 edition download includes the following documents:
The PPDFormat download is a searchable 40 page pdf.