CSI Cincinnati Chapter Newsletter
The Queen City
November 2010
Rapport
"Connecting the Greater Cincinnati Construction Community"
Page |1
November Program
<
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
November 10, 2010
Are you Smarter than a Specifier?
Student Scholarship Presentations
Come help us congratulate our 2010
student scholarship winners and join in
on an entertaining and educational
evening as they see if they are Smarter
than a Specifier.
We congratulate the fine work our
students have accomplished and wish
them well in their future careers in the
Construction Industry.
Go to www.csicincinnati.org/chapter-program for more information and to
register on-line.
Upcoming Events
<
Nov 8
CSI Cincinnati Board Meeting
Nov 10
CSI Cincinnati Chapter Program
Nov 11
AEE: Glass & Window Options Affect Energy
Nov 11
KSPE Northern Kentucky Mtg: Project Lead the Way program
Nov 12
Green Convene 2010 Sustainability Symposium
Nov 12
Annual Cincinnati Design Awards Banquet
Nov 13
Green Homes Summit 2010
Nov 16
2010 CSI Dayton/Miami Valley Ron Woeste Tradeshow
Nov 16
AACE SW Ohio: “Baseline Schedules
Nov 17
Greenbuild 2010
Nov 17
GCCCN Lean Construction Supply Chains
Mar 9, 2011
CSI Construction Products Showcase
Sep 13, 2011
Construct 2011 & the CSI Annual Convention
For more information on these events, go to the CSI Cincinnati Calendar
of events www.csicincinnati.org/calendar.
On the Website
<
www.csicincinnati.org
Check the CSI Cincinnati Chapter Website often for new information
The Presidents View
<
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage
is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
-Winston Churchill
Well, CSI-ers, the trick-or-treaters have scurried door to
door through the fallen leaves of October, and now
November is upon us. The chill in the air has caused
many a fireplace to glow, and families are beginning to
plan their Thanksgiving festivities.
While many of us are already envisioning our table filled
with turkey and all the trimmings, it is befitting that we take time to reflect upon
the history behind this day of gastronomical delights and goodwill among us.
Let’s look back upon that first Thanksgiving in 1621, when the Pilgrims invited
the Indians to share their abundance, one that would not have been possible
without help from their Indian friends.
The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew
who left England, less than 50 survived the first winter. Then one day an
important event took place, an Indian brave walked into the Plymouth
settlement. The Pilgrims were frightened until the Indian called out "Welcome"
(in English!). His name was Samoset and he was an Abnaki Indian. He soon
returned with another Indian named Squanto who spoke better English than
Samoset.
Squanto's importance to the Pilgrims was enormous and they probably would
not have survived without his help. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to tap
maple trees for sap, which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal
powers, and how to plant corn by heaping earth into low mounds with several
seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn.
The harvest was very successful and the Pilgrims found themselves with
enough food to put away for the winter. There was corn, fruits and vegetables,
fish to be packed in salt, and meat to be cured over smoky fires.
In appreciation for the harvest made possible through the expertise of their
Indian friends, the Pilgrim governor proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. They
played games, ran races, marched and played drums. The Indians
demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims
demonstrated their musket skills.
Believe it or not, hundreds of years later, similar events are taking place in
CSI! Rather than learning planting tips, construction professionals are sharing
valuable information about construction methods and techniques. Contractors,
product representatives, architects, specifiers, contract administrators and
others are speaking the common language of construction and expanding their
knowledge of the built environment.
While “Welcome” in construction language may be interpreted as a
“Solicitation” or “Invitation to Bid,” through CSI standards and formats,
construction professionals can all speak the same language. CSI, like
Squanto was to the Pilgrims, is a valuable resource overflowing with
knowledge and practical experience. Attending a CSI meeting is a
thanksgiving feast of sorts, with construction experts demonstrating their
“skills” and members sharing stories about past projects and lessons learned.
And of course, there is always a feast!
News and Views
CSI Aquires BSD
The Issue of Substitutions
PerSPECtives: A weekly article by Ralph Liebing
Curmudgeon's Corner – Memory Loss
MasterFormat: What’s New
Product Show
Construct Cincinati 2011 is just around the Corner
Exhibitors – Reserve your booth now for the 2011 Product Show.
Come join us for our November meeting, where we will celebrate construction
with our scholarship recipients during our “Are You Smarter Than a Specifier?”
program. It would be a great way to re-live the original spirit of Thanksgiving!
Membership
Cincinnati Chapter Member Anniversaries for November
Cincinnati Chapter FY 2011 New Members
Check out the Member Showcase…more information to come!
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working
together is success.” - Henry Ford
Committees
Want to be more active in the chapter? Go to our new committee pages
and see what you have been missing.
Beverly Jacquez, CSI, CCS, LEED AP
CSI Cincinnati Chapter President
Certification
Key Dates for CSI Certification
CDT Exam Training Classes
T H E
C O N S T R U C T I O N
S P E C I F I C A T I O N S
I N S T I T U T E
CSI Cincinnati Chapter Newsletter
November 2010
Newsletter
The Queen City Rapport
Page |2
Register now for the CSI Academies
<
Real Construction World Solutions
Product
Representation
Academy:
Become a skilled product representative,
who knows how to get into the spec, and
how to stay there.
Construction Specifications Academy: Let
CSI teach you the best practices in
specifying, LEED specs, and BIM data
management.
Contract Administration Academy: Gain
skills
for
managing
construction
documentation,
focused
on
front-end
documents, including general conditions. Understand the roles, responsibilities
and contractual obligations of the entire construction team.
February 24-26, 2011 in Dallas, Texas
Go to www.csinet.org/academies for more information and to register.
CSI Acquires BSD
<
November 1, 2010
Alexandria, Virginia -- The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) today
announced that it has acquired Building Systems Design, Inc. (BSD). The
acquisition provides for BSD's current management and employees to remain
in place, and BSD will continue as a separate, for-profit enterprise.
CSI was founded more than 60 years ago by volunteers dedicated to the
mission of improving communication between all members of the construction
project team. CSI has been the driving force in the creation of industry
standards and formats used in the production of building construction
specifications and other construction documentation including: MasterFormat ®,
SectionFormat™, UniFormat, and OmniClass™.
In recent years, to better address the needs of its members and the
construction community, CSI has increased its focus on creating practice tools
that improve communication and the development of construction
documentation in day-to-day construction work. The acquisition of BSD is the
next logical step in providing useful products that advance CSI's mission and
improve how construction is done by individual practitioners and in firms
around the world.
BSD was founded in 1983 to produce cost estimating software for use on
personal computers, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as its first client.
In 1996, BSD launched the initial version of BSD SpecLink®, an automated
specification writing system that is now in its third generation as BSD
SpecLink-E. The company recently introduced BSD LinkMan™-E, a product
that links SpecLink with the industry's leading building information modeling
(BIM) software, Autodesk's Revit. Plans include extending LinkMan's
interoperability to BSD CostLink®-E, a new generation cost estimating product
that is now in development.
"Master specifications software has proven to be a valuable tool for firms and
individual practitioners in improving their productivity and the quality of their
construction documents," CSI Executive Director and CEO Walter Marlowe,
P.E., CSI, CAE, said. "As the industry increasingly moves to adopt software
tools and electronic project communications, CSI needs to be involved in the
creation of standards that enable greater efficiency in information transfer,
data interoperability and improved construction documentation. CSI also must
provide better access for our members to software that utilizes those
standards."
BSD CEO John R. Witherspoon said, "We are highly gratified that an
organization as prestigious as CSI has recognized the value of BSD's practice
tools through its investment in our company. The relationship will also enable
us to offer an exceptional array of benefits to CSI's membership, including
special discounts on BSD products and improved access to educational
opportunities."
T H E
C O N S T R U C T I O N
CSI will continue to develop and maintain industry standards in an open and
inclusive manner, using consensus-based processes. All interested industry
organizations will continue to have access to CSI's intellectual property, serve
on CSI committees and task teams, and license CSI's formats for use in their
products.
CSI members will directly benefit through increased access to BSD's master
specifications software and additional building information management tools
through special discounts on the purchase of BSD products and services.
Special BIM and interoperability-related education sessions will also be
available to CSI members as a result of the acquisition.
CSI Career Center
<
The CSI Career Center was created to connect CSI members with posted job
opportunities. You can:
Jobseekers: Post your resume online today! Whether you're actively or
passively seeking work, your online resume is your ticket to great job offers!
Access the newest and freshest jobs available to professionals seeking
employment. Create Job Alerts and never let a matching job opportunity pass
you by! New jobs that match your search criteria will be emailed directly to
you. Your personal jobseeker account will allow you to find jobs, manage your
resumes, and set up job alerts. Get started today!
Employers/Recruiters: Check out our resumes and only pay for the ones
that interest you! We have access to some of the best professionals in the
field. Reach the most qualified candidates by posting your job opening on our
online Career Center. Quickly post job openings and manage your online
recruiting efforts with ease by setting up an account with us today!
Join a Practice Group
<
Monthly, one-hour meetings conducted by webinar s that focus on current
issues, challenges and opportunities affecting practice.
BIM Practice Group
Contract Administration Practice Group
Emerging Professionals Practice Group
Product Representation Practice Group
Specifying Practice Group
Sustainability Practice Group
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mark your calendars for Construct Cincinnati 2011
Featuring
The 32nd Annual CSI Construction Products Showcase
and
The Build Green Workshops
Exhibitors:
Reserve your booth for
The 32nd Annual Construction Products Showcase
Go to
www.csicincinnati.org/exhibitors
For available booths, cost, and online reservation and payment
information as well as other sponsorship opportunities.
S P E C I F I C A T I O N S
I N S T I T U T E