The specification
What the client is promised, taken from what you priced
Why this one matters
The specification and the estimate are the same document written twice, and the gap between them is where arguments start. The client is promised a tap that was never priced; the estimate carries a bath nobody told them about.
Taking one out of the other closes that gap by construction rather than by someone proofreading at ten at night.
What you will see
- A specification built from the items already in the estimate
- What is included and excluded, taken from the lines themselves
- The document produced for the client without a second typing-up
What was said
The narration, word for word, for anyone who would rather read it than watch it — or who is on a train.
The specification tells the client what they're getting, grouped by cost code. It's built from your estimate, so it can't drift away from the price.
The cost codes are listed down the left, with how many lines each one has. Click one to work on just that group, or search for an item or a product by name.
Four switches on each line decide what the client sees: the item, the product, the quantity, and the allowance.
Type your own wording for a line, and it prints instead of the item's name. Write it for the client, not for yourself.
The chip at the top counts the lines worth a second look: an item that's switched off, or an allowance that isn't being shown.
Tick Only what needs attention to see just those lines, and deal with them one by one. At the foot, Leave out items switched off in the bill of quantities keeps anything you have switched off out of the printed specification.
Rename a group for the client: slab and footings, instead of the cost code's name. Your cost code keeps its own name.
Tick several lines to change them together. Move them to another group, take them out of the specification, or Clear to un-tick them. Or switch one thing on for all of them at once, like the quantity.
Add items brings in lines from a cost code that is not in the specification yet. Pick the cost code, tick the items you want, and press Add to the specification. The count at the top goes up to match.
Preview shows exactly what prints. The switched-off item drops out, and every group shows the name you gave it.
The foot of the window says what will print. Export to Excel gives you a copy to work on, Print gives the plain specification, and Print with pictures adds each product's picture, which clients find much easier to follow.
Doing it, rather than watching it
This page is the tour. When you are in SmarteBuild with a job open and need the detail — every option, every exception, the things the video had no time for — the help centre has the full article.
The specification — the full reference
Read about it instead: Bill of Quantities · Client Portal · Colour Selection
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