Module 7 · Proportionate Remediation
7.1 Specify to the Diagnosis, Not the Symptom
8 min read
Bad specifications are rarely technically incompetent. They are packages — a standard set of works applied to a presentation, chosen because that is what the specifier does, with no line running from any element back to a mechanism. The discipline that prevents it is simple to state and uncomfortable to apply: for each item, name the mechanism it addresses. Anything that survives that test is worth doing, and anything that does not is either unnecessary or a sign the diagnosis has a hole in it.
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Trace each specification element to the mechanism it addresses.
- Sequence works so the primary cause is dealt with before the consequences.
- Distinguish remedial, protective and cosmetic elements and price them separately.
- Recognise a package specification and what it conceals.
Key terms
- Primary works
- Those that address the moisture mechanism itself. Without them nothing else holds, and they come first in sequence as well as in importance.
- Consequential works
- Repair of damage the moisture caused — plaster, decoration, timber. Correct only after the primary works and after drying.
- Protective works
- Measures against a stated residual risk that remains once the primary works are done. Must name the risk.
- Package specification
- A standard set of works applied to a presentation type rather than derived from a diagnosis. Fails the trace test.
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