Why site engineers and architects specify one material over another

One line in a finishes schedule decides which maker a building material comes from, and many makers never see that line. An architect writes it early and quietly, an estimator prices it, a site engineer checks the delivery against it, and a dealer quotes whatever it names. A product that is not in that line is usually not in the quote. Follow a single line through four hands and you can see where a maker can get in, and where makers get shut out.

One line, four hands

This is an invented case. A school extension near Nashik needs a roof over a new assembly hall. An architect there writes the roofing line in the schedule. A builder's estimator prices it, a dealer quotes for it, and a site engineer receives it on the site. Watch what happens to the line at each hand.

Hand one: the architect writes it

The architect has drawn the hall, and the roof needs a line. A make already used before comes to mind, because its data sheet is in the file from an earlier job with a clean fixing detail, and it can be defended to a client. The architect writes the make and the profile, and adds "or equal, to be approved".

The question asked of any material is not "is it the best?". It is "have I seen this work, can I defend it, and can I get it near the site?". Price is on the list, but late.

Hand two: the estimator prices it

The builder's estimator reads the line and asks the dealer for a rate on the named make. The maker of the other sheet, the one that would have been cheaper, is never asked, because the estimator is pricing the drawing, not shopping.

This is the stage where makers cut prices and wonder why nothing moves. The decision was made one hand earlier.

Hand three: the dealer quotes

The dealer quotes what the line names. A dealer will quote an alternative if the line says "or equal", but only if the alternative comes with a data sheet and a sample the architect will accept. Without them, there is nothing to sell.

Hand four: the site engineer receives it

The site engineer holds the schedule and the delivery side by side at the gate, with the driver waiting, and checks the make, size, batch, any test paper and whether the lot matches the sample approved earlier. A lot that differs can be refused, and the dealer then loses days. The engineer also takes the mason's view on how it cuts and fixes. A material the mason dislikes may be substituted quietly, and the engineer has to explain it.

The same line, rewritten

Here is the roofing line as the competitor got it, and as a maker could get it:

Before:  Roof, hall: [competitor] profile sheet, as approved.
After:   Roof, hall: [competitor] profile sheet, or [our make]
         profile sheet, equal in profile and finish, with data sheet
         and sample approved by the architect before ordering.

Getting from the first to the second needs no argument about price. It needs the architect to have a data sheet, a sample and a nearby supplier on file, so that "or equal" has a name to attach to.

What goes into the architect's file

Make one pack that can be lifted into a specification without a second call.

Leave out any claim you cannot back with a paper. If you hold a test report or an approval, attach it and note what it covers and what it does not. If you do not hold one, say nothing. Standards and approvals differ by product and change over time, so state only what your own documents show.

The maker in the case

The maker in the case is a roofing sheet unit in Aurangabad that sells through two dealers. Seeing the school going up with a competitor's sheets, the owner cut the price twice. It did nothing. The competitor's sheet was in the architect's file, and the unit had never put its own there.

So the cutting stopped. The unit listed the nearest school, clinic and apartment projects and found the architect on each. Every firm received the pack above, with a sample sheet and the dealer's name, and the dealers were told which firms had it. Two architects replied with questions. One wrote the unit's sheet into the next schedule as an equal alternative, and that let the dealer quote it. The two price cuts had cost about ₹1.5 lakh in margin, and the packs and samples cost about ₹12,000, but the school itself was already lost. The unit, the dealers and the figures are invented.

Fifteen minutes with the architect

When you get the meeting, ask three things: which materials were specified on the last two projects, what made the choice, and what the architect wished to have in the file. Then stop talking and write down the answers. If a competitor is named, ask what the data sheet showed that yours does not.

When chasing specification is a poor use of time

Skip it for low-value commodity items bought on rate, such as sand or plain bricks, where nothing is named in the drawing. Skip it too if your delivery area cannot reach a project in another town. Hold off until you can send a sample and a data sheet on request. A specification you cannot follow through damages your name. The rest of your products are sold through dealers and builders on the terms in how a contractor or builder chooses a supplier.

Work out which of your products appear in a schedule

Go through your range and mark which items ever get a name in a drawing. Build a pack for those, and send it to five firms near your market with a short note asking for fifteen minutes. Keep a note of who received what and who answered. The rest of selling building materials is on the construction materials page. If you would like help assembling the pack, with capability presentations for the meeting, tell us what you need.