MasterFormat is a standard for organizing specifications and other written information for commercial and institutional building projects in the U.S. and Canada. Sometimes referred to as the "Dewey Decimal System" of building construction, MasterFormat is a product of the Construction Specifications Institute and . It provides a master list of Divisions, and Section numbers with associated titles within each Division, to organize information about a facility’s construction requirements and associated activities. MasterFormat is used throughout the construction industry to format specifications for construction contract documents. The purpose of this format is to assist the user in organizing information into distinct groups when creating contract documents, and to assist the user searching for specific information in consistent locations. The information contained in MasterFormat is organized in a standardized outline format within 50 Divisions. Each Division is subdivided into a number of Sections.
History
After World War II, building construction specifications began to expand, as more advanced materials and choices were made available. The Construction Specifications Institute was founded in 1948 and began to address the organization of specifications into a numbering system. In 1963, they published a format for construction specifications, with 16 major divisions of work. A 1975 CSI publication used the term MasterFormat. The last CSI MasterFormat publication to use the 16 divisions was in 1995, and this is no longer supported by CSI. In November 2004, MasterFormat expanded from 16 Divisions to 50 Divisions, reflecting innovations in the construction industry and expanding the coverage to a larger part of the construction industry. Revised editions were published in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Timeline
1963: CSI introduces MasterFormat data as part of CSI Format for Construction Specifications
1972: CSI and CSC merge their systems and publish as Uniform Construction Index
1995: Extensive public review with industry users
2004: Major expansion to address overcrowded divisions. Additional divisions added to include infrastructure and process equipment divisions.
Advantages
Standardizing the presentation of such information improves communication among all parties involved in construction projects, which helps the project team deliver structures to owners according to their requirements, timelines, and budgets. The ASTM standard for sustainability assessment of building products relies on MasterFormat to organize the data. MasterFormat is an organizational component of MasterSpec, SpecText, National Master Specification, Building Systems Design , and SpecsIntact systems. Manufactures will often publish specifications for their products based on MasterFormat. Design teams may maintain office master section based on MasterFormat and pull specifications from multiple sources. MasterFormat provides the overall organizational structure that makes pulling sections from different sources possible. MasterSpec and SpecText are specifications targeted to construction projects in the United States. NMS is targeted to construction projects in Canada. SpecsIntact is a specification processing system for preparing Unified Facilities Guide Specifications. UFGS is required for design teams to use on United States Department of Defense and NASA construction projects. Using MasterFormat provides the design and construction teams a familiar organizational structure.
Current Divisions (June 2018)
The current MasterFormat Divisions are: PROCUREMENT AND CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS GROUP
Division 00 — Procurement and Contracting Requirements
SPECIFICATIONS GROUP General Requirements Subgroup
SectionFormat is a standard for organizing information within each Section. Like MasterFormat, SectionFormat is a joint publication of the Construction Specifications Institute and . It is used by MasterSpec, SpecText, NMS, and SpecsIntact systems. It is also common among manufacture specifications and design firm office masters. A Section is divided into three Parts; "Part 1 - General," "Part 2 - Products," and "Part 3 - Execution." Each Part is further organized into a system of Articles and Paragraphs. MasterFormat's Division 01 is extensively coordinated with SectionFormat's Part 1 to reduce duplication of requirements common to multiple sections.
PageFormat is a standard for formatting text within a section. Like MasterFormat, PageFormat is a joint publication of the Construction Specifications Institute and . It is used by MasterSpec, SpecText, and NMS. Design firms often use a modified version of PageFormat. SpecsIntact does not use PageFormat.
A relatively new strategy to classify the built environment, named OmniClass, incorporates the work results classification in its Table 22 Work Results.
