Construction Specifications Institute

The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is a United States national association of more than 6,000 construction industry professionals who are experts in building construction and the materials used therein. The institute is dedicated to improving the communication of construction information through a diversified membership base of allied professionals involved in the creation and management of the built environment, continuous development and transformation of standards and formats, education and certification of professionals to improve project delivery processes, and creation of practice tools to assist users throughout the facility life-cycle. The work of CSI is currently focused in three areas being standards and publications, construction industry professional certifications, and continuing education for construction professionals.

CSI was founded in March 1948 by the specification writers of government agencies who came together to improve the quality of construction specifications. The institute's efforts were essential in improving construction specification quality so that it could meet the demands of the post-war construction boom. Development of specifications best practices, promulgating standards and formats to improve the organization of specification information, professional education, and certification were cornerstones of the institute.

The Institute grew quickly to include specification writers in the private sector.

In November 2010, CSI acquired Building Systems Design (BSD) to help advance software tools for specifications development and communication of building information across the building team. BSD is a software firm that is a leading developer of commercial master specifications and construction cost estimating software. BSD is involved in the development and maintenance of several of CSI format documents including MasterFormat, UniFormat, and OmniClass, all of which relate to specifications and cost estimating. In 2017, BSD was the subject of a management buy-out backed by Caltius, leaving CSI with a minority stake in the business. In June 2019, BSD was acquired by Germany-based RIB Software, but will maintain its relationships with CSI and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC).

CSI publishes MasterFormat, which is a standardized classification for construction information, such as detailed construction project cost estimates or construction specifications. Since its debut under another title in 1963, MasterFormat consisted of 16 Divisions representing broad categories of construction, such as Masonry, Concrete, Electrical, Finishes, or Mechanical. In November 2004, a revised edition of MasterFormat was published that expanded the categories to 50 Divisions, reflecting the growing complexity of the construction industry, incorporation of a broader array of construction project types, and addition of facility life cycle and maintenance information into the classification. With this expansion, MasterFormat was positioned to help facilitate Building Information Modeling (BIM) to contain project specifications.

The MasterFormat standard serves as the organizational structure for construction industry publications such as the Sweets catalog and ARCAT with a wide range of building products, and master guide specification products such as MasterSpec and BSD SpecLink. MasterFormat helps architects, engineers, owners, contractors, and manufacturers classify the construction of work results using a variety of construction resources. The MasterFormat sections within the Divisions can also be used to reference performance and safety requirements generated by agencies such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), among others.

UniFormat is a construction classification system organized by functional elements in a construction project. Functional elements are defined as "constituent parts of a construction entity with a characteristic function, form, or position." Unlike the content of MasterFormat, most content in UniFormat is described without reference to specific means of achieving the function the element serves.

The first edition of UniFormat was published by CSI in 1992. New and revised editions of UniFormat were published by CSI in 1998 and 2010.