MasterFormat

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 (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC). 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 to organize information into distinct groups when creating contract documents, and to assist the user searching for specific information in consistent locations. Information contained in MasterFormat is organized in a standardized outline format within 50 Divisions (16 Divisions pre-2004). Each Division is subdivided into a number of Sections.

SectionFormat is a standard for organizing information within each Section. A Section is divided into three Parts—"general," "products," and "execution." Each Part is further organized into a system of Articles and Paragraphs.

A relatively new strategy to classify the built environment, named OmniClass, incorporates the work results classification in its Table 22 Work Results.

Standardizing the presentation of such information improves communication among all parties involved in construction projects. That helps the project team deliver structures to owners according to their requirements, timelines, and budgets. An indication of the widespread acceptance of MasterFormat is that the ASTM standard for sustainability assessment of building products relies on MasterFormat to organize the data. MasterFormat is an integral component of the SpecsIntact system. SpecsIntact (Specifications Kept Intact), is an automated specifications processing system for preparing certain government facility construction projects using standard master specifications, called Master Text or Masters, supplied by each of three government agencies. SpecsIntact was developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and designed for use by engineers, architects, interior designers, specification writers, project managers and construction managers. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) and the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has also adopted SpecsIntact as their standard specifications system, greatly facilitating the effort to standardize construction specifications throughout these agencies. These services utilize MasterFormat from UFGS (United Facilities Guide Specification) sections found on the Whole Building Design Guide website.

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