Deliberate Words

David Stutzman and Steve Gantner

by Conspectus, Inc. - decision managers, word masters, aggregators. There is tremendous power in a word that is perfectly placed at the best location, at the best time, during the design and construction process of a project. Deliberate words can manage success, build trust, and provide transparency that every member of the project team craves. As decision managers of the team, Conspectus explores the notion of how transparency transforms three main components of every project: behavior, content, and outcomes, through the appropriate usage of words. Behavior of every participant, is the foundation communication and collaboration, through deliberate words. It will transform the team, and build strong relationships. Content, the documentation built on these relationships, containing deliberate words, is then transformed. The outcome is a successful project, with a legacy of ultimate collaboration. Join us as we chat with members of the architectural, engineering, construction, and owner communities to learn how deliberate word shape their contributions, their projects, and their world! Through these conversations, words aggregate decisions, and transforms perspectives on transparency in the decision-making process.

  1. 1d ago

    What A Week! ANSI/SDI A250.13: Raising the Bar for Wind Resistance

    What happens when severe winds breach a building's exterior? The damage can extend far beyond a failed door. In this episode of What a Week, Dave Stutzman, Steve Gantner, and Elias Saltz examine a new Steel Door Institute standard, ANSI/SDI A250.13, addressing severe windstorm-resistant swinging door assemblies. The standard fills a gap between conventional steel doors and specialized storm shelter assemblies, providing a framework for evaluating resistance to wind pressure and windborne debris. The discussion explores how door construction, latching hardware, frame anchorage, and swing direction affect building envelope performance during hurricanes and other severe wind events. The team also distinguishes windstorm resistance from tornado shelter requirements and examines why maintaining the integrity of an opening is critical to preventing cascading building damage. The takeaway: Windstorm resilience depends on the performance of the entire door assembly, not just the door itself. Understanding the applicable standards and specifying coordinated components can help protect building integrity, reduce risk, and support more resilient design.

    What A Week! ANSI/SDI A250.13: Raising the Bar for Wind Resistance

  2. 2d ago

    A Design Intent Gap Discussion with Will Payne, smbw

    What gets lost between an owner’s requirements, an architect’s vision, and the building that actually gets built? Will Payne, a principal at smbw in Richmond, Virginia, joins Dave Stutzman and Steve Gantner to explore the design intent gap—and why documenting the reasons behind decisions matters. Will shares how his firm is using Systems and Performance Descriptions (SPDs) to connect design ideas, building assemblies, and project documentation earlier in the process. The conversation explores how clearer information can help teams evaluate options, guide emerging professionals, and preserve design intent through construction—with less rework and frustration along the way. Does this sound familiar? Join the conversation at designintentgap.com.

    A Design Intent Gap Discussion with Will Payne, smbw

  3. Oct 26

    What A Week! The Case for Better Casework, AWI Standards

    Are we overcomplicating architectural woodwork specifications and detailing when established quality standards could do the heavy lifting? In this episode of What a Week, Dave Stutzman, Steve Gantner, and Elias Saltz explore how Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) standards and the Quality Certification Program (QCP) can simplify specifications while providing greater assurance of manufacturing and installation quality. Inspired by a tour of a historic St. Louis millwork facility, the discussion examines AWI quality grades, structural duty levels, performance testing, and certification costs. The conversation challenges the need for excessive detailing when established standards can communicate expectations more effectively, while recognizing when specialized applications require additional requirements. The episode also explores the often-blurred terminology of cabinetry, casework, millwork, and architectural woodwork, reinforcing the importance of clear, consistent language in construction documents. The takeaway: Better specifications aren't necessarily more detailed. By leveraging recognized standards, defining performance expectations, and specifying appropriate quality verification, design teams can reduce unnecessary complexity while protecting the owner's investment.

    What A Week! The Case for Better Casework, AWI Standards

  4. Oct 19

    What A Week! Design Assist vs. Delegated Design: Where's the Line?

    Design Assist, Delegated Design, and Design-Build: Are We All Talking About the Same Thing? What happens when project teams use the same terminology but have different expectations about responsibilities, processes, and outcomes? In this episode of What a Week, Dave, Steve, and Elias explore the distinctions between design assist, delegated design, and component-level design-build, following a CSI panel discussion focused on ornamental stair construction. The conversation examines how different interpretations of these approaches can affect competitive bidding, subcontractor involvement, design responsibility, and the potential for costly redesign. Through real-world examples involving ornamental stairs, curtain walls, and structural glass, the discussion highlights the importance of defining expectations early, particularly when balancing aesthetics, performance requirements, fabrication expertise, and procurement strategies. The central takeaway: These terms alone don't establish a shared understanding. Project teams must clearly define the intended process, responsibilities, and deliverables to protect design intent and avoid unnecessary risk, confusion, and rework.

    What A Week! Design Assist vs. Delegated Design: Where's the Line?

  5. Oct 13

    What A Week! Wait, We Have 3 Concrete Sections? The Coordination Episode

    What happens when three consultants write three different specification sections for the same material, and no one discovers the overlap until publication day? In this episode of What a Week, Dave Stutzman, Steve Gantner, and Elias Saltz tackle a common construction documentation challenge: coordination across disciplines. Using cast-in-place concrete as an example, they explore how structural, civil, and landscape consultants can develop overlapping specifications, creating duplicate sections, conflicting requirements, and uncertainty about responsibility. The discussion examines the risks of last-minute renumbering, combining sections, and relying on drawing references that may change. More importantly, it highlights why specification coordination must begin early and continue throughout design, starting with shared tables of contents, clearly defined scopes, and ongoing communication among consultants. The takeaway is simple: Coordination isn't something you fix at the deadline. It's a process that needs to be built into the project from the beginning. Better planning and information sharing can prevent document conflicts, reduce last-minute revisions, and produce a more cohesive set of construction documents.

    What A Week! Wait, We Have 3 Concrete Sections? The Coordination Episode

  6. Oct 5

    What a Week! Are Your Owner Standards Working?

    How useful are an owner’s design standards if the project team can’t easily understand, maintain, or apply them? In this episode of What a Week, Tina Montone joins Dave Stutzman, Steve Gantner, and Elias Saltz to recap a new hands-on workshop developed for the Construction Owners Association of America (COAA). Piloted with the Michigan Chapter, the workshop helps owners take a critical look at their design standards, guide specifications, and technical specifications, whether they have a well-developed program, outdated documents, or are starting from scratch.  Rather than simply presenting best practices, the workshop gets into each owner’s actual documentation. Steve and Elias share some of the “light bulb moments” that emerged as they worked directly with attendees, from putting requirements in the right place and eliminating unnecessary repetition to understanding the different roles of design standards, guide specifications, and project specifications.   The discussion also explores System and Performance Descriptions (SPDs) as another way owners can capture design intent in clear, system-based language and potentially carry that information throughout the building lifecycle. Ultimately, the goal is not simply better documents. It is creating owner requirements that are easier to maintain, easier for project teams to use, and more effective at carrying the owner’s intent into the finished facility.   Learning Points Industry Insight Owner standards vary widely. Some organizations have sophisticated, regularly maintained guide specifications, while others are working with outdated documents or have little formal documentation at all. The right approach needs to start with understanding where the owner is today.  Practice Takeaway Design standards, guide specifications, and technical specifications serve different purposes. Clearly defining what belongs in each helps owners communicate requirements without creating unnecessary conflicts or duplication in the contract documents.  Process Lesson Put information where users will actually look for it. Requirements buried in the wrong section can easily be missed, while repeated information creates additional maintenance and coordination problems. Say it once, and say it in the right place.  Owner Opportunity SPDs organized around building systems can provide owners with a clearer way to capture design intent without prescribing every design solution. They can also become lifecycle documents that provide value to facilities and operations teams after construction.  Collaboration Lesson Developing owner standards should not happen in a vacuum. Bringing facilities and maintenance teams into the conversation can help ensure requirements reflect not only how a facility should be designed, but how it will actually be operated and maintained.   Big Takeaway: Better owner standards aren't necessarily more standards. They are clearer, better organized, maintainable requirements that project teams can actually use.

    What a Week! Are Your Owner Standards Working?

  7. Sep 30

    Lessons from Tragedy: How September 11th Changed the Way We Build

    The buildings we design today carry lessons learned from the failures of yesterday. But how well are we putting those lessons into practice? Marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, David Stutzman and Steve Gantner welcome Sal Verrastro of Spillman Farmer Architects to discuss the World Trade Center collapse and the changes in building codes, fire protection, and emergency egress that followed. The conversation reaches beyond September 11 to explore lessons from other construction failures, the importance of shop drawing review, and the challenges of coordinating specifications and digital models. Drawing on decades of architectural practice, service on AIA’s national Documents Committee, and work as an expert witness, Sal shares how investigating what went wrong continually informs his approach to making buildings safer and the industry better. Throughout the episode, one question connects the discussion: How do we put what we’ve learned into everyday practice?

    Lessons from Tragedy: How September 11th Changed the Way We Build

  8. Sep 23

    What A Week! The Design Intent Gap Summit Recap

    The first Design Intent Gap Summit brought nearly 50 industry professionals together around one central question: How can we better capture and carry design intent from early design through construction? In this episode of What a Week, Dave, Steve, and Elias recap the first-ever Design Intent Gap Summit in New York City, where architects, specifiers, contractors, estimators, owners, manufacturers, educators, and technology providers explored how Systems and Performance Descriptions (SPDs) could create a stronger thread of information throughout the project. The conversation looks at using SPDs alongside BIM to document system-level decisions earlier, give estimators a better basis for preliminary pricing, reduce missing scope, and preserve information as a project moves between design phases and tools. Rather than waiting for every product and material to be selected, teams can define what they already know about a building system and continue refining that information as the design develops. Perhaps the biggest question coming out of the Summit was also the simplest: If this approach could improve collaboration and continuity of design intent, why aren’t we already doing it?

    What A Week! The Design Intent Gap Summit Recap
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About

by Conspectus, Inc. - decision managers, word masters, aggregators. There is tremendous power in a word that is perfectly placed at the best location, at the best time, during the design and construction process of a project. Deliberate words can manage success, build trust, and provide transparency that every member of the project team craves. As decision managers of the team, Conspectus explores the notion of how transparency transforms three main components of every project: behavior, content, and outcomes, through the appropriate usage of words. Behavior of every participant, is the foundation communication and collaboration, through deliberate words. It will transform the team, and build strong relationships. Content, the documentation built on these relationships, containing deliberate words, is then transformed. The outcome is a successful project, with a legacy of ultimate collaboration. Join us as we chat with members of the architectural, engineering, construction, and owner communities to learn how deliberate word shape their contributions, their projects, and their world! Through these conversations, words aggregate decisions, and transforms perspectives on transparency in the decision-making process.

Information

  • Creator
    David Stutzman and Steve Gantner
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    112
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Deliberate Words
  • Show Website
    Deliberate Words