Getting specified means a design professional names your product in the project manual, inside a CSI MasterFormat section. Manufacturers reach that point through several channels at once: continuing education, one-on-one specifier presentations, guide specifications, and sustainability documentation. Ron Blank & Associates has worked across all four since 1985.
Last updated: August 10, 2026
Key Facts
| Organizing Standard | CSI MasterFormat, 50 divisions numbered 00 through 49 |
|---|---|
| Section Structure | SectionFormat: Part 1 General, Part 2 Products, Part 3 Execution |
| Where Products Are Named | Part 2, Products |
| Primary Channels | CE courses, specifier presentations, guide specs, sustainability docs |
| CE Credit Bodies | AIA, GBCI, IDCEC, RCEP, LA CES, WELL, AIBD, ASPE |
| Product-Specific Content | Permitted in presentations and guide specs, restricted in CE courses |
Key Takeaways
- MasterFormat expanded from 16 divisions to 50 in 2004, and products are named in Part 2 of a three-part section, not Part 1 or Part 3.
- Ron Blank & Associates has run its Architectural Specification Program since 1985, covering ten U.S. and Canadian regions three times a year.
- AIA members must earn 18 Learning Units annually with 12 in HSW topics, the demand that makes CE a viable access channel.
- AIA CES standards prohibit marketing content inside the instructional portion of a course, so CE builds credibility rather than names products.
- Health Product Declarations and LEED documentation act as eligibility gates at firms that have adopted transparency requirements.
What Does It Mean to Get Specified?
Getting specified means a design professional writes your product into the project manual, the contract document accompanying the drawings. The reference appears in a MasterFormat section as a named manufacturer, a basis-of-design product, or performance criteria your product meets.
The common misconception is that specification is a sales outcome. It is a documentation outcome. A specifier who likes your product still cannot include it unless the technical data, submittal requirements, and any transparency documents their firm requires exist in usable form. Relationship work opens the door; documentation walks through.
Practitioners also call this spec position, basis of design, or being named. All name the same result, and all depend on a specifier who knows the product and a document package supporting the section.
Specification Channels Compared
| Channel | What It Achieves | Key Limitation | Product Naming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuing education courses | Credibility and access to credit-seeking specifiers at scale | Standards prohibit promotional material | Restricted |
| One-on-one specifier presentations | Direct product discussion tied to live projects | Fewer people reached per hour | Unrestricted |
| Guide specs and BIM objects | Removes friction at the moment of writing; creates no awareness alone | Requires accurate, maintained content | Explicit |
| Sustainability documentation | Clears firm-level eligibility screens | Creates no awareness on its own | Not applicable |
Where Products Enter a Specification
The division sets the neighborhood. MasterFormat organizes the project manual into 50 divisions, and a product filed in the wrong one is invisible to a specifier searching the right section.
The section number narrows it. A MasterFormat number reads as division, section, then subsection, so 06 41 93 places architectural wood casework in Division 06, Wood, Plastics, and Composites.
Part 2 names the product. SectionFormat divides technical sections into Part 1 General, Part 2 Products, and Part 3 Execution. Manufacturer names, materials, and performance requirements live in Part 2.
Parts 1 and 3 decide whether it survives. Submittals, standards, and warranty terms sit in Part 1; installation and field quality control sit in Part 3. A manufacturer who cannot meet Part 1 loses the section at submittal review.
How Manufacturers Meet Spec Writers One-on-One
Continuing education reaches specifiers in groups; one-on-one programs reach them individually. The difference matters because AIA CES standards prohibit promotional content inside a course, while a product presentation carries no such limit.
Ron Blank & Associates has run this model since 1985 through its Architectural Specification Program, which arranges online meetings between its representatives and selected design professionals to present a curated set of products. The program is not bound by continuing education credit requirements, so presentations can be product-specific.
The structure is geographic and repeating. Manufacturers select from ten regions covering the United States and Canada. Each region is visited three times a year in three-week blocks, giving nine scheduled weeks per region. Products are shown in five to ten minute screen-shared sessions, and each presentation week is followed by a report detailing the discussion, the firm, and the projects raised.
Timeline and Program Cadence
Specification programs run on quarters, not weeks. Course development moves through onboarding, development, submission, and delivery, with product training typically three weeks after kickoff and AIA CES review adding several business days before a course can be advertised. Presentation programs run three regional visits a year.
Neither channel produces a specification on first contact. Each produces a record: a completion report from a course, a weekly report naming firms and projects from a presentation week. Manufacturers who treat those reports as the deliverable and follow up see results; those who treat attendance as the outcome do not.
When Each Channel Is the Wrong Choice
Continuing education, when you need a named specification this quarter. CE builds credibility across a wide audience but cannot make the ask, because course content may not promote products.
One-on-one presentations, when the category itself is unfamiliar. A five to ten minute session assumes the specifier understands the product type. When the category needs explaining, an HSW course does that work better.
Sustainability documentation, when the firm has no transparency requirement. HPDs, Declare Labels, and LEED documentation clear eligibility screens at firms that use them, but replace neither awareness nor technical fit.
How to Build a Specification Program
- Confirm MasterFormat placement first: everything downstream, including course positioning, follows from the right division and section.
- Write the three-part guide spec early: a specifier who wants the product needs an editable section, not a brochure, and it must satisfy the standards, test reports, and warranty terms Part 1 demands.
- Build one HSW course, not three product courses: frame it on a code, failure mode, or detailing problem.
- Add the credit types your audience holds: IDCEC for interior designers, RCEP for engineers, LA CES for landscape architects.
- Run presentations where your projects are: territory coverage should match sales coverage.
- Commission transparency documents if target firms require them: HPD, Declare Label, LEED or WELL documentation.
- Route every report to a person: completions and presentation notes are leads only if someone follows up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the single best way to get a building product specified?
There is no single channel. Specification requires a specifier who knows the product and a document package supporting the section, so awareness and documentation run in parallel. Manufacturers who invest only in education generate goodwill without submittal-ready content; those who invest only in guide specs write sections nobody looks for.
Can our continuing education course name our product?
Not as promotion. AIA CES standards require course content to be unbiased and prohibit marketing material in the instructional portion, and materials must not endorse specific products or brands. Sponsorship attribution is permitted and normal. Product-specific discussion belongs in a presentation, a lunch and learn Q and A, or a guide spec.
How do we get in front of spec writers at large firms?
Through a scheduled one-on-one program rather than cold outreach. Specification consultants maintain relationships with active specifiers and arrange short presentations on the specifier’s own calendar. Regional programs visit each territory two to three times a year, so the relationship builds across repeated contacts.
Which MasterFormat division does our product belong in?
Whichever division a specifier would search, which is not always where the product is manufactured. MasterFormat runs from Division 00 through 49, with Divisions 00 and 01 covering procurement and general requirements before the technical divisions. Products serving several applications may appear in more than one section.
Do we need HPDs and LEED documentation to get specified?
It depends on the firms you target. Several large practices encourage Health Product Declarations before a product is considered, and LEED, WELL, and Living Building Challenge projects carry their own documentation demands. Where target firms have no such requirement, documentation is a differentiator, not a gate.
How long before a specification program produces results?
Longer than a quarter. Course development runs through several phases before AIA CES review, and presentation programs visit each region three times a year. Specification decisions follow project timelines, not marketing calendars, so a product presented this spring may appear in a section written next year.
Sources
- Construction Specifications Institute, MasterFormat 50-division structure
- Construction Specifications Institute, SectionFormat three-part organization
- American Institute of Architects, Standards for Continuing Education Programs, Version 2018.10.15
- American Institute of Architects, continuing education requirements
- Health Product Declaration Collaborative, HPD Open Standard
- Ron Blank & Associates, Services Guidebook