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CIVIL ENGINEERING

SPECIFICATIONS AND QUANTITIES

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ASSOCIATE MEMBER INSTITUTION OF MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY ENGINEERS
DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MUNICIPAL AND SANITARY ENGINEERING
IN THE FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

AND

G. M. FLOOD, B.Sc. (ENG.)

A.M. INST. M. AND CY. E.

ASSOCIATE MEMBER INSTITUTION OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS; LECTURER
IN MUNICIPAL AND SANITARY ENGINEERING IN THE FACULTY

OF TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

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Made in Great Britain. All rights reserved

MAY

56

ENGINEERING

981112

TA

PREFACE

THE following pages were originally designed to enable young civil engineers, and those in allied branches of engineering, to obtain a knowledge of the fundamental facts which have to be considered in preparing specifications and quantities for constructional work.

The drawing up of such documents forms a very important part of the office work of a civil engineer, and is intimately connected with the duties and liabilities of both the engineer and the contractor from a legal point of view.

It has often been sarcastically remarked that, as far as the bulk of the clauses in a specification are concerned, a single clause might be substituted stating that the contractor must do everything at his own risk and expense, and may consider himself lucky if he get paid for the work done, and remains out of jail at the end of the

contract.

While this is frequently a very little of an exaggeration, some contractors have only themselves to blame if specifications are drawn up in a somewhat rigid manner. After once having experienced some piece of sharp practice, the engineer will naturally insert a clause in subsequent specifications to prevent a recurrence of such actions, until, in the course of years, the documents become principally a series of conditions binding the contractor in every direction.

The authors have endeavoured to deal impartially with both the engineer and the contractor, but it must always be remembered that, in whatever spirit the clauses may have been drawn up, it depends to a very great extent on the personalities of the engineer and the contractor, as to how literally the clauses will be interpreted, and how far the strict letter of the text will be enforced.

If the engineer establish a reputation amongst contractors of insisting on harassing or insignificant details, or for obtaining the absolute limit of work to which the clauses of the specification entitle him, it will inevitably be found that contractors will contrive

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