Descriptive vs Prescriptive Specifications
Doing some research on the different types of specifications and I came across both Descriptive AND Prescriptive construction specifications. From my understanding, these two are essentially the same thing, right? I know the other types are proprietary, performance, and reference and I understand how those are all unique, but I'm struggling with Descriptive vs Prescriptive. Thank you in advance!
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Hi Lauren,
According to the CSI Practice Handbook, Descriptive and Proprietary specifications are both types of Prescriptive specifications. Prescriptive specs provide the means to achieve the desired results (either by way of a describing them or by naming proprietary products that have the desired characteristics), whereas performance specs specify the results and not the means to achieve them. CSI PH gives an example to differentiate between the two: Specifying a "non-sag" ceiling hanger is using performance specifying, while saying "straightened No. 11 wire, tightly wrapped two times" is using descriptive specifying.
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