By Ed Avis
Are you looking for a way to increase your construction document management knowledge and add a fancy credential to your resume? Some IRgA members have done both by pursuing the Construction Documents Technology certification from the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI).
Getting the certification allows you to put “CDT” after your name, and gets your name added to the CSI Certificants Directory on the CSI website.
People who earn the certification come from various construction-related disciplines, ranging from supply manufacturers to employees of design firms to reprographics professionals.
“We find that [some people] take the test because it enables them to talk more authentically with the architects doing the specifications and the contractors on the project,” says Mark Dorsey, executive director and CEO of the CSI.
Nathan Ponder, director of sales and operations for CyberCopy in southern California, earned the CDT certification in November and has found it helpful.
“It gives you instant credibility,” Ponder says. “I don’t boast about it, but I tell people the more I understand your workflow, the better things go. When talking to perspective clients, the credential is valuable.”
What Do You Learn?
The exam tests your knowledge of construction project delivery, contractual relationships, and the organization of construction documents. The preparation opportunities, thus, cover those areas.
Ponder says an important topic that he learned about is project delivery methods.
“‘We’ve all worked on projects that are design-build or design-bid-build, but it’s important to really understand the players and the process of the workflow or each of those methods,” he says. “I had heard of the different delivery methods, but I didn’t really understand why someone would use one or the other, or who the players were. Now my first question when I start a project is ‘What’s the delivery method here?’”
More than a quarter of the questions deal with construction documents themselves. This part of the exam deals with the functions of various drawings, the modification process, the specification language, the role of a document coordinator, and other issues.
Other areas in the exam that are not directly related to documents include questions about the procurement process, pre-construction issues, activities during construction, the design process, the roles of the project teams, etc.
Preparation
Theoretically an individual could take the certification exam without preparing for it, but more commonly those interested in the certification study the book, take a webinar-based prep course, or use some other preparation tools.
“Though it is possible to register, walk in, and pass, the vast majority of candidates do learn a lot through the process of preparing for the exam,” Dorsey says.
Ponder says that he carefully read the book and workbook that accompanies the program, used flashcards that he purchased from CSI, and signed up for a daily email that provided a question each day.
“It was a lot of memorization,” he says. “It’s kind of hard to understand their language at first, so it took a couple of times to read it to really understand what the big picture was. Then I was able to connect the dots. I probably studied a couple of days a week, for about six weeks.”
CSI also offers a CDT Prep Course, which is a series of webinars that give an overview of the fundamentals and formats of construction documents, and many local CSI chapters offer courses.
For more details about prep materials, visit: http://www.csinet.org/main/certification/CDT/CDT-Exam-Prep. A handbook is available in PDF form here: http://csinet.org/main/certification/CDT/Fall-CDT-Candidate-Handbook.pdf
How Do You Sign Up?
The test for the certification is administered twice a year. The next available education/testing cycle is in the fall; the dates have not been set yet, but probably will be mid-October. Once certification is achieved, there is no requirement for continuing education or renewal.
The cost for the exam is for non-members of CSI is $375 early bird and $430 regular. Visit here for more details: http://www.csinet.org/main/certification/CDT.aspx