Spec book

Definition

The itemized equipment schedule for one kitchen, listing every unit, its model and its utilities.

Why It Matters

It is the document a project is quoted from and the place a dealer's real expertise shows. Whoever writes the specification shapes which manufacturers can bid, so a dealer that gets in early on design is competing on a narrower field than one that receives the book and prices it. In diligence it tells you something else: how many of the open projects were specified by this dealer and not handed to it, because the first kind repeats and the second kind goes out to bid again next time.