In short:
A specification, referred to in the industry simply as the "spec," is the written document that defines which products, materials, and systems a construction project will use. When a building product manufacturer (BPM) gets specified, their product is written into that document, typically by the project architect during the design phase.
Being specified means your product is required before contractors ever price out a bid. By the time a general contractor (GC) starts assembling numbers, the products are often already chosen. The spec sets the purchasing decision; the bid prices it out. Getting in front of the architect early is the most direct path to a new product specification.
A commercial construction project moves through several phases before construction begins. Products are typically selected during schematic design and design development, the two phases where architects move from concept to buildable drawings.
By the time a project reaches the construction documents phase, most product decisions are locked in. Getting written in after that point requires a formal substitution request that most architects and project owners won't take on without a compelling reason.
The practical implication: if your reps are prospecting from a bid-stage project list, they're starting late. The more useful question isn't "who is bidding right now?" It's "which architects are designing projects in my product category, in my territory, right now?"
Most BPMs hear about projects through rep relationships and industry events. That works, but it's slow and depends on who you already know. Reps who consistently get in front of design-phase projects use a more deliberate approach.
Filter projects by stage. Construction data platforms that include project phase data let you separate early-stage projects from those already in bidding or construction. Filtering for schematic and design development projects in your product category and geography gives you a target list to work from each week, not just names you happened to hear about.
Track which architects are active in your product category. Not every architecture firm specs in your trade, and not every active firm specs at the same rate. Identifying firms with high project volume in your category, especially those you don't have a relationship with yet, is a faster route to new specifications than broad outreach.
Monitor your specification share over time. A drop in your spec rate in a region or project type isn't always visible until it has already affected revenue. Tracking that data by architect, geography, and project type tells you where you're losing ground while there's still time to respond.
Analytics is a feature set within the ConstructConnect platform for building product manufacturers, available as a premium add-on to ConstructConnect® Project Intelligence. It gives BPM sales teams and marketing leaders access to three dashboards built around the data decisions they make most often.
For more on how Analytics supports the full BPM sales cycle, see our blog on how Analytics helps building product manufacturers move from data to decisions.
| Dashboard | What It Shows | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Company Targeting | Architecture firms with project volume in your trade; relationship gaps by company | Reps building a weekly call list of high-priority prospects |
| Specification Positioning | Understand spec share by architect, geography, and project type; competitive trends over time | Sales leaders tracking where they're winning and losing ground |
| Market Overview | Project trends across categories, locations, and time periods | Territory planning and executive strategy reviews |
The Company Targeting dashboard is the most direct tool for early-stage outreach. It surfaces firms with significant activity in your product category, highlights where you have no existing relationship, and helps reps decide who deserves a call this week.
The Specification Positioning dashboard adds the competitive view: your spec rate over time, where competitors are gaining share, and which architects or markets are shifting. Together, these dashboards answer the questions BPM reps most need answered: who should I call, and how are my products actually performing in the market?
Analytics is scoped by territory. A rep covering a single state or a cluster of metros filters the data to their geography, so the lead list reflects their actual market rather than national volume that isn't relevant to them.
The Specification Positioning dashboard works the same way, showing spec rates for architects and project types within the territory.
That means any BPM whose products get specified on commercial projects can use these dashboards to improve how they prioritize time.
Analytics gives building product manufacturers the project data to get in front of architects while designs are still in progress, not after the spec is written and product decisions are made.
Schedule a demo to see how Analytics works for your territory.
When an architect writes a building product into the official project specification, that product is "specified." The spec defines which materials, systems, and products a project will use. Being specified means contractors must price out your product, or submit a formal substitution request to use something else.
Most product selections happen during schematic design and design development. By the time a project reaches the construction documents phase, most decisions are already made. Building product manufacturers need to reach architects in early design, not at bid stage.
A design-stage project is still in schematic design or design development: the architect is actively making product decisions and is open to outreach. A specified project has products locked into the construction documents. Getting written in at that point requires a formal substitution approved by the architect, which most project teams won't pursue without a strong reason.
Construction data platforms that include project phase data, such as ConstructConnect Project Intelligence, let you filter by stage. Within ConstructConnect Analytics, the Company Targeting dashboard surfaces architecture firms with active design-phase project volume in your product category. Saved searches and filters let you build a repeatable weekly prospect list for your territory.
The best platform for a building product manufacturer shows both project-level data by stage and specification-level data by architect and geography. ConstructConnect Analytics, part of the ConstructConnect Project Intelligence premium subscription, combines both: the Company Targeting dashboard identifies which architecture firms to target, and the Specification Positioning dashboard tracks how your products are performing across architects, markets, and project types.
Deirdre Pearson is a Content Marketing Manager at ConstructConnect®, specializing in customer communications, product documentation, content strategy, and user-centered writing. She focuses on showcasing ConstructConnect’s project data and analytics solutions, including Project Intelligence, Bid Management, and Insight. With her experience crafting diverse content for the preconstruction industry, Deirdre delivers well-researched and insightful perspectives on every topic she covers.
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