We’ve Got Everything You Need to Know About NADCA’s General Specification for HVAC System Cleaning

Posted on 09/26/2022

The NADCA General Specification, written in collaboration with the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), is the world’s most respected specification for air duct cleaning. For those not familiar with the requirements and importance of specifying HVAC system cleaning, the plug-and-play three-part format is easy to use, and eases the burden of spec writing by providing a thorough, customizable solution that will save valuable time for architects, engineers, facility managers, and specifiers.

 

Following are EIGHT THINGS TO KNOW about NADCA’s General Specification for HVAC System Cleaning:

1) The NADCA General Specification describes the minimum requirements necessary to coordinate a successful commercial HVAC system cleaning project. 

2) NADCA strives to promote our members as the number one resource for consumers and other entities seeking air duct cleaning and/or HVAC inspection, cleaning, and restoration. The creation of the specification aligns perfectly with that goal, and creating this specification supports our commercial consumers, and goes a long way toward ensuring the highest quality service. 

3) The specification can be used by anyone tasked with developing commercial HVAC system cleaning specifications. Professionals such as engineers, architects, specifiers, and facility managers use the NADCA General Specification regularly. 

4) The NADCA General Specification is a template, and can be modified to accurately reflect each project’s requirements, and also account for any unique system variations within an individual building and/or cleaning project. 

5) Because it is written in the Construction Specification Institute’s (CSI) 3-part format, the General Specification provides a uniform standard to arrange specification text, which reduces the chance of omissions or duplication in a specification section. 

6) The General Specification includes items like administrative requirements of the project, submittals, qualifications of contractors, products to be used, and other important details to ensure the successful completion of the HVAC system cleaning project. 

7) The NADCA General Specification was created for projects performed in the U.S. Users outside of the U.S. should consult the applicable laws, standards, and regulations of their own country to ensure that the contents of the specification do not conflict with such statutes.

8) The General Specification is different than the ACR, the NADCA Standard for Assessment, Cleaning, and Restoration of HVAC systems. The ACR is the comprehensive industry standard for HVAC cleaning and restoration that’s specified for commercial projects worldwide, as well as by residential consumers who want assurances of effective air duct cleaning.

Meet Jeanne Cekala, NADCA’s Standards and Specifications Marketing Manager!

What you might not know is that NADCA has a full-time team member who’s dedicated solely to marketing the General Spec and other NADCA standards! NADCA’s very own Jeanne Cekala, Standards and Specifications Marketing Manager, is responsible for growing the number of architects, engineers, and facility managers who not only know about the ACR and General Specification but understand why they need to specify.

Why does she do this? Simple! Her work is a huge benefit for NADCA members, since every single time she gets the General Specification into the hands of an architect, engineer, or facility manager (who may not be fully aware of NADCA or our members), it can increase members' customer base. Why? Because the professionals who use the General Specification will be specifying ASCS-certified technicians and/or NADCA member companies. Jeanne's work ultimately provides our members with a significant edge over non-member companies when they’re bidding on projects!

The NADCA General Specification includes guidelines for administrative requirements, submittals, qualifications, products to use, cleaning methods, how to execute the job, equipment maintenance, and quality control. It’s a tool every engineer, architect, facility manager, and construction specifier should have handy. 

Since the General Specification is a free tool that makes their job easier, in a format they are already familiar with (CSI specification format), Jeanne often uses the free General Specification to build the foundation of her relationships with architects, engineers, and facility managers. The General Specification references ACR throughout, since it’s the standard to which ASCS-certified techs are trained and certified to clean. 

Jeanne also curates and shares content on LinkedIn, which helps her build relationships with those same architects, engineers, and facility managers. These professionals quickly learn that if they have questions about HVAC inspection, cleaning, and restoration, NADCA is their go-to resource; and they don't have to figure it out on their own. 

NADCA’s General Specification for HVAC System Cleaning in CSI 3-Part Format can be downloaded for FREE at: http://generalspec.nadca.com.

Click Here for FREE Download of NADCA’s General Specification for HVAC System Cleaning Specification
 

 

Click Here for FREE Download of the 2021 Edition of ACR, The NADCA Standard for the Assessment, Cleaning, and Restoration of HVAC Systems