"...As Required" By Whom?

​​Contributed by David Bishton

The ranks of the great overused and often misapplied phrases in architectural and engineering drawings and specifications include gems such as:
 

• Per Manufacturer’s Recommendations
• See Specs (See Drawings)
• See Structural (See Mechanical, See Electrical, See Architectural, see almost anything else except if it’s incorrect or missing or not coordinated – then see here)
• Field Verify
• Or Equal
• Comply with Geotechnical Report
• Every material and procedure expressed passively using the phrase “shall be…” See the response you get when you tell your kids, “This room shall be cleaned to a professional level.” Or better yet in Yoda-speak, “Cleaned to a professional level this room shall be.” Less doubt when you say, “Clean this room and I’m going to inspect it in one hour!”

To this list we must add the ubiquitous and often redundant phrase “…as required.” A further aside on instructions to kids: “Clean this room as required“ may lead to somewhat unsatisfactory results.
 
Many times I have reflected on the possibility, after wrestling through a problem in the field, that one extra phrase or even a word added to a drawing note or specification might have prevented the problem from occurring. The phrase “as required” has never been associated with such reflection. Musing in my previous chapter, I wondered if a slightly longer version such as “…AS REQUIRED BY ANY SANE PERSON WITH HALF A BRAIN THAT OBSERVES THIS CONDITION” would be more helpful. Recently I began to wonder which other technical/scientific fields or even everyday endeavors regularly use this term with success when providing instructions.
 
What if this term was used regularly in cookbooks? You’d list all the ingredients like 2 oz. vodka, 1 oz. melon liqueur, pineapple juice to taste…wait a minute, that’s the recipe for a Pearl Harbor. What else do you need after you have the ingredients – ice and a glass? Let’s try something more complicated. Say it’s an extra special dinner to impress your family at a holiday. Something liked the filling needed for a Stuffed Boar’s Head. You have your 2 lbs. cooked ground pork sausage, 7 cups boiled long grain rice, 5 tbsp. melted butter, 2 cups chopped onion, 1 lb. coarsely chopped walnuts, and on and on. After all that work the last thing you want to see is “Boil boar’s head in a large stockpot, scoop out head meat, stuff and bake as required.” Or even less “Prepare and cook per manufacturer’s instructions.” And yes, the full recipe actually exists in Joy of Cooking. I’ve never tried it.

OK, that was extreme. Let’s move on to open heart surgery. One of the last instructions in the textbook is to “Attach all disconnected plumbing lines to each chamber of the heart as required.” Perhaps with a closing instruction to “Field verify life of patient and provide a test and balance report.”
 
I know, rocket science: “13, we have one more item for you when you get a chance. We’d like you to stir up your cryo tanks as required.” OK, the last 2 words were not in there but were certainly implied. Soon to be followed by “OK Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Or imagine a short specification to “Visually inspect O-rings on external fuel tank as required prior to launch.” Do you think that spec eventually got expanded a bit? Perhaps you’re a weapons manufacturer following the specification, “Connect fissile material to primary detonator as required to ensure full thermonuclear explosion.”
 
Finally an example in the spirit of election year politics and effective congressional bill writing. After 97 pages of whereas, wherefore, be it enacted, and the honorable representative from the great state of…you get to the heart of the legislation. 569 more pages of specific provisions, enforcements, penalties, oversight, and reporting. And finally the catch-all “Comply with the Constitution of the United States of America as required.” Only 666 pages.
 
So maybe the instruction “Install surface mounted accessories using expansion anchors as required for gypsum drywall or masonry substrates” does not need more detailed explanation for your toilet tissue dispensers. But most times that you want to use just these 2 words with no other modifier or condition, you might at least consider:
 

• How important is the topic to which you are liberally applying this phrase? Is it one that carries high risk of failure or liability exposure?
• Have you ever seen or read about a ridiculously wrong work result with this product or its installation?
• Do you absolutely trust that anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of craft can understand what “as required” might mean for a particular topic?
• Is your “as required” statement a specific instruction, or does it leave on the table a lot of unknown options? Some of which you might really care about if the wrong option is picked by the installer.
• Are you prepared to answer the question, “As required by what? It works fine!”

I believe it’s now time to “combine all ingredients with ice, stir or shake as required, and enjoy.