by Hana Nguyenky, AIA
As of March 2026, CSI has changed its licensing structure and method of access for all its specification formats. These formats include OmniClass, UniFormat, MasterFormat, and SectionFormat. The fee structure is currently advertised as a firm-wide subscription-based license, where the cost will depend on annual firm revenue. Previously, licenses to use any formats were issued to the individual. Those previously issued licenses for digital and printed copies of the formats will remain active, and individuals will be held to the licensing user agreements they accepted during their purchase. Anyone who wishes to use the previous formats may continue to do so without changing their license. If their specifications are monetized and used by others without a license, then a new license will be required of those users.
If you currently outsource specifications writing to a third-party firm, you still must have a license if you use the specifications as a deliverable within a project manual or referenced on the drawings. If you utilize a third-party platform to write your project specs, you must also have a license to export, share templates, and submit as a deliverable. This is in addition to the software platform having their own agreements to use the formats within their products.
For more information, visit https://www.csiresources.org/standards/cds-faq. There are additional links provided at the bottom of that webpage.
To learn more about the new method of access to the formats, visit https://theconstructionstandard.com/.
Please email CSI for questions about their formats at csi@csinet.org and email CDS for questions with specific use cases at info@theconstructionstandard.com.