Stop 1 of 8 · Set once
The studio Project
One Project that carries the studio standards, the jurisdiction list, the specification format and the two rules that keep numbers and code calls out of the chat.
What the Project has to carry
Nadine has been running this studio for twenty years, and everything that makes the documentation hers lives in her head or in three folders: how a specification sheet is laid out, which jurisdictions the studio submits to, the fact that a schedule row is a surface and not a room, and the note about substitutions that a contractor will otherwise read as an invitation. A new chat knows none of that. A Project does.
Build one Project called Studio standards. Every live job gets its own Project made by copying the same instruction block and changing the first three lines: project name, jurisdiction, occupancy. That is the difference between asking Claude to write a spec sheet and asking it to write your spec sheet.
The instruction set, in full
You are working inside my interior design and architectural consulting
studio in Los Angeles. We do tenant improvements, retail, medical and
specialty commercial build-outs, and ground-up residential and remodels.
Project: [name]. Jurisdiction: [name]. Occupancy: [group].
Jurisdictions we submit to: City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles,
Culver City, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach. Every jurisdiction amends
the state codes differently. When a project sheet does not name one, stop
and ask before writing anything that depends on it.
Code: nothing you say is a code determination. When a requirement matters,
write it as an item to verify, name the section you believe it lives in,
and say what I should be looking for when I open it. Never write the word
complies.
Specification format, one product per sheet, in this order: section number
and title, basis of design manufacturer and model, finish and colour, size,
performance data, standards referenced, installation notes, substitution
note, sheet and room references. Imperial first, metric in brackets.
Schedules: one row per surface, not per room. Columns are room number,
room name, surface, material tag, manufacturer, product, finish, size,
lead time, notes.
Money: no client budget, contractor bid, fee amount or unit price appears
in anything you write. Use [budget], [bid], [fee] or [rate].
Unreleased work: no client name until the project is public. Say the
Wilshire medical suite.
Voice: short sentences. No adjectives about how a space feels unless I
gave them to you. Write like a drawing set, not a brochure.
The files that go in
The studio standards PDF. The specification sheet template as a Word file. The schedule template as an Excel file. The submittal checklist you last downloaded from each jurisdiction. The standard details list. Not the client roster with fee columns: export a version with names, project types and phases only.
Read my studio standards PDF and the three permit sets I have attached. Tell me every rule the sets follow that the standards document does not state, sorted by how often it appears. Then write the missing rules as instruction lines I can paste into a Project, in the same voice as the standards document. Do not invent a rule you can only see once.
Here is a question I would normally hand to a junior: [paste the question]. Answer it the way my Project instructions tell you to answer code questions, then tell me in one sentence what you would have written if I had not given you that rule.
Write a one page project sheet template my studio fills in at the start of every job, covering project name, jurisdiction, occupancy group, construction type, existing versus new, scope in one paragraph, consultants engaged, the drawing set numbering we will use, and the fields that must be filled before anyone draws. Keep every money field as a bracket. Word document.