6.1 Division 01 General Requirements and Temporary Facilities
Key Takeaways
- Division 01 General Requirements covers project-wide General Conditions costs that must be priced into every bid.
- Markup is a percent of cost; margin is a percent of price — use Price = Cost ÷ (1 − margin) for a target margin.
- A 20% markup on cost yields only a 16.7% margin; mixing the two is a frequent exam trap.
- OSHA 1926.51 sets sanitation minimums: one toilet for 20 or fewer workers, marked potable water, no common cup.
- Temporary power follows NEC Article 590 and requires GFCI protection per 1926.404(b)(1).
Division 01 General Requirements and Temporary Facilities
Division 01 of the CSI MasterFormat is where the general contractor's overhead, coordination, and project-wide obligations live. On the NASCLA Accredited Commercial General Building Contractor exam these costs are tested as General Conditions — expenses that benefit the whole job, not a single trade. Examples: site supervision, the field office, temporary power, dumpsters, cleanup, surveys, and the project schedule. They are real, recoverable costs that must appear in the bid.
What lives in Division 01
Key subdivisions you should recognize on the exam:
| Section | Title | Typical content |
|---|---|---|
| 01 10 00 | Summary | Work scope, phasing, owner-occupied areas |
| 01 20 00 | Price and Payment | Allowances, schedule of values, applications for payment |
| 01 30 00 | Administrative | RFIs, submittals, coordination, meetings |
| 01 50 00 | Temporary Facilities | Power, water, sanitation, fencing, hoists |
| 01 70 00 | Execution and Closeout | Cleaning, punch list, record documents, warranties |
The Schedule of Values in 01 20 00 breaks the contract sum into line items so the architect can verify each monthly Application for Payment (typically AIA G702/G703).
Markup versus margin (a recurring trap)
Candidates routinely confuse markup with margin. Markup is a percentage added to cost; margin is profit expressed as a percentage of the selling price.
- Markup % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost
- Margin % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price
Worked example: cost = $100,000, you want a 20% margin. Do not multiply by 1.20. Instead divide: Price = Cost ÷ (1 − margin) = $100,000 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = $100,000 ÷ 0.80 = $125,000. The required markup is therefore 25%, not 20%. Marking up cost by 20% yields only a 16.7% margin — the classic exam trap.
Temporary facilities and OSHA sanitation
Temporary facilities are governed by both the contract and OSHA 29 CFR 1926. Key field-office obligations:
- Toilets — 1926.51(c): provide one toilet for 20 or fewer workers; one toilet seat and one urinal per 40 workers above that.
- Potable water — 1926.51(a): clearly marked; single-use cups; no common drinking cup.
- Temporary power — must follow NEC Article 590 and use Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) protection per 1926.404(b)(1).
- Housekeeping — 1926.25: scrap, forms with protruding nails, and debris removed regularly.
These are flat General Conditions costs, so they are usually estimated by duration (per month) rather than by unit of work.
A subcontractor's hard cost is $80,000 and the GC wants a 25% gross margin on the line item. What is the correct selling price?
Under OSHA 29 CFR 1926.51, how many toilets are required on a site with 20 or fewer workers?
What Division 01 Covers
CSI Division 01 General Requirements sets the administrative and procedural rules that apply to all trade sections: summary of work, price and payment procedures (schedule of values, applications for payment), administrative requirements (RFIs, submittals, meetings), quality requirements, temporary facilities and controls, product requirements, execution, and closeout. When a trade section conflicts with Division 01, Division 01's general procedures usually govern the process while the trade section governs the product.
Temporary Facilities and Controls
Temporary facilities include the job trailer, temporary power and lighting, water, sanitation (portable toilets), fencing/security, dust and erosion controls, and signage. These are typically the contractor's responsibility and cost, recovered in general conditions/job overhead (Ch. 3). Plan the site logistics — laydown areas, crane and delivery access, worker parking — early, because poor logistics inflate labor cost. Temporary controls also include stormwater (SWPPP) measures tied to the EPA/NPDES permit.
Mobilization, Meetings, and Coordination
Mobilization is the first activity: moving equipment, establishing the field office and utilities, and setting controls before production work. A preconstruction conference aligns owner, designer, and contractor on procedures; regular progress meetings track schedule and resolve coordination. Division 01 also requires the contractor to coordinate the trades so work installs in the correct sequence — a recurring exam theme is who owns coordination (the GC, not the owner or designer).
Common Exam Traps
- Trap: Temporary facilities are the owner's cost. They are usually the contractor's, in general conditions.
- Trap: A trade section overrides Division 01 procedures. Division 01 governs the process site-wide.
- Trap: The architect coordinates the trades. The GC coordinates construction means/methods and sequence.
- Trap: Skipping the preconstruction conference and SWPPP setup before mobilizing.
Worked Scenario — Recovering General Conditions
Scenario: A 12-month job carries $30,000/month of general conditions (trailer, super, temp power, toilets, fencing). Total time-related GCs = 12 × $30,000 = $360,000, recovered through the schedule of values as a separate line and billed monthly. The exam point: if the schedule slips two months due to an owner delay, the contractor may claim extended general conditions of 2 × $30,000 = $60,000 — a time-impact cost that fixed-price trade work does not capture.
On most projects, who bears the cost of temporary facilities such as the job trailer, temporary power, and portable toilets?
Substitutions, Allowances, and Cash Flow Tie-Ins
Division 01 governs product substitutions — a contractor proposing an "or-equal" must submit data proving the substitute meets the specified performance, and the architect rules before purchase. It also houses allowances and unit prices (Ch. 3) and the measurement-and-payment rules. Because the schedule of values and applications for payment live here, Division 01 is where the project's cash flow is administered: a clean, accurate SOV speeds approvals, while an unbalanced or front-loaded one invites the architect to reject the pay application until corrected.