Learn Spec Scout
What Scout is, how a read works, the trades it reads, and how to get the most from every branded read.
What Spec Scout is
Spec Scout reads a bid from your position— the manufacturer, rep, or distributor whose product could get spec’d into it — and turns a 200-plus-page bid package into a short, branded read your rep can act on. It’s built for the supply side: the people whose products get named in someone else’s spec, not the operators bidding the work.
Scout surfaces what the bid states: where you’re spec’d, what the spec requires for your lane, and the bid’s own substitution process. It never decides whether a swap counts as a valid approved-equal — that call belongs to your rep and your manufacturer, the experts on your own brand. Scout hands them what to judge from, never the judgment itself.
How a read works
1 · Choose Scout’s mission
Pick the trade lane(s) you’re scouting — the lanes below are live today, and more open as we validate them against real bids. If your plan holds exactly one lane, there’s no picker to work through — Scout already knows your mission.
2 · Upload the bid
The project manual or plan set — PDF or XLSX, one file or several. Up to 300MB total for everything in a read, and up to 200MB for any single file.
3 · Scout reads it
About a minute for a single project manual; a larger, multi-document bid set takes longer. You can leave the page — the read keeps running and lands in Your scans when it’s done.
4 · Read what comes back
Where you’re spec’d and your posture — named basis-of-design, or the door’s still open — the spec for your lane, the substitution process exactly as the bid states it, a forwardable brief your rep can send as-is, and a rep-side worksheet. A certified-catalog engagement additionally scores each item against your catalog — spec’d, eligible-equal, restricted, or lost; without one, the worksheet reads the bid honestly and stops short of any eligibility call.
5 · What it costs you
Each read draws against your plan’s included reads for the month. Extra reads and additional lanes are add-ons — see Pricing.
The trade lanes
A lane is the trade Scout reads a bid from — your position in the spec. Each lane reads its own products and leaves the rest of the bid alone.
Hardscapes
LivePavers, walls, slabs, edging, steps — where you’re spec’d and how to get in.
Unit pavers · Paving slabs · Retaining-wall units · Edge restraints · Steps & treads
Surfacing
LiveEngineered quartz and solid surfacing — the spec read for your slabs.
Countertops & surfacing
Commercial Lighting
LiveExterior & architectural luminaires — bollards, area/post-top, floods, in-grade, wall, poles.
Exterior luminaires
Irrigation
LiveHeads, rotors, nozzles, valves, controllers and sensors — where you're spec'd in the system.
Irrigation equipment
Coming as we validate each against real bids:
Erosion Control
Coming soonRECPs, TRMs, geotextiles — the property profile your product must meet.
Growers / Plant Material
Coming soonThe plant schedule, matched to what you grow.
Every lane reads only its own trade and leaves the rest of the bid alone. Scout surfaces the spec and the bid’s stated substitution path for your lane — it never renders an approved-equal verdict; that call stays with your rep and your manufacturer.
Tips & tricks
Scope a large bid before you upload
Upload the documents that matter: the project manual, the Division 01 substitution procedures (§01 25 00), and your trade’s section. A full plan set reads fine too, but a scoped upload reads faster and stays cheap. The roster is often one document over from the spec — if a manufacturer you expected is missing, check whether the addenda or the drawing set made it into the upload.
Read the Sales intel tab first
Every read carries a Sales intel tab: your posture (Defend the spec, or Substitution opening), the people on the project, and the named manufacturers in your lane. It’s for your rep’s eyes only — it never rides the brief you forward.
Check the Accuracy report before you forward
It shows how each claim in the read is sourced — cited to a page and section, stated without a locator, or not stated at all. A read with a lot of “not stated” usually means the upload was scoped too narrow, not that Scout missed something.
When to forward vs. refine
A clean, well-cited read is ready to forward as-is. If the Accuracy report comes back thin, run a new read that includes the document you left out — that’s a fresh upload, not a fix to the one you have. (If a read fails outright while you’re still on its page, one click retries it and keeps your upload — no re-upload needed there.)
Questions
Does Scout ever tell me a product qualifies as an approved equal?
No. Scout surfaces the spec’s requirements and the bid’s own substitution process — the form, the deadline, the authority. Whether a product is a valid substitute is your call and your manufacturer’s; you’re the experts on your own brand.
How do lanes and seats work?
A lane is a trade — Hardscapes, Surfacing, Commercial Lighting, Irrigation, and more opening over time. Your plan includes one or more lanes; add more from Account › Lanes as they open for you. A seat is a person on your team who runs reads — add seats as your team grows.
What happens to what I upload?
Your workspace’s uploads and reads are fenced to your workspace — never blended with another client’s, on the supply side or the operator side. See Product terms for the full detail.
My trade isn’t live yet — can you add it?
Coming-soon trades open when real demand shows up for them — a lane validated against a real bid, not a guess. Tell us your trade and we’ll factor it into what opens next.
Ready to see a read for your trade? Request access.