All-Spec Roof Consulting

Style Guide
Western Canadian Edition

Version 1.0.2010
Victoria Melvin
Michelle Waggoner
All-Spec Roof Consulting – Style Guide 2010

All-Spec Roof Consulting

Style Guide for Western Canada

Version 1.0.2010

Victoria Melvin - Publisher

Michelle Waggoner – Company Stylist

Permission is required from the All-Spec Roof Consulting© CEO in order to make
modifications and amendments to this publication.

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Publication History

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Printed October 2010

Document Amendment

None to date

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About This Document

Produced for employees and hired contractors of All Spec Roof Consulting Inc©. (All-
Spec) this style guide is meant to ensure clear and effective communication within all
corporate documents meant for internal or external viewing.

All-Spec is aware that a lot of documents produced by us, for companies we are
subcontracting for, may have to adhere to the contract owner’s style guide instead of our
own. When there is no style guide for a contract owner All-Spec Style Guide should be
used.

If you are unsure what style guide needs to be used as a resource please Email and for
further clarification on the style guide rules please send an email to
Info@AllSpecRC.com

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Scope of this Document

To insist on uniformity a copy of this document will be available online as well as a hard
copy at headquarters. Copies can be made at request.

Employees or hired contractors are to adhere to this style guide when generating the
following All-Spec documents:

• Email • Invoices

• Inspection/Condition Reports • Monthly and annual reports

• All-Spec user guides (processes and • Employee conduct policies

procedures)

• Internal and external letters • Marketing materials

At All-Spec, we strive to maintain uniformity, professionalism and structure. The quality

of our documents ensures accuracy in our inspections and our communications.

Applicability of revisions

All-Spec is in the continual process of expanding. This may lead to unexpected necessary
changes to the style guide. If there is an adjustment that needs to be made or an
additional content you think may need to be contributed, please Email
Info@AllSpecRC.com

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All-Spec Roof Consulting .................................................................................................... ii

Style Guide for Western Canada ................................................................................................. ii

Publication History ............................................................................................................ iii

Document Amendment...................................................................................................... iii

About This Document ........................................................................................................ iv

Scope of this Document................................................................................................................v

Applicability of revisions ..............................................................................................................v

Section 1: Writing Conventions........................................................................................... 9

Reference Guides........................................................................................................................10

Dictionary: .........................................................................................................................10

Grammar and Punctuation Guide: ....................................................................................10

Spelling ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Spell Check:........................................................................................................................ 11

Roofing Terms ................................................................................................................... 11

Grammar ....................................................................................................................................12

General language ........................................................................................................................12

Emphasis: ..........................................................................................................................12

Jargon, Tone and Tense:....................................................................................................12

Abbreviations: .................................................................................................................... 13

Capitalization: .................................................................................................................... 13

Naming Conventions ..................................................................................................................14

Commercial: .......................................................................................................................14

Residential: ........................................................................................................................14

Lists ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Numbered Lists: ................................................................................................................ 15

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Bulleted Lists: .................................................................................................................... 15

Other Conventions .....................................................................................................................16

Dates: .................................................................................................................................16

Email address: ...................................................................................................................16

Hyperlinks: ........................................................................................................................16

Section 2: Number Conventions ........................................................................................ 17

Numbers: ....................................................................................................................................18

Normal Conventions: .........................................................................................................18

Longer than Three Digits: ..................................................................................................18

Over a Million: ...................................................................................................................18

Ordinal Numbers: ..............................................................................................................18

Plurals: ...............................................................................................................................18

Monetary:...........................................................................................................................18

Section 3: Design Conventions ........................................................................................... 19

General Document Design: ....................................................................................................... 20

Colour: .............................................................................................................................. 20

Logo Usage:........................................................................................................................21

Letterhead Usage: ............................................................................................................. 22

Header and Footer: ........................................................................................................... 22

Within Document: ..................................................................................................................... 23

Text Hierarchy: ................................................................................................................. 23

Labels: ............................................................................................................................... 23

Attention Box: ................................................................................................................... 23

Example: ........................................................................................................................... 24

Pictures: ............................................................................................................................ 24

Graphs and Other Figures: ............................................................................................... 24

Help Identifiers:................................................................................................................ 25
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Notes: ................................................................................................................................ 25

Revision Bars: ................................................................................................................... 25

Tables: ............................................................................................................................... 26

Section 4: Document Release and Control ..................................................................... 27

Release and Control: ................................................................................................................. 28

Version Format: ................................................................................................................ 28

Revision Indicators: .......................................................................................................... 29

Distribution: ..................................................................................................................... 29

Archiving ........................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix i: Procedure......................................................................................................... 30

Appendix ii: Process ............................................................................................................ 32

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Section 1: Writing Conventions

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Reference Guides

Dictionary:
Canadian Oxford Dictionary of Current English; Katherine Barber, Trade Paperback,
Oxford University Press; March 2005.

Words that are roofing related and may not have dictionary standard meaning may be
found in the ARCA’s (Alberta Roofing Contractor’s Association) Roofing Application
Standard Manual. This manual can be found online at:
http://arcaonline.ca/html/roofing-application-standard-manual.php
or at All-Spec head quarters.

Grammar and Punctuation Guide:

Canadian A to Z of Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation; Katherine Barber, Trade
Paperback, Oxford University Press; February 2006.

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Spelling

At All-Spec all communications are spelt in Canadian English.

Ex. Colour, Favourite, Theatre, and Centre.

Spell Check:
Spell check is not an exact science and therefore all documents should be proofread for
correct Canadian spelling and grammar.

Roofing Terms:
There are also terms that are roofing specific that some spell check programs may deem
incorrect. Please see the ARCA Roofing Application Standard Manual. This manual can
be found online at: http://arcaonline.ca/html/roofing-application-standard-manual.php
or at All-Spec head quarters.

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Grammar
Grammar is very important in All-Spec documents to ensure understanding for the client,
employees, and hired contractors. When dealing with Emails, invoices, user guides
(processes and procedures), Employee conduct policies, internal and external letters,
and marketing materials it is important to have full grammar rules applied.

For conditional, initial and interim reports it is not always necessary to have complete
sentences, fragmented sentences are acceptable if they are coherent. As well picture
captions do not need complete sentences.

General language

Emphasis:
When an emphasis is needed in an inspection (conditional, initial or interim) report it
should be bolded. (Unless otherwise noted in this Style Guide or by the client).
When an emphasis is needed in either internal or external emphasis should be in italics.
Emphasis must never be underlined and must always be used sparingly.

Jargon, Tone and Tense:

Jargon is acceptable in all reports, internal emails/letters, and user guides. Jargon is not
acceptable in external emails/letters, monthly or annual reports, or marketing materials.

For reports the tone is professional and impersonal, when necessary to include the
inspector in the report it should be done in third person.

Ex. The inspector noted that several of the roofing contractors were removing
non- related garbage from the site.

Past tense should be applied to all reports. All other documents may have different
tenses; however the tenses should be the same within the same document or document.

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Abbreviations:
Industry standard abbreviations (i.e. ARCA, RRO, AI, etc.) require a note of explanation
after the first use in external documents (internal documents and reports may require no
such explanation).

Some words in reports may also be abbreviated to shorten the notes within.

Ex. Approx.,

Capitalization:
Capital letters are to be used at the beginning of every sentence and when correct.
Significant roofing terms may also be capitalized:

Ex. Roof Areas,

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Naming Conventions

Commercial:
All names in Commercial reports should be formatted as:
First Name Last Name comma Credentials
If there is more than one credential that should be added with a comma in between.

Ex. Patrick Baitson, RRO, ARCA:AI

Residential:
All names in Residential reports should be formatted as:
Mr., Mrs., Ms., First Name Last Name
Unless the home owner has otherwise stated.

Ex. Mr. Raul Johnston

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Lists
Numbered Lists:
Numbered lists should be used in inspection reports to denote different points being
made, in the order that they were seen. Numbered lists should consist of one point each
numeral and related points may be added with bulleted lists. They may also be used in
procedures or process if necessary. Numbers should be followed by left bracket.

Ex.

1) The roofing contractor made several adjustments to the metal flashing

2) The roofing contractor has made plans to patch leak on roof area A

Bulleted Lists:
Bulleted lists should only be comprised of a maximum of 9 points and be with a current
numbered list. There should be only one type of bullet as there should be no more than
two bulleted levels. Bullets should look like following:

Ex.
1. The roofing contractor made several adjustments to the metal flashing

• The metal flashing was adhered to the front structure in Roof Area C.

• The metal flashing was replaced on Roof Area B.

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Other Conventions

Dates:
Dates are to be written in the month-day-year format. The month is written in short
hand and the date is always in numbers. The year may be condensed to the last two
numbers on intern. Cardinal number format should be made on emails and other
communications.

Ex. Aug. 3 /10 or

Aug. 3rd 2010 or

Email address:
When placing an All-Spec Email into a document different words should be capitalized.
Emails should also be underlined and made blue if available.

Ex. Info@AllSpecRC.com or PBaitson@AllSpecRC.com

Hyperlinks:
When a hyperlink or link needs to be placed in a document or online it needs to be on the
beginning of a line, it may be aligned to the connected text. The link does not have to
include the full address. Only the All- Spec websites need capitalization in the link. These
addresses if available should be made blue and underlined. These links shall turn purple
when clicked as the normal standard.

Ex. www.AllSpecRC.com or www.weathernetwork.com

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Section 2: Number Conventions

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Numbers:
Normal Conventions:
All numbers will be written in numeral form.

Ex. 1 , 30, 65, 8,

Longer than Three Digits:

If numbers are longer than three digits, then a comma will be used after every third
number from the right.

Ex. 3,665

Over a Million:
If numbers are over a million expressed as a decimal followed by the word million
with the M capitalized. If numbers need to be ordinal, they are still in numeral form
with the ordinal suffix in superscript.

Ex. 1.6 Million

Ordinal Numbers:
If numbers need to be ordinal, they are still in numeral form with the ordinal suffix
in superscript.

Ex. 6th

Plurals:
Indicate the plural of numerals by adding s with no apostrophe.

Ex. 1960s

Monetary:
When making an invoice monetary amounts should be shown as 180.00. Only the first
line of the Invoice will have the $ sign.

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Section 3: Design Conventions

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General Document Design:

Colour:
There are specific colours used by All-Spec within documents and advertisements. The
colours are limited to make the documents recognizable. No other colours may be used.

Firebrick #E42217

Firebrick 2 #C11B17

Black #000000

Asphalt Grey #736F6E

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Logo Usage:

The All-Spec logo uses the colours: Firebrick, Firebrick 2, Black, and Asphalt Grey. It is
placed in the top left-hand corner of communication documents and invoices, and in the
middle of a report or documents front page.

Front Page Cover Page

The logo may only be used by All-Spec for recognition and copywriting. Do not attempt
to remake the logo, as it is already made and ready for use. If you have comments about
the logo please email Info@AllSpecRC.com

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Letterhead Usage:

The letterhead is used at the top of inspection/condition reports, invoices, processes and
procedures and internal/external letters. It is saved as an image for easy mobility, and
accuracy while creating one of the previously stated documents.

Header and Footer:

On most documents the heading will be the All-Spec letterhead as seen above. Internal
documents that will be used for formal training purposes will have the heading as shown
on this style guide.

Footer on reports should include inspector name, and inspector signature.

Footer on other documents should just have page number, unless a version is specified
nothing else needed to be included.

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Within Document:
Text Hierarchy:
When creating a title, subtitle, and text, certain fonts and colours are used. Use the
following guidelines to choosing the correct options. This is also the order in which the
text will be placed.

Heading – Georgia, 14 pt, Black, Bold

Heading 2 – Adobe Garamond Pro, 18 pt, Firebrick, Bold

Heading 3 – Adobe Garamond Pro, 14 pt, Black, Bold

Normal – Georgia, 11pt, Black

Labels:
All information contained in a document will have a label to notify the reader what the
information is about. The label should ensure that the reader is clear on the information.
To ensure clarity, the label must be concise. Avoid long sentences and words that some
may not understand.

The label will regularly begin in the same format as a title. If there are multiple labels for
information, follow in order of Heading, Heading 2, and then Title.

Attention Box:
The attention boxes should be bold to attract the reader. The information within the box
must be relevant and clear.

Create the box with a 1 pt. black line, and a fill colour of Firebrick. The text within the
box will be Georgia, 11 pt., and black.

Ex.
This is an attention box. Inside this
box there will be information that is
relevant to the topic being discussed.
The information will be important. Be
sure to take note.

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Example:
All examples made within an All-Spec document will be written on a new indented
paragraph. The example must be written in Georgia, 11pt., black. Use the word “Ex.” with
a period after. Include the example after “Ex.”.

Ex. This is an example.

When an example is in text and does not need to be emphasized it may be i.e and the
example enclosed in a set of brackets

Ex. (i.e. ARCA, RRO, AI, etc.)

Pictures:
Pictures for reports will be centered and have a caption directly below also centre aligned.
Bold the picture’s number ending with a colon, content should not be bolded. These
pictures must be numbered and identified if necessary by roof area. Use Georgia, 11pt.,
black. Make sure the figure is clearly identifiable.

Graphs and Other Figures:

For other figures align the figure centre of the page. Bold the word “Figure” and the
number of figure it is, ending with a colon. Place the image, chart, or graph. Use Georgia,
11pt., black. Make sure the figure is clearly identifiable. Do not wrap the text around the
figure. This will add clutter to the page making it unappealing to the reader.

3500
3000
2500
2000 West Can
1500
1000 East Can
500 International
0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Qtr Qtr Qtr Qtr

Figure 1.3: Amount of income from different areas in 4 Quarters.

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Help Identifiers:
A help text box should be bold to attract the reader. The information within the box must
be relevant and clear so the reader is able to understand how to solve the issue.

Create the box with a 1 pt. black line. The box does not need a fill. The text within the box
will be Georgia, 11 pt., and Firebrick.

Ex.
This is a help box. Inside this
box there will be information
that will assist when a
problem arises.

Notes:
When information needs to be noted after a paragraph, add a space between the
paragraph and note. Italicize the word “Note” and type a semi colon afterwards. Use
Georgia, 11pt., Firebrick. This is should never be used in reports, but can be used in
other documentation.

Ex. Note: Invoices are sent week after completion and payment is due upon
receipt.

Revision Bars:
Changes need to be made to documents frequently to keep them up to date. When
revising a document, place the text that needs to be changed a space below the original
text. Put the revised version of the text in quotation marks. Use Georgia, 11pt, firebrick.
All changes must be submitted to the All-Spec head quarters for approval.

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Tables:
Create the table with a 0.5pt thickness for the lines. The text inside the table must be
Georgia, 11pt, black. Bold the titles. Use Asphalt Grey for top cells, and cells including the
line total. Place the table in the centre of the page, and a space after previous text.

Ex.

Quantity Descriptive Unit Price Line Total

1.00 Catheral Manor estates $ 80.00 $ 80.00

1.00 Calgary South Toyota $ 80.00 $ 80.00

6.00 CHCP Expansion $ 80.00 $ 480.00

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Section 4: Document Release and

Control

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Release and Control:

The All-spec headquarters is located in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. Documents will be
edited, reviewed and stored at this location. If a revision needs to be made, it should be
sent to the headquarters.

The headquarters will be notified of all alerts before action will occur. Necessary actions
will be communicated by head office.

Version Format:
All version numbers must be unique to create easy understanding of which version the
most is updated. The version numbers must follow a specific order. The original version
number of this document looks like “Version 1.0.2010 “.

When a large change is made the first number will increase.

Ex. Version 2.0.2010

When a small change is made the second number will increase.

Ex. Version 2.1.2010

The last number is what year the change has been made.

Ex. Version 5.4.2011

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Revision Indicators:
If there is a change that is necessary to be made Email the headquarters
Info@AllSpecRC.com

Note: All colour changes will be made by the head office.

If there is a document with proper changes made to it, drop-in or mail to the head office.

Address:
52 Ravenslea Crescent SE
Airdrie, AB
T4A 0H3

Telephone: 403.980.8817

Fax:403.980.8976

Distribution:
The distribution of documents will depend on what is available to the receiving
participant. All copies will be kept at the head office. Documents will be sent via Email. If
Email is not available to the participant the document will be mailed to their preferred
address.

Archiving
All documents will be stored at the head office located in Airdrie.

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Appendix i: Procedure

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Title [Georgia, Reg, Black, 28pt]

Summary [Adobe Garamond Pro, Reg, Red, 18pt]

Please add the following if relevant:

Warning, difficulty level, materials, required equipment, diagrams, pictures,
[Georgia, Reg, Black, 11 pt]

Step Actions: [Georgia, Reg, Black, 11 pt]

1) Step

• Sub notes

2) Step

• Sub notes

3) Step

• Sub notes

Comments: [Georgia, Reg, Black, 11 pt]

[comments will be hand written]

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Appendix ii: Process

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Title [Georgia, Reg, Black, 28 pt]

Introduction [Adobe Garamond Pro, Reg, Red, 18pt]

Flow Chart [Georgia, Reg, Black, 11pt]

Label
Intro into step

1) Step

• Sub notes

2) Step

• Sub notes

3) Step

• Sub notes

Help Block

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