The Scope Gap Index / Division 26
Division 26 · Electrical · Q3 2026
27 Division 26 packages across 23 projects, generated between 17 July and 30 September 2026 for Provision customers, ranked by how often each job got flagged. Model flags, checked by a person on fewer than one item in a hundred. Where to look, not proof.
Division 26 packages across 23 projects, 17 July to 30 September 2026
of 27 had at least one flag from Scope Agent
flags in total: 326 inferred, 347 coordination
jobs flagged in more than half the packages
Inferred means Scope Agent judged the job necessary and found no scope naming who does it. Coordination means it judged the job to sit between two trades. Neither is a confirmed omission on that project.
Ranked
Anchors and connections lead, same as most divisions. Second is hoisting: Scope Agent flagged it in 21 of 27 packages as work the documents didn’t assign. You won’t find it on an electrical checklist. Lifting a switchboard is nobody’s trade, so when the documents skip it, nobody notices until the truck arrives.
| Job flagged | Packages | Inferred | Coordination | Share flagged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchors, embeds and connections21 inferred · 21 coordination | 24 of 27 | 21 | 21 | 89% |
| Hoisting, lifting and delivery21 inferred · 0 coordination | 21 of 27 | 21 | 0 | 78% |
| Penetrations, sleeves and firestopping18 inferred · 15 coordination | 20 of 27 | 18 | 15 | 74% |
| Blocking, backing and support14 inferred · 12 coordination | 19 of 27 | 14 | 12 | 70% |
| Removal, demolition and disposal15 inferred · 7 coordination | 19 of 27 | 15 | 7 | 70% |
| Utility and service connections14 inferred · 8 coordination | 19 of 27 | 14 | 8 | 70% |
| Testing, inspection and certification15 inferred · 4 coordination | 18 of 27 | 15 | 4 | 67% |
| Temporary protection6 inferred · 10 coordination | 15 of 27 | 6 | 10 | 56% |
| Maintenance, warranty and spares14 inferred · 2 coordination | 15 of 27 | 14 | 2 | 56% |
| Sealants, flashing and waterproofing joints0 inferred · 11 coordination | 11 of 27 | 0 | 11 | 41% |
| Tolerances, joints and trade interfaces3 inferred · 8 coordination | 10 of 27 | 3 | 8 | 37% |
| Shop drawings and submittals1 inferred · 3 coordination | 4 of 27 | 1 | 3 | 15% |
| Openings, cutting and patching0 inferred · 3 coordination | 3 of 27 | 0 | 3 | 11% |
| Scaffolding, shoring and access0 inferred · 3 coordination | 3 of 27 | 0 | 3 | 11% |
| Cleaning3 inferred · 0 coordination | 3 of 27 | 3 | 0 | 11% |
“Inferred” and “coordination” count packages with that kind of flag, and a package can have both, so the two columns can add to more than the total. The generic supply-versus-install topic (24 of 27) is left out; see the method note.
Beyond the ranking
Across all 1,290 packages, inferred flags outnumber coordination flags by three to two. Electrical flips that: 347 coordination against 326 inferred. Four other divisions do the same, concrete, metals, wood and plumbing. If the flags are a fair picture, an electrical scope gets defined as much by where drywall, concrete and mechanical stop as by what’s on the E sheets.
All 21 hoisting flags were inferred and none was coordination. There’s no trade on the other side of the argument. The spec calls for the switchboard, and Scope Agent found nothing in the documents saying how it gets from the truck to the room. Two sentences in the scope close it, whether or not the flag was right on a given job.
Sealant and flashing flags appear in 11 electrical packages, and all 11 are coordination, with zero inferred. An electrical package doesn’t need caulk on its own account. It needs it where a conduit crosses the envelope the roofer or the waterproofer owns, and that’s where Scope Agent found the documents silent on whose tube it is.
The items in detail
The nine jobs flagged in more than half the packages. Check your own documents before assuming a flag is right.
Usually points at equipment pads, strut anchors into structure, conduit embeds in slabs and walls, and the final connection to mechanical, plumbing and owner-furnished equipment. The drawings show the gear and no scope says who lands the power to it or who casts the embed. Put the equipment list in the scope and name the termination point for each item.
Getting switchgear, transformers, generators and distribution panels from the truck to the electrical room. All 21 flags were inferred: the documents didn’t say who lifts it. Say whether the electrical sub carries rigging and crane time or the GC does, and when.
Sleeves through slabs and rated walls before the pour, core drilling after, and firestopping every conduit penetration. Fifteen of the 20 were coordination flags, so the line between electrical, concrete, drywall and the firestopping sub wasn’t drawn. Have the sub produce a sleeve drawing and get it signed off before every structural pour.
Backing for panels, cabinets and heavy devices on framed walls, plus support for cable tray and conduit racks. The electrical sub assumes the framer provides it. The framer assumes the opposite. Write it into both scopes.
Making safe, disconnecting and pulling out the existing electrical on renovation work, then getting rid of lamps, ballasts and old gear. Usually assumed to be the demolition sub’s, who’s priced it as the electrical sub’s.
Where the utility’s work ends and the electrical sub’s begins: service entrance, metering, the primary conduit to the pad-mount transformer. Name the boundary and say who pays the utility’s charges.
Energisation support, witness testing, arc flash and coordination studies, permits and inspection certificates. The spec requires all of it and assigns none of it. Make the reports a closeout deliverable.
Protecting installed gear, panels and roughed-in devices while other trades finish around them. Ten of the 15 were coordination flags. Everybody agrees it’s needed; the argument is over who protects whose work.
Attic stock of lamps and breakers, warranty start dates for gear energised early, and maintenance through the defects period. Almost all inferred. The spec requires it and doesn’t say who carries it.
Method
27 scope packages classified to MasterFormat Division 26, generated by Scope Agent between 17 July and 30 September 2026 on 23 of the 24 projects in the quarter’s cohort. Twenty-two carried the trade label “Electrical”. Five carried a customer-specific label that maps to the division, and four of those five sit on projects that also have a standard Electrical package. A package is one trade on one project, as it stood at quarter end, so those four projects contribute two packages each. The pairs are separate records with separate subcontractors; we didn’t check whether their scopes overlap. An item counts when Scope Agent flagged it as inferred or coordination. We grouped the items into sixteen topics by keyword, and one item can land in more than one topic.
Twenty-seven packages on 23 projects clears our 20-package threshold for publishing a division. It’s still small enough that one package moves a share by about four points, and a project with two packages can move it by eight, so treat the ranking as an order and the percentages loosely. These are Provision customers’ projects, and the numbers describe this sample only. A flag is Scope Agent’s judgment, checked by a person on fewer than one item in a hundred, so some flags will be wrong. We’ll update it every quarter.
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