Standards?

For the last few months I have been working on the development of Design Standards for a Northeastern College.  While there is no denying the satisfaction of the work, I am intrigued by the lack of consistency from place to place of such documents.

In preparing for this series of documents, not only did I have my own work to recall; but there were any number of accessible precedents for this work.  No two were alike, or even similar in format.  How very odd.

The Construction Specifications Institute has format examples, and MasterSpec will guide you through a specification writing procedure (selling you their proprietary software to make this happen); but neither are on-target for the sort of guideline that good owners should have documenting their facilities expectations.

I suppose I shouldn't be too upset by this, since it presents a vacuum for my consulting practice to fill.  Good for me, and good for those who hire me.  But I have this vague sense that I'm missing something.  Comment, please, if you think I've missed the point.  Set me straight.  Thanks!