I can totally believe you are still hand drawing. Many professionals still are – in fact, I think it sells better. That being said, you simply cannot beat the production power of CAD programs. I believe the time saver standards concise would be useful even to someone who only does hand drawings.
If you need to write really detailed specs, you can use Massachusetts’ Department of Transportation’s spec book as a template for most things. Just copy, paste, then tailor the specs to your needs. CSI is obviously available, but you’re going to pay for it unfortunately. I find DOT specs to be very easy to work with as you can learn their typology, and use it to call out structural components such as footings. Engineers will love you for this. Here is a link to the specs: Look at section 7 (700) Incidental work – around page 127 of the PDF. This should include state standards of landscapey type installs. Best part? ITS FREE! https://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/8/docs/88specs/division2.pdf
Now as far as the drawings are concerned, I would definitely make use of the Time Savers. Worth EVERY penny.
