Importance of Drawing in the Construction Project
4 min readConstruction Drawings are drawings or graphical representations used by the builder or an architect to convey their ideas visually. It includes not just drawings but also measurements, specifications and orientation of different components that make up a construction project.
What are the kinds of drawings used in a Construction Project?
Many sorts of drawings make up an integral part of the construction plans because all the various aspects cannot be included in one drawing itself. Plus different professionals would require different layouts and details to work on their side of the project. The common types of Construction drawings are:
Elevation Drawings – These drawings are flat renderings of one side or aspect of the building as if they were being viewed from one angle directly. E.g.: The elevation drawing of a sloped roof looked at directly in a drawing might just look like a rectangle. However, these drawings are important to visualize and get a perspective of how each component looks like individually.
Floor Plans – These construction drawings make a blueprint of each floor, giving the dimensions and relation of each room, staircase, walls, closets, kitchen, alcoves etc to each other.
Sections – These drawings give you a view of how a certain part or component of the building would look like if it were sliced through, either cross-section or a vertical section. This gives an idea of the material used, the hollowness, or the fittings that can be inserted.
Details – when the smaller details of the larger picture need to be provided, Detail construction drawings are used. The scale of the blueprint is increased while labels and sections may also be added. These drawings can be focused on just the foundation, the window frames, stairs walls, columns etc.
Other construction drawings are also made by project teams that handle the additional construction and design sectors. These include Plumbing Drawings, Electrical Drawings, Fire Safety Drawings, HVAC (heating and ventilation) drawings. All of these serve specific purposes as per the requirement.
Importance of Construction Drawings
Clarity and Communication
Usually, documents that come in handy in any structural design plan include construction drawings and calculations. Calculations are obviously important as they help engineers and on-site workers to understand and decide the materials and methods to carry out each task. The strength, load, size and layout of each component and its relation to each other are found out by calculations.
However, drawing is the language engineers use to convey the final layout and organization of each of these calculated sub-components of a design. Drawings are what can be displayed to the contractor and the client to help them visualize and understand the site, installations, design, cost etc.
Having construction drawings also reduces the risk of Requests for Information (RFIs) when the plans undergo scrutiny for authorization.
Faster granting of Permits
Every construction project needs to undergo approval from the local authorities before it can be put to execution. A lot of permits are thus needed before the work can begin.
Unless the project is very minor or superficial (cosmetic), most permit grants are only given after scrutiny by the Building Department where the officials go over all the drawings and calculations. The construction drawings come in handy here for making the evaluation process simpler. The drawings are checked to make sure the plan complies with the local and legal codes.
The permits may range from mechanical to plumbing to overall design work. Permits for site demolition are also needed. All of these details are covered n various types of Construction Drawings.
If the construction drawings are not clear, then the reviewers may have a struggle in understanding the drawings. They will then ask for revisions which your architecture or design team will have to work upon before resubmitting. This revision cycle may continue for a while until all satisfactory drawings are submitted, which is why it is important to have them ready from the get-go. Delay in permits will only lead to delay in starting and finishing the project on time and may incur an extra overhead cost.
Accurate Price Quotations
Once you have all your permits and your detailed construction drawings that leave no space for revisions or RFIs, your prospective contractor will give you the cost estimate for the project. The drawings your design team makes is then issued for bidding and is known as the bid set. Although the drawings in themselves have no role in determining the price, but the less detailed your drawings are, there are chances your contractor might overbid the project.
A construction drawing needs to effectively communicate the requirements of your project to the contractor so that they understand your needs and the final end goal and fix a price accordingly. Otherwise, you will end up with a project where the actual cost expenditure does not align with the budget you had fixed at the start. Better drawings lead to better accuracy in quoting a price. Tell us your project requirements at Monarch Innovation.