Shop Drawings

A shop drawing is a drawing or set of drawings produced by the contractor, supplier, manufacturer,
subcontractor, or fabricator. Shop drawings are typically required for prefabricated components.
Examples of these include: elevators, structural steel, trusses, pre-cast, windows, appliances,
cabinets, air handling units, and millwork. Also critical are the installation and coordination shop
drawings of the MEP trades such as sheet metal ductwork, piping, plumbing, fire protection, and
electrical.

Shop drawings are produced by architects and engineers under their contract with the owner. The
shop drawing is the manufacturers or the contractors drawn version of information shown in the
construction documents. The shop drawing normally shows more detail than the construction
documents. It is drawn to explain the fabrication and/or installation of the items to the
manufacturers production crew or contractor's installation crews.

The style of the shop drawing is usually very different from that of the architects drawing. The shop
drawings primary emphasis is on the particular product or installation and excludes notation
concerning other products and installations, unless integration with the subject product is necessary.

Information required to be included in Shop Drawings

Comparison information for the architect and engineer

The shop drawings should include information for the architect and engineer to compare to the
specifications and drawings. The shop drawing should address the appearance, performance, and
prescriptive descriptions in the specifications and construction drawings. The shop drawing often is
more detailed than the information shown in the construction documents to give the architect and
engineer the opportunity to review the fabricators version of the product, prior to fabrication.
References to the construction documents, drawings, and specifications assist the architect and
engineer in their review of the shop drawings. Attachment of manufacturers material specifications,
catalog cut sheets, and other manufacturers information may be helpful to accompany these
drawings. Because shop drawings facilitate the architects and engineers approval of the product,
they should be as clear and complete as possible.

Notes of changes or alterations from the construction documents

Notes concerning changes or differences from the original documents should be made on the shop
drawing for the architects and engineers approval. Ultimately, they are responsible for changes in
these drawings and should have the opportunity to analyze any modifications. A dialogue should
occur between the fabricator and the architect and engineer about any areas needing clarification.
Successful installations are the result of collaboration between the designer, fabricator, and
contractor.

Information needed to fabricate the product

Dimensions, manufacturing conventions, and special fabrication instructions should be included on

the shop drawing. It should be clear to fabrication personnel what will be manufactured from the
shop drawings alone. The construction documents are rarely used as a reference in fabrication, with
the fabricators relying on the shop drawing for all information.
 Indication of dimensions needing verification from the jobsite

Most jobsite dimensions, such as the dimensions between two surfaces on the jobsite, need to be
verified. A dimension may be shown on the construction drawings, but the actual dimension may
vary, from very small to large increments, depending on jobsite conditions. It is extremely important
that the fabricated item arrive on the jobsite ready to be installed without field modification. Special
care must be taken by the contractor to measure and verify dimensions. In new construction, plan
dimensions usually are sufficient for ordering many fabricated items such as structural steel or
precast concrete.

In remodeling and renovation work, it is essential that field dimensions be verified prior to
fabrication. Some fabricators, such as cabinet and casework suppliers, prefer not to rely on the
contractors verification and will verify the dimensions with their own personnel.

Placement or installation information

Some fabricators and manufacturers will provide symbols, data, or instructions concerning
installation. This can include a list of other materials, such as fasteners or adhesives, appropriate but
not included for the product.

Third party review may be required for major building systems. An example of this would be a
commercial chiller which would be furnished by the mechanical contractor, but would require
electrical connections, plumbing, rigging, insulation and commissioning. Various third parties will
need to review the installation information and confirm they are furnishing compatible equipment
and proper layout of services. Review of installation information for major equipment should be
reviewed with field supervisors including the project superintendent, trade foremen and field
engineer. Installation of major equipment will dictate structural clearances and temporary openings.

Samples

Some fabrications will require a sample submittal with the shop drawing, primarily for color and
texture selection of finishes.

Computer-aided Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Design Coordination

Problems with design coordination, such as time consumption and ineffectiveness related to the
current 2D paper-based process, are some of the top concerns of a general contractor, since late
conflict correction increases the potential for errors in the field. In order to address this issue, there
have been an increasing number of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms utilizing
building information models (BIM) in their coordination and clash detection processes, which
according to practitioners, allows for increased coordination and fewer field problems. Leite et al.

Compared types of clashes identified in a manual coordination process (overlay of 2D drawings on a

light table by pairs of subcontractors) and through automatic clash detection using a Building
Information Model (BIM). The automatic clash detection identified several clashes that were missed
by the subcontractors, who were performing this task manually. Also, the manual clash detection
identified clashes which could not possibly be found by the automatic clash detection software,
since one of the clashing objects (e.g. cable trays) was not modeled in the BIM. This study also
included site observations of field detected clashes, some of which were not identified in either
manual or automatic processes. Leite noted that the combination of clashes identified in
coordination meetings, those automatically detected, as well as those identified in the field enable
identification of objects that need to be modeled in order to capture the largest possible number of
clashes. This paper was limited to the comparison of types of clashes identified in each of the three
methods during a specific project. Although their results cannot be generalized, they still provide
insight towards the need to identify what needs to be modeled in a BIM for MEP coordination prior
to the start of the coordination process.

The Architects Responsibilities

As a general proposition, the responsibility of the Architect is principally defined by its contract with
the Owner. According to the AIA standard form architects contract, the Architect is required to
review and approve or take other appropriate action upon the Contractors submittals but only for
the limited purpose of checking them for conformance with information given and the design
concept expressed in the contract documents.

While language such as that found in the AIA standard form architects contract may limit the scope
of the Architects review, courts have held that the Architect is still responsible for verifying the
compliance of the shop drawings with the information contained in the contract documents.

Many designers attempt to avoid liability by stamping the shop drawings with words such as check
instead of approve. However, courts have held that a designers use of such qualifying language in
its approval stamp cannot vary its contract responsibilities.

Courts have held that the Architects responsibilities are defined not only by its contract with the
Owner, but also by the standards imposed by the law upon the design profession in the locale of the
work.