Importance of As-Built Drawings and how to effectively use them
If you belong to the construction industry, you would agree with the importance of as-built drawings and their potential to convey a thousand processes. Usually, with hundreds and thousands of phases, documents involved to carry out just one project, the drawings demonstrate how an actual construction deviates from the original plan.
As-built drawings show accurate shape, dimensions, geometry, location, and other related measurements of all components completed under the contract. They provide a clear comparison between the initial design and the final structure with a detailed plan of the final building.
The final as-built drawings include the following details,
• Modifications
• Shop drawing changes
• Design changes
• Field changes
• Extra works
Why are Accurate As-Built Drawings Important?
For various reasons, a set of as-built sketches may be valuable to all individuals involved in a construction project.
• Improves Maintenance: Small modifications and enhancements are vital to be made over a life of a constructed building. Whether facility managers are seeking to substitute paneling, install new windows, or search for wiring, they need accurate information on dimensions and location. As-built drawings give a clear view of the actual layout of a building.
• Enhances Safety: Various as-built drawing standards such as British standards 5266 and 5839 are intended to ensure that health and safety issues are properly considered during a construction project's development. The location and layout of products like smoke detection devices, fire alarm systems, emergency lights, and more are crucial in any building. If these alter from the original plan and don't get documented, lives could be at risk.
• Simplifies Permitting Process: Various government agencies request sets of as-builts to issue structure permits.
Challenges with Existing As-built Drawings & How to Overcome
• The current approach with recording changes to initial drawings often gives inaccurate results.
• Some projects outsource a contractor or outside architect to produce as-built drawings for their clients. For larger projects that take months or years, it is difficult to remember every single change from the initial drawing, and an outsider might not have the required data.
• The way that variations to initial drawings get recorded often differs from one building to the other.
• Lack of consistency in as-built drawings makes it difficult for readers to truly understand the decisions made.
In today's digital age, most construction professionals including architects, contractors, and project managers are embracing next-gen software products that enable designing as-builts. It has replaced inaccurate traditional mark-ups on paper. With the evolution of construction management software, it provides features to track changes and record modifications.
• Tracking & Managing Version: It allows you to seamlessly upload and compare different versions of a construction plan to continually track changes made to a project during the building process.
• Time, Date, and Location: These are extremely important factors for as-built drawings. Architecture software can automatically time- and date stamp all modifications to the initial plan and track record the exact location. It provides value in the future when contractors or maintenance teams need drawings for reference purposes.
• Photo Uploads: Drawings or written notes aren't always sufficient to detect issues. Prefer the right as-built management software that lets you not only incorporate photos but link up them to particular sections of plans for further details.
• Accessible from Anywhere: With a cloud-based system, jotting down notes, snapping pictures, and uploading files on the platform becomes a cinch and can be stored securely.
Final words
Contractors, facility managers, maintenance teams, and other professionals can all benefit from the significantly enhanced as-built drawing standards that new technologies bring. As-built information is important throughout the lifecycle of plant construction operations and maintenance. If you're looking for as-built engineering services, consider hiring an experienced multi-discipline engineering services company.