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Building Drawing Terminology

On building repair, retrofit or upgrade projects there are sometimes instances when as-is existing conditions drawings of a building that will be worked upon are called for. For example, let's consider a hypothetical project that is a one story addition onto a ten story building, in which no plans exist for the building. Since no plans exist, then drawings that depict the as-is existing conditions of the structure would need to be created.

However, conversations over such drawings could get confusing, and so in this article I'll discuss why, and I'll also offer a solution on how to keep oral communication clear. Furthermore, I'll approach this topic from a day-to-day casual business conversation perspective, and not from a legal business contract perspective, becauase I don't know law. With this said, let me now attend to the subject at hand.

In my years of experience inside the AEC industry there have been three main terms that I've heard used when referring to drawings like the ones required for the hypothetical project, and they are: as built drawings, building survey drawings and existing condition drawings. And in similar situations, to a lesser degree I've also heard the additional terms: architectural survey, as built conditions, as built plans, as built survey, measured drawings, measured survey, record drawings, space survey, site survey, construction survey, existing conditions documentation, existing conditions survey, and a few others too. Due to the number of terms one could choose from, a conversation over such drawings could get confusing.

With terms galore, the question of, "Which term should one use to be understood by his AEC industry peers?" is left looming. Help in answering this question can be found in the June 2007 AIA Best Practices document titled "Terminology: As-Built Drawings, Record Drawings, Measured Drawings". In this document three terms are defined as follows:

"As-built drawings: As-built drawings are prepared by the contractor. They show, in red ink, on-site changes to the original construction documents."

"Measured drawings: Measured drawings are prepared in the process of measuring a building for future renovation or as historic documentation. They are created from on-site measurements."

"Record drawings: Record drawings are prepared by the architect and reflect on-site changes the contractor noted in the as-built drawings. They are often compiled as a set of on-site changes made for the owner per the owner-architect contract."

From a legal business contract perspective it seems to me that the term "measured drawings" perhaps best fits the hypothetical project drawings described. However, in day-to-day casual business conversation I've not heard or used this term often. This is likely because a specific person will choose to use one of the aforementioned plethora of terms based on what he is accustomed to. Probably because of what the people within his professional peer group most often use.

For instance, when I've spoken with New York Architects about creating as-is existing conditions drawings for them in instances similar to the hypothetical project scenario, I've most often heard them use the terms "building survey" or "as built drawings", and hence I've used the same. What these terms have meant to them and I was: "The process of one visiting a building in order to take measurements of it, and then subsequently creating computer drawings of it from the information that was collected in the field." You can see that technically speaking the term "as built" has been used incorrectly, but nevertheless that's how I've heard most people talk.

This is interesting, isn't it? Therefore, I'd say that the best way to handle a casual business conversation about as-is existing conditions drawings would be for one to attach a definition to his term of choice. I've done this and it has resulted in a clear understanding of the type of drawings that I was referring to.

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