Each design project is unique, but the process of design at moss Design follows a well-defined path. From programming and field measuring through schematic design, design development, construction documentation, permitting, and construction administration, each phase builds on the decisions made before it.
Construction documents are where those increasingly specific design decisions become detailed instructions for permitting, pricing, and building a project. They translate design intent into coordinated information that contractors, consultants, permit officials, and others can understand and use.
In other words, construction documentation is about much more than producing drawings after the design is finished. The quality and clarity of the construction drawings can affect how accurately a project is priced, how efficiently questions are resolved, and, ultimately, how closely the finished building reflects the design.
Construction Documents: The Right Information to the Right People
Schematic design establishes the general idea for a project, and design development focuses and refines it. Construction documents fill in the details.
At this stage, the architect develops the approved design into a coordinated set of drawings and information describing how the project is intended to be constructed. The final construction drawings specify elements ranging from the building structure and dimensions to materials, finishes, doors, windows, fixtures, and equipment.
Construction documents generally serve two important purposes: obtaining a building permit from the city or other local authority and communicating the information contractors need to price and construct the building. Preparing construction documents also involves coordinating project documentation with regulatory authorities to obtain the approvals necessary for construction.
Although the design itself doesn’t change between those two uses, at moss Design we generally prepare two sets of drawings for the two purposes: the Permit Set and the Issue for Construction Set. This allows us to provide the right information to the right people rather than filling each set with details its audience doesn’t need. A contractor won’t necessarily need the life safety occupancy count, for example, while a building inspector isn’t concerned with every detail of a decorative built-in element.
Both sets grow from the same pool of coordinated design information. The construction drawings below may be found in one or both.
To illustrate, we’ll show content created for two moss Design projects: a house on Carmen Avenue and a restaurant and specialty food market in Andersonville.
Why Detailed Construction Drawings Matter
Construction documents are the bridge between a design on paper and a building in the real world. A beautiful concept alone doesn’t tell a contractor exactly where a wall should sit, how materials come together, or how structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems coordinate with the architecture.
Detailed architectural construction documents make those decisions visible and understandable.
This is also where coordination becomes especially important. Floor plans, elevations, sections, schedules, details, and consultant drawings must work together as one set rather than as isolated pieces of information. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) describes construction documents as the architect’s primary means of communicating the design so it can be realized in built form.
Clear drawings and specifications can also reduce ambiguity during construction. When information is missing or inconsistent, contractors may need clarification, pricing may be less precise, and changes may become necessary once work is underway. A well-coordinated construction document set gives the people responsible for permitting, pricing, and building the project a much clearer roadmap.
What Belongs in a Construction Documents Drawing Set?
Regardless of building type or design, a drawing set follows a consistent pattern. This helps permit officials, contractors, and other members of the construction industry navigate the enormous amount of information associated with a project.
The exact types of construction drawings required will vary depending on the project, but the drawings below are what you can typically expect to find in a complete construction document set.
A0 Sheets – Project Information
The Cover Sheet contains the information that orients someone to the project, including names and contact information for the architect and engineering consultants, detailed property information, zoned use, building type, city PIN number, a site map showing the project location, and a code matrix identifying applicable regulations.
The Accessibility Notes and Details sheet shows details that appear throughout a publicly accessible building, including reach ranges, door widths, and the size and location of important signage.
This sheet usually isn’t included on a residential project.
The Site Plan shows how the building sits on the entire property. For a relatively simple project, it may also note landscaping, concrete work, and exit safety requirements. A more complex project might require a separate Landscape Plan.
The Life Safety Plan divides the space into different use types so total occupancy can be calculated and used to confirm that the building has the appropriate number and size of exits. It also shows paths of travel to exits from the most remote areas of the building. Safety first!
A1 Sheets – Demolition Plans
The Demolition Plan shows the existing state of the building — a vital element for moss Design projects since we frequently work with existing buildings — along with notes identifying what needs to be removed and what should be protected or preserved during the new construction.
A2 Sheets – Floor Plans
The Floor Plan sheets are the coordinated center of the construction drawing set.
In addition to providing an overview of where every element of the building will be located, complete with detailed dimensions, floor plans contain keynotes, door, window, and wall-type tags, and other callouts that direct the reader to additional drawings and information elsewhere in the set.
These connections are important. Architectural drawings work together as a coordinated system: a floor plan may tell you where something occurs while another drawing explains exactly how it should be constructed.
A3 Sheets – Elevations and Sections
Elevations are flat images of the exterior faces of the building. Elevation sheets show the heights of existing and new building elements, identify materials to be applied or preserved on the exterior, and include keynotes providing important information about exterior construction.
Section Drawings show hypothetical slices through the building. They communicate important information such as wall and foundation construction, floor-to-floor heights, and relationships between interior spaces and the ground plane outside.
A4 Sheets – Finish Plans
There are several types of Finish Plans.
One of the most important is the Reflected Ceiling Plan (RCP), which provides a view looking up toward the ceiling rather than down at the floor. RCP drawings identify different ceiling materials, such as drywall, plaster, wood cladding, pressed tin, and others, as well as the locations of most lights. For convenience, they typically show the switches that operate those ceiling-mounted lights, too.
For residential projects where the services of an electrical engineer aren’t required, we also provide a Power Plan showing the locations of outlets and data points for cable TV or internet access. We note power locations for appliances as well as convenience outlets for personal devices. On larger projects, this information is covered in the electrical drawings.
Finish Plans identify the materials that should be applied to walls and floors throughout the building. We use finish tags, designations such as F01 for a flooring material, B04 for a baseboard, or W06 for a wall finish, that correspond to a Finish Schedule containing details such as manufacturer, product name, and other specifications.
A5 Sheets – Interior Elevations
Interior Elevations provide flat views of vertical surfaces inside the building. We use them to show wall finish types, built-in furniture, and the locations and heights of outlets, lights, switches, and other elements.
A typical restaurant project may require elevations for built-in seating areas, decorative finishes on primary walls, kitchen equipment, and each bathroom wall.
A residential project will often require interior elevations for bathrooms and kitchens as well as custom built-ins, shelving, or other significant features.
A6 Sheets – Schedules and Wall Types
In a construction document set, the word schedule means a spreadsheet or organized table of information rather than a project timeline.
Schedules help keep track of detailed product information for finishes, doors, windows, kitchen equipment, and other building elements.
A door schedule, for example, lists the doors throughout the project along with their dimensions, materials, finishes, hardware, and other notes. Accompanying drawings may show how each door type opens and the size and location of glass or decorative elements.
Similar schedules provide information about windows, equipment, and finishes, while additional drawings detail different wall types.
AD Sheets – Details
Detail drawings show how specific components and materials should come together. These might explain conditions used throughout the building, such as the transition from one flooring material to another or the construction of a new staircase.
Details are one of the ways construction documentation moves from showing what the design looks like to communicating how it should actually be built.
S Sheets – Structural Drawings
Provided by a licensed structural engineer, Structural Drawings typically include a plan for each level showing concrete footing information, steel and wood framing locations and sizes, structural sections, and details of important connections.
M Sheets – Mechanical Drawings
MEP stands for Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing. These construction drawings are often provided by the same engineering company but are still organized by discipline.
Mechanical Drawings show the location and size of mechanical equipment, ductwork layouts, and specifications for different sizes and types of air-handling systems.
E Sheets – Electrical Drawings
The Electrical Drawings show locations for power and data outlets, lights, and associated switches. They also specify appropriate wiring, boxes, and other components necessary to serve lighting, equipment, and other electrical needs.
P Sheets – Plumbing Drawings
Plumbing Drawings show the locations and sizes of pipes that provide fresh water and carry away waste. They also identify vent risers that allow sewer gases to exit the building safely.
Other Consultant Drawings
Larger or more complex projects may require additional construction documentation from specialty consultants. Depending on the project, that could include acoustical design information, landscape architecture, kitchen consulting, or other specialized systems.
All of these drawings need to coordinate with the architectural construction documents so that the various systems can work together within the same building.
Design Development vs. Construction Documents
The transition from design development to construction documents is less about beginning an entirely new design and more about increasing the level of resolution.
During design development, the architect refines the approved schematic design and works through increasingly specific decisions about systems, materials, dimensions, and details. Construction documentation takes those decisions further, communicating the information necessary to permit, price, and construct the project.
AIA describes design development documents as an important milestone on the way to completed construction documents. The construction document phase then develops those approved documents in greater detail.
For a client, this can be an important shift. Earlier phases make it easier to understand what the project will look and feel like. Construction drawings increasingly communicate how all of those decisions will actually come together.
Permit Drawings vs. Construction Drawings
Permit drawings and construction drawings share much of the same underlying design information, but they serve different audiences.
A permit set communicates the information the local authority needs to evaluate the project for applicable building and safety requirements. An Issue for Construction set provides contractors with the more detailed information necessary to price, coordinate, and build the project.
That doesn’t mean the two sets represent different designs. At moss Design, they come from the same coordinated pool of project information. The difference is primarily which information each audience needs and the level of detail appropriate to that purpose.
Now We’ve Drawn It … What’s Next?
Once we’ve created the construction document set for permit, there is an inevitable waiting period while it is processed by the relevant authority. The City of Chicago has a significant volume of buildings and projects to review, and navigating the permitting process can be complex. We commonly employ an expediter to help guide the application through the process and check on its progress.
While the Permit Set works its way through that system, we finalize the Issue for Construction set so that we’re ready for the contractor once the building permit is issued.
But issuing construction drawings isn’t the end of an architect’s involvement. Once construction begins, the project enters Construction Administration, when the work of translating all that carefully coordinated information into a real building gets underway.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are construction documents in architecture?
Construction documents are the detailed drawings, specifications, schedules, and other information used to communicate how an architectural project is intended to be permitted and built. They develop decisions made during earlier design phases into coordinated information that contractors, consultants, and permitting authorities can use.
What is included in a construction document set?
A construction document set may include project and code information, site plans, demolition plans, floor plans, elevations, sections, finish plans, interior elevations, schedules, and construction details. Depending on the project, it may also include structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings prepared by engineering consultants.
What is the difference between construction documents and construction drawings?
Construction drawings are the graphic portion of the larger construction documents package. Construction documents can include drawings as well as schedules, specifications, and other written information necessary to communicate the project. In everyday use, however, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
What are the main types of construction drawings?
Common types of construction drawings include site plans, demolition plans, floor plans, elevations, building sections, finish plans, interior elevations, schedules, and construction details. Depending on the project, a complete set may also include structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings prepared by engineering consultants.
