Construction drawings are used for a wide variety of reasons and applications in construction and architectural projects and activities.
What is a construction drawing?
It is a graphical representation of what will be built, how it will be laid out, the components, framework, and dimensions. There is a construction drawing highlighting the details for every aspect of a construction project.
Construction Drawings including each of its subtypes are helpful to different groups of workforce assigned with doing or overlooking the various tasks that make up a construction project.
How are construction drawings made?
Rarely are construction plans drawn by hand anymore. They are either sketched and rendered using computer-aided drafting such as computer-aided design (CAD) software. And in recent times, Building Information Modeling (BIM) software has made it easy to render and visualize in detail the virtual construction models (VCM).
To know more about BIM services, budgeting, and how they can benefit your project, reach out to us at Monarch Innovation for all queries, assistance, and collaborations.
Top 10 most common types of Construction drawings use regularly in construction industries.
1. Block Plan
This drawing gives a layout of the site or the buildings in the surrounding area, laid out on a map drawn to scale.
- It gives a firsthand idea of the roads, boundaries and other such details that are necessary to understand where your construction site lies.
- It helps the person dealing with your construction plan or project request to understand what and where you are proposing it and help you out with it too.
- Block plans are made in relation to Ordnance Survey Maps and the recommended scales used are 1:2500, 1:1250 or 1:500.
2. Architectural Drawings
Architectural Drawings are drawing work that is used in building drawings to depict the dimensions, depth, and layout of the actual building, prior to beginning the construction. Architectural Drawings act as a blueprint construction, drawn to scale, to help the engineers visualize the project.
Various types of Architectural Drawings commonly used are:
- Foundation plan – not to be mistaken for just the ground or basement floor plan. Foundation Plans are drawing work to render any of the floors of the building being constructed. They help visualize the dimension, size, shape, height and configuration of rooms/stairs/landings with each other.
- Floor plans – in-depth rendering of the layout of the rooms for each floor. It describes in 2D the orientation of rooms and components to each other. Floor plans may or may not be utilized in commercial or non-commercial building projects, but it is necessarily still made as part of the drawing work.
- Sectional Drawings – these are drawings that depict a part or whole of the framework in sliced form. It helps understand the measurements of various building components with each other, the materials used in the construction of those components, the height, depth, and hollowness, etc.
- Elevation Drawings – these architectural drawings offer an aesthetic overview of the various components of the building such as columns, windows, and doorframes. It also helps understand the relative surface, internal markings, and relative height of these different components to each other.
3. Production Drawings
These Construction Drawings are used to convey functional information to the workers and engineers on site. It describes the materials, the assembly of various parts, the tools required, the dimensions, and other information required during the process. It may also include additional information or an infographic on how to meet those set requirements.
4. Structural Drawings
Structural Drawings also serve as civil engineering drawings. They are useful in understanding the physical nitty-gritty of a building framework. They act as a structural design guide for the workers and on-site engineers. Common types of structural drawings are:
- General Note – an overview of all the codes, procedures, and abbreviations, etc required to give a comprehensive guide to getting to work on the construction site. This includes concrete mix, details for other structural drawings, lengths and construction types of each component, etc.
- Excavation Drawing – this civil engineering drawing describes the dimensions and positions for the excavation process prior to the actual building work. It covers details like tunneling, shafts, removal of soil, grid plans, etc required to start the groundwork.
- Column Layouts – These structural drawings include the layouts of the way columns will be laid out. It makes it easier for contractors to plan the layout of the building and start the process by identifying the position and distance between columns across the floor.
- Beam Layouts – It includes all the beam-like structures, such as the ones supporting the roof and the windows, or the beams used for strengthening purposes. They are designed for each floor and cover the length, height, material, etc.
- Roof slab layouts – this civil engineering drawing describes the exact dimensions of all the slabs required for roofs or slants. It can be designed over AutoCAD software as it requires precision and data.
5. Electrical drawings
Most residential construction drawings or commercial construction drawings require a functional outline of the number of power outlets, light fixtures, fan fixtures, etc. They also include the wiring pattern and details about the electrical load it can carry. Common details included in Electrical Drawings are:
- Earthing layout
- Light fixture layout
- Generator and other equipment
- Cable tray layout
- Hazardous area classifications
- Lighting protection system
6. Plumbing Drawings
Just like electrical layouts, plumbing is another part of any residential or commercial construction drawing that marks the points where plumbing components need to be set up. Space is left here accordingly for further pipe and sanitary ware fixtures to be added once the structural component is finished. Plumbing drawings commonly include:
- Pipes –water pipes, drainage pipes, internal pipes
- Material of pipes
- Outlet points – taps, sinks, tanks etc
- Position and location of pipes and outlets
7. HVAC Drawings
These are known as mechanical construction drawings. They provide details and a design framework for heating and ventilation systems in a building. Central heating/cooling, air conditioning vents, ventilators, etc are all included according to the need and site of the building plans. Builders use these design constructs in their process accordingly.
8. Firefighting Drawings
In today’s construction systems, safety design is paramount. Firefight Drawings are also a part of blueprint drawings of a building that allocate points for fire hoses, fire escapes, water outlets, sandbags, or any other fire safety equipment required by the regulatory body overseeing the project.
9. Environmental Plans
Making sure environmental guidelines and management is properly followed is a part of construction projects that cannot be overlooked. The aim is to minimize environmental damage and future negative impacts of the construction project. It includes measures like:
- Chemical disposal mechanisms
- Management of erosion and sedimentation
- Outlining environmental guideline compliance measures
- Measures to handle accidents and emergencies like fire
10. Finishing Drawings
These include finer and more detailed plans of the building after the whole structural and architectural framework has been set up. These are required for the aesthetic and functional value of the building. These construction drawings include details of:
- Tile patterns,
- Floor patterns
- False ceilings
- Paint colors and textures
- Plaster
- Woodwork
- Motifs and designs
To get professional advice and assistance on your construction projects, contact us at Monarch Innovation for our host of BIM, Building Design, and Mechanical Engineering services.
Backed up by experience in this field, we would be happy to help you get insights, in-depth analysis, and coordinate your project plans to make the process hassle-free.
FAQs
What are construction drawings?
Construction Drawings are a graphical representation of what will be built, how it will be laid out, the components, framework and dimensions. There is a construction drawing highlighting the details for every aspect of a construction project.
Below are the set of basic drawings included in Construction drawings:
1. Elevation drawings – These drawings offer an overview of the individual components that make up the structure, plus the structure as a whole.
2. Sections – Sections are slices of the building, to showcase the inner dimensions.
3. Floor Plans – The rendering of each of the floors in a building, which lays out the rooms, the doors, the positioning of the stairs, windows, columns, kitchen, slabs, etc all in 1D. It helps one to understand the orientation of the rooms and other physical structures that make up the floor.
4. Details – As the name suggests, these are drawings that focus more on individual components of a building, in detail.
Architectural Construction Drawings are drawing work that is used in building drawings to depict the dimensions, depth and layout of the actual building, prior to beginning the construction. Architectural Drawings act as a blueprint construction, drawn to scale, to help the engineers visualize the project.
Construction drawings usually include a set of working drawings that cover different aspects of the project plan. These drawings usually comprise Elevation drawings, Floor Plans, Sections and Detail Drawings.
