Structural shop drawings and erection drawings are too important for aec professioanls copy

Structural shop drawings and erection drawings are too important for AEC professionals Structural design is largely accountable for the strength and integrity of a building and hence it becomes compulsory for structural design team to develop the design in such a way that it fulfills all the requirements of a strong building. The process that is adopted by structural design teams to develop structural drawings is called structural detailing. All the important structural drawings are generated during this process by the detailers who are specialized technicians for creating structural drawings.

There are two categories of structural drawings which include structural shop drawings and erection drawings among which the previous one is used by fabricators however later one is used by the construction professionals on the proposed location.

Since tremendous information is carried in structural drawings inputs from distinguished sources such as architects, structural engineers and contractors etc are provided to detailers. But the most important among these inputs are the specifications of architects and structural engineers.

Without the timely availability of specifications from architects and engineers the task of generating structural drawings remains at halt. Detailers can catch a hold of design related technicalities by refereeing structural engineers’ specifications and can successfully create shop drawings and erection drawings based on them.

As structural shop drawings are used by fabricators who develop structural parts, they must incorporate accurate information them for their reference. Accuracy regarding the dimensions, size and material specifications cannot be compromised in these drawings as it is crucial for fabrication purpose. A slight mistake in shop drawings can result in tremendous expensive rework if that is not determined in right time by AEC professionals.

Hence accurate information must be given in shop drawings regarding dimensions and sizes of structural parts.

On the other hand no such information that is used by fabricators is given in erection drawings since fabrication related task gets over much before actual construction. Therefore, erection drawings contain only such information that is required for the erection of the structure such as location and position of structural components and how to fix them in the structure etc.

Hence this becomes clear that without accurate shop drawings it is difficult to manufacture structural components and without erection drawings construction professionals cannot be guided about erection process.