Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
contractor's 'shop drawings'?
It is not unusual for a contractor to submit a sub-contractor's or supplier's 'shop drawings'
for approval before manufacture of the element concerned. Indeed, few sensible contractors
would authorise proceeding with manufacture until the architect is satisfied with the details.
Of course, in most cases the shop drawings are simply the sub-contractor's own translation
ofthearchitect'sdrawingsanddetailsintosomethingthatthesub-contractorbelievesiseasi-
er to understand in the context of the particular manufacturing process. In other words, the
sub-contractor is using the information provided by the architect through the contractor to
produce the shop drawings.
Ionceknewaverybravearchitectwhowouldrespondtothecontractorwiththefollowing
words: 'If the shop drawings are in accordance with the drawings I have provided, they are
correct; if not, they are wrong.' This is equivalent to saying 'check them yourself'. It also
requires a large degree of confidence on the part of the architect that the original drawings
are completely accurate.
Few architects can say that their drawings are guaranteed to be 100 per cent correct. That
is not to criticise architects; it is just a characteristic of the complex nature of the profession
that discrepancies and other types of error do occur. Therefore, most architects will check
shop drawings just to be sure that their own drawings are correct. The problem is that, in
checking whether the shop drawings accurately represent their drawings, architects inevit-
ably check things that have been introduced bysub-contractors. Sometimes, sub-contractors
willactuallychangearchitects'detailstomakethemsuittheparticularsub-contractelement.
Such changes can easily be missed if the architect gives the drawings only a cursory inspec-
tion. Architects should either check shop drawings thoroughly or not at all. Even if the ar-
chitect has no contractual responsibility for checking such drawings, responsibility may be
assumed if the architect nonetheless does check them.
In most cases, the architect will want to be satisfied that the shop drawings are accurate
and,therefore,willcheckthem.Whetherthearchitecthasanobligationtoapprovethedraw-
ings will depend upon the terms of the contract. Such an obligation will usually be found,
if at all, in the preliminaries section of the bills of quantities or specification. Ideally, the
architect should make sure, before the documents are sent out for tender, that there is no re-
quirement for his or her approval. The absence of such a requirement will not prevent the
contractor from sending the drawings for approval, but it will enable the architect to point
out that there is no contractual requirement for the architect's approval. Moreover, the ar-
chitect should inform the contractor that it is the contractor's task to check and co-ordinate
sub-contractors' drawings.
