The Evolution of Construction Documentation

Construction Documents are detailed and accurate plans or drawings that illustrate how the building will look once constructed. These 2D Drawings include the final specifications regarding the construction details and materials. Moreover, they don’t just act as blueprints for construction but are also used for tender, budgetary approvals, client and stakeholder presentation, etc.

Looking at the importance of construction documentation for a smooth onsite building process it is important they are clear and precise and should avoid ambiguity and confusion. Accurate Construction Documentation Services could be significant in avoiding delays and errors. That is perhaps why digitization gradually seeped into the drafting of these 2D drawings.

What was once a manual drafting process was replaced completely by CAD and finally today, Revit is being increasingly used for extracting construction documentation. In this article, we will be looking at how the drafting of construction drawings has evolved over the years.

3 Evolution of Construction

1.      Manual Drafting

Manual Drafting is the practice of creating drawings by hand. In the earlier days before the advent of computers, the only source for draftsmen was a pencil, paper, and stencil for creating 2D drawings of the building design. There is only one advantage that manual drafting offers over its digital counterparts which is the low cost of equipment.

It is for the most part iterative and extremely time-consuming. It also is difficult to share and can lead to a lot of errors. Today, manual drafting is hardly utilized and is almost redundant.

2.      CAD Drafting

The advent of Computer-Aided Design brought a significant paradigm shift from the manual drafting method. CAD software provides tools to the AEC professionals for better analysis and designing of the construction documentation. They firstly enhance the overall quality and accuracy of the drawings by digitizing various functions which could lead to potential errors for instance calculations that are done manually can be done with various tools.

CAD drawings can also, be easily shared on the cloud and can be saved for future reference. Moreover, it is easy to make changes in the CAD drawings over manual drawings as modifying CAD geometry is easier with available tools. CAD is more cost-efficient and quick in small projects and is easy to use during the initial conceptual planning phase. Additionally, today a lot of companies are looking to convert their old paper drawings into CAD files for easy storage and sharing.

3.      Building Information Modeling

After CAD the latest methodology to take over the construction sector is BIM. Virtual Design and Construction provides the AEC professionals all the tools to create, construct and maintain buildings effectively. The 3D model also allows the extraction of 2D drawings which provide a host of benefits. 

Firstly, as the construction documentation is extracted from a clash-free model they are accurate and without errors which ensures that there are no-site problems that could lead to waste of resources and time. Additionally, it is easier to make changes in BIM than in CAD as any change made in the 3D model makes subsequent changes in all its interconnected dimensions as well in all the 2D documents that are to be extracted like floor plans, sections, elevations, etc. 

This means the architects or the designer will not need to make changes individually in each 2D Drawing. BIM with its enhanced visualization capabilities can also be very effective for presentations to clients and stakeholders. Moreover, they can be used to create virtual reality environments and augmented reality environments to better present them to non-industry professionals.

Conclusion

Looking at the importance of Construction Drawing Services during the onsite construction it is imperative that construction companies start using the best available technology. BIM can help AEC firms improve their speed, reduce their errors and ultimately increase their profit margins.