As-Built vs Record Drawing vs Plan of Record

Would some explain to what the difference are.
Thanks...JoeB

 

That's a very good explanation and I agree with your definitions (I'm an
architect too). A plan of record would be the one that's "on record" as a
legal document with the building department. As-built drawings would be a
depiction of the actual final product.

Another factor you didn't mention on as-builts: measurement/documentation of
construction errors which were deemed to be not bad enough to justify
tearing down and rebuilding. Sometimes buildings don't get placed on the
site exactly as intended, sometimes the foundation gets started a bit out of
square or at the wrong elevation, and so forth (I'm sure you have your own
list). If the glitch is fairly harmless, sometimes it stays that way.

I don't hear about as-builts very often. Unless the owner or the building
department insists on it, there isn't a reason to spend time documenting
every little change that was made. As you say, the closest thing to a set of
as-builts would be the contrractor's marked up set. Sometimes I hear of
contracts which require a formal set of as-built drawings to be delivered
with the building -- generally when it's a very high tech/high maintenance
building type, and/or there's an intention to add on or remodel it in the
foreseeable future.

 

Joe
The A/E firms I have worked for do not ever use the term As-Built due to
some litigation years ago where a Judge ruled against an A/E firm because
the As-builts were not actually exact, etc. (don't remember the exact
details, suffice it to say a lawyer was involved.) So the term Record
Drawing came about, which apparently says little about whether the drawings
match the building or not, but are the drawings turned over to the owner
after construction red-lines are captured.

The other responses talked about Plan of Record, so I will skip that.

Kent Elrod

 

In my experience, Joe, a "Plan of Record" would be the set of documents that
the structure was built FROM ...(aka "Building Department-Approved Contract
Construction Documents") as prepared and sealed by the Architect of Record.

Whereas the "As-built Documents" would be a set of documents representing
what was ACTUALLY built by the General Contractor. Usually, this is not much
more than a copy / field set of redlined/marked up Record Docs, in the
G.C.'s possesion, that were prepared as the construction commenced, and
usually would be prepared by the G.C. him/herself, and submittted to the
Owner and Architect for his/her records.

This could include minor changes to the structure that (best case) were
approved by addendum or clarification by the Architect of Record and
approved by the Owner ( ..i.e. <owner speaking:...:> "I don't care if we did
approve it, now that I see it, we don't want that pink linoleum flooring!...
we want imported Italian marble!), or (worst case) through discovery of
errors or ommisions that as construction commenced, were brought to the
attention of the Architect of Record and the Owner (.. i.e. <owner
shrieking, this time...:>How could you have forgotten to tell the structural
engineer about the 60,000 gallon fish tank on the second floor? What're we
gonna do now? It's almost built, and my fish are all in little baggies
sitting on the delivery truck!!).... and , No, that's never happened to me,
thank goodness.

Most of time time, the best case is a simple matter of choices made during
or after submittal /approval by the governing jurisdiction (and sometimes
may be significant enough to require a resubmittal to Plan Review, upon
which, that APPROVED set could become the Record, or otherwise could be
included into an Amended Record), the worst case comes out mostlty when
there was inadequate pre-issue quality-control, poor communication and/or
poor coordination between the Design Professional, the Owner (sometimes),
and the Consulting Engineering Disciplines ( Our moral: communicate!!!)

In some cases the Design Professional may be called upon (through contract,
hopefully) to certify the changes by including the changes into the Record
Documents and sealing the set.

Hope that helps,

W. Spears, AIA

 

didn't notice there were three instances until I hit the send button... but
I agree with the humorous (my word.. and only because of the inclusion of
"..probably..") definition of "Record" , as well as the nomenclature
issue... I hadn't heard that description before, either.
Sorry for the confusion,
W.

 

<snip>

Good points! I get giddy when they just put it on the right site!

W.

 

Joe:

Be careful with the term "as built." I just found out the hard way that
some people use the term very loosely.

I recently did a restaurant upfit in a unfinished lease space. The
developer installed a 1500 gallon grease trap as part of the initial
development and provided a 4" line to the space to be leased so that all the
tenant would have to do is connect his kitchen drains to this 4" line. The
developer furnished me a set of drawings clearly stamped "as built" that
showed the location of the grease trap on the left side of the building and
out in the parking area about 150 feet away from the space. all my drawings
showed the appropriate plumbing connecting to this existing 4" grease line.
When I talked to the original architect, he told me that they had initially
installed a grease trap to serve several of the lease spaces in case the
need arose during the leasing phase.

The tenants contractor installed the plumbing according to my drawings. The
restaurant opens and within two or three weeks the restaurant starts
smelling of methane gas. Of course the first thing anyone looks for is an
improperly installed trap - nope, all are installed properly. Next we look
for a loose vent stack - nope, all are connected. Finally we think that the
methane gas must be coming in through the fresh air intake on the roof even
though the vent stack is installed according to code and is at least 15'
away from the make-up air unit. The roof is surrounded on all sides by a
parapet at least 4' high. So we figured that the methane gas might be
getting trapped on the roof instead of blowing away with the wind. The
plumber came back and piped the vent stack up and over the parapet and this
somewhat alleviated the problem but not totally. All this took about 3
weeks to solve the problem and the restaurant owner says customers would
come in and leave due to the smell - so he lost business. The thing that
bothered me from day-one about this scenario was that in all my years in
this business, I had never heard of this volume of methane gas escaping
through the vent stack that it would be picked up by a "make-up" air unit
that far away.

Finally after about 4 weeks we found the real problem. The 1500 gallon
grease trap was not installed where the "as-built" drawings indicated nor
was it installed according to code. The grease trap was installed on the
right side of the building right next to the lease space and buried about 8'
in the ground to the top and was covered completely with dirt. The
maintenance man for the shopping center didn't even know it was there - he
thought it was out in the parking lot like the "as-built" drawings
indicated. Since this grease trap was completely covered with dirt and
there was no vent stack installed with the grease trap as required by code -
all that methane gas produced by a 1500 gallon tank built up back through
the system until it either forced its way back through the "p-traps" in the
floor or through the roof vent in such a quantity that it was picked up by
the "make-up" air unit. Once we uncovered the grease trap and allowed it to
vent, the smell went away.

Now the tenant (my client) is looking for someone to help him recoup the
income he lost during this period. Fortunately for me, it's something he his
going to have to discuss with the landlord because I have an "as-built"
drawing upon which I based my designs that indicates a completely different
situation to the one that actually existed. Had the grease trap been
installed as indicated by the "as-built" drawings, this problem never would
have happened.

If you ever stamp a drawing "as-built" you better be sure it was built that
way!

 

Good Point. By the way, on a side note, does your contract make you
responsible for plumbing beyond 5' of the structure. Standard clause around
here (SW Fla).
Matt

 

As-Built is prepared by the contractor.

Record drawing prepared by the Architect from the contractors As-Built
drawings and delivered to the Owner.

Check the AIA documents It defines Record Drawings.

Ric Hammond, AIA

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'm surprised there weren't more from the Civil
engineering side. Again thanks...JoeB

 

....at least insofar as the State of Nevada is concerned..(guess "Plan of
Record" slipped though the cracks)

....following are minutes from their registration board's 9/10/2003 meeting.

http://www.nsbaidrd.state.nv.us/pdfs/Minutes/2003-0910 Minutes.htm

W.




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AGENDA ITEM 10C: Discussion and possible decision whether
preparing "as-built drawings"

constitutes the practice of architecture



Board members discussed the differences between "as-built" and "record"
drawings, noting that oftentimes the words are used interchangeably.
"As-built drawings" are a historical record of what is already there.
As-built drawings can call out details, such as load-bearing walls. Anyone
can provide as-built drawings, because a recording of what already exists is
not the practice of architecture. It is acceptable for a non-registrant to
provide as-built drawings, even if he knows the building owner's intent is
to use them for a remodel. It is the responsibility of the design
professional or contractor, hired by the owner to do the remodel of the
space, to provide his own drawings.



"Record drawings" are often done upon completion of construction. Record
drawings must be done by a design professional because changes are being
made to the plans used to construct the building. These record drawings
incorporate changes made during construction.

 

as arch, you may not have use for "as-built".
in a mech enviro, we do it frequently, sometimes documenting things that never had record file.
for the guy working on machine, an as-built that reflects what is "really" there is very important.