Importance of Fabrication Shop Drawings in Construction Industry

Overview

A Shop Drawing is the base for steel fabrication and is very important in the AEC industry. A fabrication shop drawing is a set of drawings made by the fabricator to utilize detailing services given by detailers in contract with the owner and use drawn information in the construction documents.  These drawings provide sections and views containing dimensions, welding information, fabrication standards, details, and are generated to simplify the fabrication process. Shop drawings are made perfectly with all necessary details marks greater chances for architectural approvals and increase the profitability of the project.

Earlier shop drawings were manually created but later as the industry became booming it lead to developing software such as AutoCAD, Tekla, and Revit for initiating detailed steel shop drawings to convey the information of the components that how are they built, erected and installed. Fabrication shop drawing includes details about elements used in the process of building structures such as elevators, windows, trusses, and cabinets. Material information along with dimensions is obtained which allows fabricators to understand the quantity of material required for the components. It helps to acquire accuracy and precision along with all the elements used in building the structures.

Types of Fabrication drawings

Metal fabrication drawings: – It includes metal components that are used in building that depicts information about manufacture, supply, assembly and installation which comprises of structural steel fabrication shop drawings and sheet metal drawings.

Mechanical fabrication drawings: – Mechanical fabrication drawings and details comprise of a set of drawings that are required for design, manufacture, and installation of prefabricated components designed for the fabricator, contractor, and supplier.

Single part drawings: – It focuses more on the complex details of the construction project. These drawings comprise of details about cutting materials, its dimensions and weight of all components.

Assembly drawings: – Once a single part drawing is ready, these drawings are then sent to the welder to assemble accompanied by assembly drawings which include information on bill of materials and finishes.

General arrangement drawings: – These drawings are master plans, where information is gathered when all the components fit each other to create one unit.

Benefits of Steel shop Drawings

Fabrication shop drawings are equally important for the contractor and fabricator to evaluate all the information very carefully and if drawings are incorrect that can lend you spend more cost, resources and time along with damaging erected structures and safety of workers. Great fabrication drawings can give you many benefits such as:-

Accuracy

Steel shop drawings depict essential detailed components drawings that are going to be used in the building. Detailed shop drawings could help to get accurate information to fabricate and install components correctly.  It will help the fabricator to assemble the structures properly by given specifications.

Fabrication Standards

All the people associated with the AEC industry knows the rigid standard tests and quality assurance checks that the fabrication drawings. If the QA test is not conducted and construction work begins, it can later create a lot of problems like delays and wastage. So the fabrication shop drawing must meet the industry standards and give timely delivery.

Bifurcation of two subsets

Detailed drawings of components consist of two different drawing sets that include shop drawing detail and erection drawing detail. Shop drawings incorporate manufacturing of steel components whereas erection drawing shows an installation of all the components on the construction site.

Foundation

Framing plan showcases detailed drawings which fetch information related to a number of beams and columns that are required for creating the structure of steel components. This helps to know drilling holes, angles and much more.

Safe Drawings & Constant Work Approach

Lack of material or low supply can cripple the construction work. So fabrication drawings need to be accurate and correct only then proper scheduling is possible for materials. Buildings made with consideration of shop drawings that meet the industry standards and liable it will help in sustainable building with fewer chances of worker accidents.

Conclusion

In such a dynamic and rapid moving construction industry, fabricators are not able to complete their work with facing many problems in schedules planning and longer material lead-time, but with software, all these problems can be cured enriching the shop drawing to be accurate and precise. Structural Steel Shop Drawings helps in maintaining accuracy, depict fewer human errors, reduce rework costs and invent better ways for the contractors, suppliers, and fabricators to construct buildings appropriately.