Site changes that never reach the drawing
A duct is rerouted around a beam and the change is agreed in a conversation. Unless someone marks it up and the drawing is revised, the record keeps showing the original route.
As-built drawings
As-built drawings: the record of what was actually constructed
As-built drawings, also called as-constructed or record drawings, show a building as it was finally built rather than as it was designed to be built. They earn their keep long after practical completion, when someone has to trace a service route, plan an alteration or find out what lies behind a wall. Fidrel treats them as a status on the drawing’s own chain of revisions, sends them under a suitability of their own and files them by discipline for handover.
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Where as-built drawings go wrong
The last construction issue relabelled
At handover the latest construction issue is renamed as-built without a check, because the deadline is tomorrow and nobody can say which sheets changed on site.
Records scattered by trade
Each subcontractor sends its set in its own way, and the facilities team receives a folder in which superseded revisions sit beside final ones.
As-built, as-constructed and record drawings
The three names are used for much the same thing. As-built and as-constructed describe the content: the drawing shows what was built, including changes made on site. Record drawing describes the purpose: the set kept for the life of the building. On many projects the contractor marks up the construction issue as the work proceeds and the designer, or the contractor’s own designer, produces the final revision from those mark-ups. Who is responsible is set by the contract and the appointments, not by the software.
Documents, drawings & models
How it differs from the construction issue
A construction issue tells the site what to build; an as-built drawing records what was built. In Fidrel they are two statuses within the same chain of revisions: Published for construction for the revision the site works from, and As-constructed record for the final record. Because every revision keeps its own status, the Versions tab of a drawing shows both, with the construction issue still marked Published for construction below the as-built revision.
Recording and handing over as-built drawings in Fidrel
Step 1
Upload the as-built revision
Upload the final drawing under its existing number, so it becomes the next revision of the same drawing and the construction issue stays in the history beneath it.
Step 2
Set the status As-constructed record
An administrator or document controller sets the revision’s status to As-constructed record, with an optional comment that goes into the status history with their name and the date.
Step 3
Issue it as an as-built record
Start a transmittal with the suitability As-built record. Fidrel only lets revisions with the status As-constructed record into it, and checks that rule again at the moment of issue.
Step 4
File it for handover
In facilities management, an administrator copies the current revision into the as-built folder for its discipline, and the matching line of the handover checklist is set from Outstanding to Submitted and then to Approved.
The UK handover template
In a UK project the facilities folders include 03 As-built drawings and models, whose subfolders include architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and public health drawings, fire strategy drawings, and external works and drainage. The handover checklist template has a line each for as-built architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical drawings, under the heading As-built information. Each line has a responsible party, a due date and one of the statuses Outstanding, Submitted, Approved or Not applicable, and approving it records who did so and when.
Copies that know when they are out of date
Copying into the facilities folders takes the current revision and leaves the project’s own documents where they are. If the project later receives a newer revision, the copy shows Newer in the project with its revision, and an administrator can fetch it. When the whole set has to leave Fidrel, the Export centre downloads the folders as a ZIP and can add a CSV list of the files.
What Fidrel does not do with as-built drawings
Fidrel does not check an as-built drawing against the building: the status As-constructed record is set by a person with the right to set it, and Fidrel cannot tell whether the drawing is accurate. It does not produce as-built drawings either: review markups and site diary notes are not merged into the drawing, and someone still has to revise the file. The handover template is a starting point, not a statement of what a contract requires.
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As-built drawings
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usDrawings that show the works as they were finally constructed, including the changes made on site, kept as the record for operation, maintenance and any later alteration of the building.
It depends on the contract. Often the contractor records changes on site and the designer, or the contractor’s designer, revises the drawings, but the appointment documents decide who is responsible.
In everyday use, largely yes. Some teams keep record drawing for the final set issued for the life of the building, and use as-built for the marked-up copies kept on site during the works.
Only project administrators and document controllers. The database refuses that status from anyone else, and every change is kept in the revision’s status history.
No. A transmittal with the suitability As-built record accepts only revisions with the status As-constructed record, and the database checks the rule again when the transmittal is issued.