Closeout terms
At closeout, as-built, redline and record drawing get used as if they meant the same thing, and then the team argues about who produces what and which version goes to the owner. This page separates the three words, shows where each usually fits, and follows a redline through to a Record revision in Fidrel.
30 days free · No long-term contract.
One contract says as-builts, the specifications say record drawings and the foreman says redlines. Nobody has written down which set the owner is owed, so each party assumes somebody else is preparing it.
A duct moved eight inches and a sleeve was added during rough-in. The change was sketched on a printed set, photographed once and forgotten, so the drawing the owner receives still shows the design intent.
By the end of the job a drawing exists as a design issue, a construction issue and a marked-up copy. The owner opens a folder and cannot tell which of them is the one to keep.
A redline is a field markup: the changes the trades and the superintendent draw on a working set as the building departs from the drawings. An as-built drawing is the cleaned-up version of those changes, showing the work as it was actually installed, and it is most often prepared by the contractor. A record drawing is the final set the owner keeps; in some contracts the design team issues it after incorporating the contractor’s changes, and in others the word is simply used for the contractor’s as-built set. The words overlap, which is why the contract matters more than the vocabulary: it says who prepares the set, what it must show and when it is due. Write the answer into your closeout plan so the question is settled before the last month of the job.
Documents, drawings & models
Fidrel does not draw a line between the words; it gives a revision a status. Working, Shared, For review and Approved cover the design and construction stages, Issued for construction is the set to build from, and Record (as-built) is the status for the revision that documents what was built. The same word appears in a transmittal as the purpose As-built record, and a transmittal for that purpose can only send revisions whose status is as-built. The project’s closeout folders have a place for each: Record drawings, Record specifications and Record submittals sit together under Record documents.
Step 1
Open the PDF sheet in the review viewer and draw a revision cloud, an arrow, text or freehand where the work differs from the design. Every markup is saved at once, gets its own number and thread, and can be given a status.
Step 2
Whoever prepares the record set under your contract uploads the corrected sheet with the same document number. Fidrel offers it as New version of that number and keeps the earlier versions with their date and change note.
Step 3
Use Change status and choose Record (as-built). Only an administrator or a document controller can set it, and the status history keeps who did it and when, with an optional comment.
Step 4
Issue it in a transmittal with the purpose As-built record, which accepts only as-built revisions, or collect it in the Export center as one ZIP file with a CSV list. The closeout checklist has lines for record drawings and record specifications to check off.
Two routes lead to the owner. A transmittal sends personal links by e-mail, tracks who opened them and locks once issued, so the record of what was sent cannot be changed afterwards. The Export center downloads folders as one ZIP file with a CSV list of the files. For an owner who runs a building, the current revision of the project’s documents can also be copied into facility management, where the closeout checklist follows each turnover item as missing, submitted or approved.
Fidrel does not redraw a sheet and does not check a record drawing against the building, so the accuracy of the record set rests with whoever prepares it. Record (as-built) is a status label that an administrator or document controller sets; it is not a certification by Fidrel, and it does not say who must prepare the set, because your contract decides that. A DWG sheet is shown in the viewer but never edited, so a change to a CAD file is made in the CAD program and the new file is uploaded as a new version.
Your trial applies to your first own project and starts when that project is created. No card required. Afterwards, choose card or invoice to continue.
The project system of the future connects people, documents and decisions. Discover the thinking behind Fidrel.
Read more
On site, answers need to be close at hand. Fidrel displays DWG drawings in your mobile browser, within the project’s document structure.
Read more
When everyone can see the next step, moving the project forward becomes easier. Fidrel brings activities, dates and reported progress together in a shared Gantt view.
Read moreOften they are used for the same set, but not always. Some contracts treat as-builts as the contractor’s marked-up changes and record drawings as the final set issued from them. Check what your contract calls each one.
A redline is a markup made in the field on a working set to show where the work differs from the design. It is the raw material for the as-built drawing and is not the final set by itself.
Upload the final sheet as a new version, then use Change status and choose Record (as-built). Only an administrator or a document controller can set that status.
Yes. Use a transmittal with the purpose As-built record, which sends only as-built revisions, or download the folders from the Export center as a ZIP file with a CSV list.
No. Fidrel keeps the sheets, their statuses and their history. Whether a drawing shows the work as built is for the person who prepares it and the party who accepts it.
A DWG is shown in the viewer but not edited. Make the change in the CAD program, upload the result as a new version, or mark up a PDF of the sheet.
