Shop drawings
Shop drawings are detailed fabrication and installation drawings produced by a contractor, supplier or fabricator, showing exactly how a specified element will be made and installed, and submitted for review before it is.
Also known as: Fabrication drawings · Submittal drawings
The architect draws intent. The fabricator draws reality. Shop drawings are the second of those: the millwork shop, the stair builder, the steel fabricator or the window supplier takes the design drawings and site measurements and produces the dimensioned detail they will actually build from, then submits it for review before anything is cut.
Where they cost money is time. A shop drawing that sits unreviewed holds up fabrication, fabrication holds up delivery, and delivery holds up a trade that is already booked. The worked example below follows one through two revisions, and the delay shows up weeks before the stair is missing from site.
Design drawings and shop drawings
Design drawings say what the finished element has to achieve and look like: the size, the performance, the finish. Shop drawings say how one particular supplier will make it: every dimension, joint, fixing, material and tolerance, often from measurements taken on site after the structure is up.
Shop drawings are one kind of submittal, alongside product data, samples and mock-ups. An RFI is a different instrument: it asks a question. A shop drawing review often raises one, as it does in the example below.
What the review stamp covers
A design professional reviewing shop drawings is usually checking conformance with the design intent, not checking the fabricator's measurements or approving their methods. Responsibility for dimensions taken on site normally stays with whoever took them. Review stamps usually say so in small print that is worth reading before you rely on one.
The common dispositions are reviewed with no exceptions, reviewed as noted (proceed, following the notes), revise and resubmit (do not proceed), and rejected. If a shop drawing proposes something different from the design, say so on the submission rather than leaving it to be spotted. Do not assume a change is accepted because the drawing that contains it came back stamped; if it affects price or time, it is a change order under your contract.
Revisions and document control
Every resubmission gets the next revision number, and the earlier one stays on file marked superseded. The rule on site is to build only from the latest reviewed revision, which means the copy in the site folder or on the tablet has to be that revision and not the one somebody printed last month.
The log is what makes that checkable: each revision, when it went in, when it came back, and with what disposition. A submittal log with one row per revision gives you that history without a document control system.
Doing this in BuildersBridge
There is no shop drawing or submittal workflow in BuildersBridge, and no drawing markup or revision control. Each reviewed revision can be stored against the job as a drawing, with the revision in the file name, and you choose who can see it. The review itself, and the stamp, happen outside the product.
Worked example: a stair shop drawing through two revisions
| Date | What happened | Where it is recorded |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Aug 2026 | The stair fabricator sends rev 0: their dimensioned drawing of what they will build, from the architect's drawings and site measurements. | Submittal log, rev 0 |
| 14 Aug 2026 | Returned "Revise and resubmit". Headroom at the landing below the minimum shown on A-301. Raised as RFI-003. | Review stamp; RFI log |
| 12 Aug 2026 | RFI-003 asks the architect how to resolve "stair headroom at basement landing". | RFI log |
| 17 Aug 2026 | Rev 1 goes in, with a new revision number so rev 0 stays on file as superseded. | Submittal log, rev 1 |
| 29 Aug 2026 | Still with the reviewer, past its 10-day review period. Reviewer holding it until RFI-003 is answered. | Submittal log status |
| Item | Date |
|---|---|
| Needed on site | 21 Sep 2026 |
| Had to be submitted by (needed on site, less 4 weeks to fabricate and 10 days of review) | 14 Aug 2026 |
| Earliest on site if rev 1 came back today | 26 Sep 2026 |
| Late on site, already | 5 days |
A fictional job: the same basement as the submittal log and RFI template examples. Lead times and review periods come from your supplier and your contract.
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