Remodeling details: As we mentioned, existing-conditions drawings are more detailed than their as-built counterparts.
Regardless, we can create a set of drawings that accurately captures the conditions of your building, as is. Oftentimes, MEP drawings are misplaced, the MEP infrastructure is changed as it is installed, or the MEP drawings may be inaccurate. We can take measurements to render MEP drawings that capture the structure and infrastructure of your building.
No existing MEP drawings: If you don’t have existing MEP drawings, it may be impossible to renovate or remodel.
We can render existing-conditions drawings which detail the location of specific elements of your building, so that contractors, engineers, and designers can move forward with your upcoming project.
Building off of current MEP systems: Whether you need to expand ductwork for an existing centralized HVAC system or you need to add a new electrical zone for outlets of a renovation, your project may be reliant on current MEP systems.
When Are Existing-Conditions Drawing Necessary?Įxisting-conditions drawings may be useful in the following scenarios: Similarly, you may need to create drawings that display emergency exits and exit procedures for your tenants. For example, if you have a maintenance staff that works on your multi-unit development, it could prove handy to have plans that map out the locations of shut-off valves for each of your buildings.
Information for operations and maintenance staff: If you have staff that will need quick access to information about your property, you may need to draft up as-built drawings to put this information in their hands.
Rentable space, livable space, and gross area: If you need to recalculate the total space of buildings on your property for sales purposes, tenant documentation, etc., as-built drawings can accommodate your needs.
Blueprints and drafts age and weather, and over time, smudges and sun damage can render a plan completely illegible.
The plans are illegible: If you have plans that are partially or fully illegible, we can draft up a new set of architectural plans.
We can create new architectural drafts from scratch again, we’ll simply need accurate measurements of the building.
There were never any plans: With older buildings, architectural drawings may never have existed.
The plans are simply gone: If the plans for your building can’t be found, we can recreate the drawings according to your measurements.
We can redraft current architectural plans to show design changes implemented for the construction process.
Construction processes required plan modification: As plans are handed from architect to contractor, modifications may be necessary (or preferred).
We find that as-built drawings are necessary for a number or reasons: Existing-conditions drawings are also usually smaller in scale - we may render a room or two at a time for an existing-conditions project, whereas an as-built project may include several floorplans in a multi-unit development. If you’re tacking on an addition to a building, for example, you may need existing-conditions MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) drawings so that these infrastructural elements can be planned for and expanded on. On the other hand, existing conditions drawings may be necessary for more in-depth purposes. Or, you may use as-built drawings to show the total square footage of a development, when its original blueprints are outdated, lost, or inaccurate due to renovations over the years. For example, you may need an as-built drawing to display the existing wood structure of a building so that you can draft new millwork plans for an upcoming addition. However, as-built drawings are usually less detailed, and they may only include information that is pertinent to a certain project. The Difference Between As-Built & Existing-Conditions Drawingsīoth as-built and existing-conditions drawings are rendered post-construction.