Shop drawings are one type of submittal. A submittal is anything the contractor sends to the design team for review before building or installing it: shop drawings, product data sheets, samples, mock-ups, calculations, test reports. Shop drawings are the contractor's or fabricator's own detailed drawings showing how a specific element will be made and installed, for example steel connections, precast panels, ductwork runs or a custom staircase. Every shop drawing is a submittal; most submittals are not shop drawings.
Shop drawings vs submittals at a glance
| Submittal (the category) | Shop drawing (one type) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Any document or item sent for design-team review | Fabrication and installation drawings for a specific element |
| Who prepares it | Contractor, subcontractors, suppliers | Fabricator, subcontractor or their detailer |
| Examples | Product data, samples, colour charts, warranties, calculations, shop drawings | Steel shop drawings, rebar schedules, curtain wall drawings, millwork drawings |
| Purpose of review | Confirm conformance with the design intent and specifications | Confirm the fabricator understood the design and that the details fit |
| Where it is required | Listed in the specification sections (often a submittal schedule) | Called for in specific specification sections |
What types of submittals are there?
- Shop drawings: dimensioned drawings of how an element is fabricated and installed.
- Product data: manufacturer's data sheets, cut sheets, installation instructions.
- Samples: physical pieces of finishes, colours, materials.
- Mock-ups: full-size assemblies built on site or in the factory for approval.
- Calculations and test reports: structural calculations by the fabricator's engineer, fire or acoustic test certificates.
- Closeout submittals: warranties, operation and maintenance manuals, as-built drawings.
How the submittal review works
- The subcontractor prepares the submittal and sends it to the general contractor.
- The general contractor checks it against the contract documents, stamps it as reviewed, and forwards it with a transmittal.
- The architect and the relevant engineers review it for conformance with the design intent.
- The reviewer marks it up and returns it with a review stamp.
- If it comes back "revise and resubmit", the cycle repeats with a new revision.
What do the review stamps mean?
| Stamp | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No exceptions taken / Approved | Proceed as submitted |
| Make corrections noted / Approved as noted | Proceed, incorporating the reviewer's markups; no resubmission needed |
| Revise and resubmit | Do not proceed; correct and send a new revision |
| Rejected | Does not meet the requirements; a different product or approach is needed |
| Reviewed for information only / Not reviewed | Received but not subject to review |
Exact wording varies by office and contract. The reviewer's stamp usually also says that the review is only for general conformance with the design concept, and that the contractor remains responsible for dimensions, quantities and coordination.
Reviewing shop drawings as PDFs
Most shop drawings now arrive as PDFs, often large ones exported from fabrication software. The review itself is markup work: revision clouds around problems, comments, a few dimensions checked, and a review stamp. In Ncored, the PDF editor we built in our architecture studio, you can place your own office's review stamp as an image (upload it once and reuse it), cloud and comment the issues, and measure lengths and areas against the drawing scale. The markups are saved as standard PDF annotations, so the contractor sees them in Adobe Acrobat or any other PDF viewer. It runs on Windows and Mac. See reviewing and stamping shop drawings and how to redline a PDF drawing.
Frequently asked questions
Are shop drawings part of the contract documents?
Usually not. Under most standard contracts shop drawings are not contract documents; they show how the contractor proposes to meet the contract documents.
Who approves shop drawings?
The architect or engineer of record reviews them for conformance with the design intent. The general contractor reviews them first for coordination with the rest of the work.
What is a submittal schedule?
A list, usually prepared by the contractor from the specifications, of every submittal required on the project with its planned submission and review dates.
What is the difference between shop drawings and as-built drawings?
Shop drawings show how something will be made before fabrication. As-built drawings record what was actually built after construction. See what are as-built drawings.
Related: what is a transmittal, what is an RFI, types of construction documents.