Drawings sent three weeks ago, programme still says install next week
The drafter sent the shop drawings for a set of stair stringers and balustrade panels to the main contractor three weeks ago. One comment came back by phone about a handrail height. The architect's comments arrived as a marked up PDF on a different revision. The client's project manager has not replied at all.
The contractor's programme still has installation next Thursday. When it slips, the first question will be why the fabricator is late.
Why approvals drag on
For customers, approving your drawings is one task among many, and it is easy to put off. For you, it is the gate that everything else waits behind. The process usually lives in email, which makes it hard to see what is outstanding and easy for comments to go astray.
- Drawings go by email to one person, who forwards them on.
- Comments come back as emails, phone calls and marked up PDFs.
- Nobody tracks how long each drawing has been waiting.
- Comments are made on old revisions.
- Approval is sometimes verbal, with nothing in writing.
What waiting costs
Jobs that cannot start, leaving gaps in the shop plan and a crush later. Work started on drawings not yet approved to protect the date, then altered or scrapped when comments arrive. Disputes about who delayed the programme, with no record to settle it. And the drafter's time spent chasing rather than drawing.
The drawing approval portal we build
- Drawings for a job are uploaded to the portal with their revision, and each reviewer gets a link: contractor, architect, client, whoever the job needs.
- Reviewers can view the drawing, mark it up, add comments and choose approved, approved with comments, or revise and resubmit.
- Comments from all reviewers are gathered against the revision, so the drafter sees them together.
- Automatic reminders go to reviewers who have not responded, at intervals you set, with a copy to your project contact if it is getting close to the date.
- When a new revision is issued, previous comments are shown alongside, and reviewers are asked to approve the new one.
- A job only moves to cutting when every drawing in it is approved. The status board shows which drawings are waiting on whom and for how long.
| Drawing status | What happens |
|---|---|
| Issued for approval | Reviewers notified with a link |
| Waiting | Days waiting shown, reminders sent |
| Comments received | Drafter revises, previous comments kept |
| Approved | Released to nesting and cutting |
| Approved with comments | Drafter checks and confirms before release |
What changes on your jobs
Every drawing has a status and an age, so you can tell the contractor exactly which approvals are holding the programme. Comments arrive in one place, on the right revision. Cutting starts on approved drawings, which cuts rework. And if a dispute about delay comes up, the record shows when you issued the drawing and when it was approved.
Reviewers find it easier too. A link to view and approve is quicker than downloading a PDF, printing it and scanning it back.
Planning gets a better picture as well. Jobs waiting on approval can be shown on the shop plan as provisional, so the production manager knows what is likely to land and when, and can hold laser and brake time loosely rather than finding a large job released with no warning the day the last approval comes in.
And the drafter's time is spent drawing. The reminders go out on their own, and the drafter only steps in when a reviewer's comments need a conversation.
Are approvals holding up your shop?
- Drawings wait weeks for approval.
- Comments come back in several forms.
- Work has started on unapproved drawings.
- You have been blamed for delays caused by late approvals.
- Your drafter spends time chasing.