What are shop drawings?
Architectural and design drawings communicate the overall design intent of a project. Shop drawings take a specific component of that design and develop it further for fabrication.
For a custom retail fixture, for example, the design drawings may establish its overall dimensions, appearance, materials and relationship to the space. The shop drawings can develop that information into exact dimensions, material thicknesses, construction details, hardware locations, connections, attachment methods and other information necessary to manufacture and install the fixture.
A simple way to understand the relationship is:
Design Intent → Shop Drawings → Fabrication → Installation
Shop drawings don’t replace the architectural or design drawings. They develop a specific scope of work based on them.
Why do I need shop drawings?
There can be a significant amount of information between knowing what something should look like and knowing exactly how to build it.
Consider a custom wall-mounted display. The design drawings may establish its size, material and appearance, but fabrication raises another set of questions:
How thick are the materials? How are the components joined? What hardware is being used? How does it attach to the wall? Where does integrated lighting run? What dimensions need to be verified in the field? How does the fixture coordinate with adjacent construction?
Shop drawings provide an opportunity to resolve these questions before fabrication begins, when changes are generally much easier to address.
The shop drawing and submittal process is an established part of construction precisely because reviewing this information before fabrication can help identify discrepancies, coordination problems and misunderstandings before they become more costly problems in production or on site.
When do I need shop drawings?
Not every product or component in a retail project requires a shop drawing.
They are particularly common for custom-fabricated or highly coordinated scopes such as:
Architectural millwork and custom retail fixtures
Metal fabrication
Glass and glazing
Doors and hardware
Signage
Stone fabrication
Other custom assemblies or systems
The exact requirements depend on the project and its contract documents.
For a custom retail element, the process commonly looks something like:
Design Documentation → Fabricator Selected → Field Verification & Coordination → Shop Drawings → Review / Submittal → Fabrication → Installation
Where shop drawings are required as submittals under standard AIA contract documents, the relevant work generally should not be performed until the required submittal has gone through the specified review process.
Who produces shop drawings?
Shop drawings are typically prepared by or on behalf of the party responsible for the fabrication or construction of that particular scope.
For custom millwork, that will commonly be the millworker. For custom metalwork, it may be the metal fabricator. Manufacturers and specialty subcontractors may produce their own shop drawings as well.
The architect or designer may review those drawings for conformance with the design intent and information contained in the contract documents, but that is different from producing them.
This distinction matters. Under standard AIA practice, the contractor remains responsible for items such as field dimensions, fabrication processes, construction techniques and coordination of its work even after the architect reviews the submittal.
Are shop drawings the same as architectural drawings?
No.
Architectural and design drawings establish the project’s design requirements and communicate the intended result.
Shop drawings show how a particular contractor, fabricator or supplier proposes to execute its portion of that design.
In standard construction contracts, shop drawings are generally treated as submittals rather than Contract Documents themselves. They demonstrate how a particular portion of the work will conform to the requirements established by the Contract Documents.
For retail projects involving custom fabrication, understanding this distinction is important. A design can be complete enough to communicate exactly what a fixture should be while still requiring another level of technical development before that fixture is ready to manufacture.