What a multifamily construction document set contains
The sheet list for a mid-rise podium building, series by series in National CAD Standard order, with what each sheet shows and how the list changes from a 10-unit walk-up to a 150-unit building.
The set as a system
A construction document set is the contract between the design and the building: the drawings a plan reviewer approves, a contractor prices and a superintendent builds from. On a multifamily building it is also a large set, because the building repeats. Every unit type, stair, corridor and assembly is drawn once at a scale that can be built from, and every plan refers to those drawings instead of repeating them.
That structure is what makes a set readable. A reviewer who opens sheet A-101 expects a floor plan, and a reviewer who follows a callout to A-501 expects a detail. The convention most US offices follow for those numbers is the Uniform Drawing System of the US National CAD Standard, published by the National Institute of Building Sciences. Many offices keep their own numbering, and the studio draws to whichever convention your office uses. Where there is none, the NCS is the one plan reviewers read fastest.
How a sheet number is built
The NCS sheet identifier has three parts: a discipline designator, a one-digit sheet type designator and a two-digit sequence number. A-101 is the first plan sheet in the A series; S-501 is the first detail sheet in the structural series. A one-letter discipline takes a hyphen (A-101), and a two-letter one does not (AD101), per UDS Module 1, section 1.3.
Sheet type designators
| Digit | Sheet type |
|---|---|
| 0 | General: symbols, legends, notes |
| 1 | Plans |
| 2 | Elevations |
| 3 | Sections, including wall sections |
| 4 | Large-scale views: enlarged plans, elevations or sections that are not details |
| 5 | Details |
| 6 | Schedules and diagrams |
| 7 and 8 | User defined, including typical detail sheets |
| 9 | 3D representations: isometrics, perspectives |
Source: NCS Uniform Drawing System, Module 1.
Discipline order
The NCS lists its Level 1 discipline designators in the order a set is bound. For a multifamily building the ones in use are usually:
| Designator | Series | Prepared by |
|---|---|---|
| G | General | Your office |
| V | Survey | Surveyor |
| C | Civil | Civil engineer |
| L | Landscape | Landscape consultant |
| S | Structural | Structural engineer |
| A | The building sheets your office issues | Your office |
| I | Interiors | Your office or an interiors consultant |
| F | Fire protection | Fire protection engineer or contractor |
| P | Plumbing | Plumbing engineer |
| M | Mechanical | Mechanical engineer |
| E | Electrical | Electrical engineer |
| T | Telecommunications | Low-voltage consultant |
Source: NCS Uniform Drawing System, Module 1, Level 1 discipline designators.
The G series
The general sheets are short and read first. On a multifamily building they hold more than on most building types, because the code and accessibility strategy has to be legible before any plan is.
- G-001 cover sheet. Project name, address and parcel number, owner and consultant directory, a location map, the governing codes by edition, and the deferred submittals.
- G-002 sheet index. Every sheet in every series, with its current issue and revision.
- G-003 general notes, symbols and abbreviations.
- Code analysis sheets. Occupancy, construction type, allowable and actual height, stories and area per building, sprinkler system, fire separation and exiting, with the code section for each figure. On a podium building there is one analysis per building above and below the separation; the podium code guide sets out what that analysis has to show.
- Exiting and fire separation plans. Each floor with exit paths, travel distances, occupant loads, and the rated walls and assemblies color-coded by rating.
- Accessibility sheets. The unit matrix, the accessible route diagrams and the accessibility notes. In California these set out the Chapter 11A and 11B requirements; see the 11A and 11B guide.
- Energy and green building forms. In California the Energy Code requires the certificate of compliance to be incorporated into the plans wherever the department requires plans (Section 10-103(a)2).
The A series
These are the sheets your office issues under its own stamp, and they make up most of the set on a multifamily building.
| Sheets | What they show |
|---|---|
| A-0 site and general | Site plan, fire access and hydrants, the property line and setbacks, the open space diagram, the trash and loading plan |
| A-1 plans | Every floor from the lowest garage level to the roof, with walls typed, doors and windows tagged, units and rooms named, and dimensions to grid |
| A-1 reflected ceiling plans | Ceiling heights, soffits and fixtures in the common areas, and the unit ceilings where they vary |
| A-1 roof plan | Slopes, drains and overflows, equipment, the roof deck if there is one, and access |
| A-2 exterior elevations | Every face of the building with materials keyed, openings tagged and heights dimensioned to the grade plane |
| A-3 building and wall sections | Sections through the podium, the cores and the courtyards, and wall sections at every change in assembly |
| A-4 enlarged plans | Every unit type, the stairs, the elevators, the lobbies, the trash rooms, the mail area and the accessible units |
| A-4 interior elevations | Kitchens and bathrooms for each unit type, and the common area walls that need them |
| A-5 details | Wall, floor, roof and shaft assemblies with their fire and acoustic ratings, openings and waterproofing, the podium deck, balconies, parapets and roof edges |
| A-6 schedules | Doors, windows, finishes, rooms, unit areas and fixtures, generated from the model where the model holds the data |
The enlarged plans are where a multifamily set is different from most. A 150-unit building might have a dozen unit types, each drawn once at a large scale with every dimension, fixture and clearance, so the floor plans can stay at a scale that fits a floor on a sheet. The accessible units and the mirrored variants each get their own enlarged plan or a clear note on the unit that governs.
The consultant series
The consultant sheets are prepared and stamped by their own engineers, and your office coordinates them. The set only reads as one when the backgrounds match.
- C civil: grading, drainage, utilities, the stormwater plan and the street improvements.
- L landscape: planting, hardscape, irrigation, the courtyard and the podium deck landscape.
- S structural: foundations, the podium slab and transfer structure, the wood framing plans above, shear walls, holdowns and the details for each.
- F fire protection: often a deferred submittal, with the system type and the riser locations shown on the building sheets.
- P, M and E: plumbing, mechanical and electrical plans, riser diagrams, unit plans for each system, schedules and the energy compliance forms.
Coordination is the part of the set a plan reviewer and a contractor test hardest: a shaft that moves between the plans and the mechanical sheets, a holdown that lands in a door opening, a drain that has nowhere to go at the podium deck. Keeping the consultant backgrounds current in the model, and logging what changed at each issue, is most of that work.
How the list scales
The series stay the same from the smallest building to the largest; the number of sheets in each changes.
| Building | What changes in the set |
|---|---|
| A 10-unit walk-up on an infill lot | One code analysis sheet, a handful of plans, two or three unit types on one enlarged plan sheet, often no podium and no garage. The civil and landscape series can be a few sheets each |
| A 50-unit wood building over a garage | Two buildings in the code analysis, a podium deck plan and a transfer structure, more unit types, and a full exiting and accessibility series |
| A 150-unit podium building with retail | Several podium levels, commercial space under Chapter 11B accessibility rules in California, a dozen or more unit types, fire walls in the wood building, and a structural series as large as the building sheets |
A new project's sheet list is set out before drawing starts, with every sheet named and numbered. It becomes the backbone of the schedule and the fee, and it is how a scope is agreed with a production team: the studio's pilot packages are fixed as a sheet list with a delivery date; see construction documents.
Before an issue
Every sheet in the set has a title block, and every title block has to agree with the index, the cover and the revision history. The title-block check lists the 14 items the studio checks on each sheet before any issue leaves for your office.