Guide

The title-block check, 14 items every sheet passes before issue

Fourteen items every sheet in a construction set passes before it leaves the office, why each one matters to a plan checker or a contractor, and how to check it in Revit.

By Lucas Rebouças, Founder · · 7 min read
Typology study: brick apartment building on a city corner over a glazed ground floor, planted terraces stepping down one flank, rowhouses beyond.
Typology study · illustrative rendering

Why a title-block check

A plan checker reads the title block before reading the drawing on the sheet. A contractor's estimator does the same. When the sheet number disagrees with the index, or the issue date on one sheet disagrees with the cover, the reader stops trusting the rest of the set, and the result is a correction item or a request for information about a question the drawings already answer.

The 14 items below are the check TECTO Studio applies to every sheet before any issue, as part of every engagement. Most of them take seconds per sheet once the Revit set is built to support them, because the model can report the mismatch before a person has to find it. The sections after the list explain each item and the Revit tool that checks it.

The 14 items

  1. Sheet number matches the sheet index and the cover.
  2. Sheet title matches the index and the views on the sheet.
  3. Project name and job number match the cover.
  4. Issue name and date match the cover and the transmittal.
  5. Revision number, delta and cloud match the revision block.
  6. Scale stated on every view, with a graphic scale on sheets that may print at another size.
  7. North arrow on every plan.
  8. Key plan on every sheet that draws part of the building.
  9. Every view has a number, a title and a scale that match its callout.
  10. Every callout resolves to a drawn view on a real sheet.
  11. Keynotes, legends and abbreviations match what is drawn.
  12. Consultant references match the consultant's current issue.
  13. Drawn by and Checked by hold a name and a date.
  14. Approved by and the stamp box are left for your architect of record.

Identity: items 1 to 3

Sheet number, index and cover. The sheet index is the table of contents a plan checker uses to find every drawing. A sheet missing from the index, or listed under a number it no longer has, sends the reviewer looking and usually produces a comment. In Revit, build the index as a sheet list schedule (View tab, Schedules, Sheet List) and place it on the cover. The schedule reads the sheet number and name straight from each sheet, so the index cannot drift from the sheets it lists. Sheets drawn by consultants, which sit in their own models, go in the same schedule as placeholder sheets, so the index covers the whole set.

Sheet title and the views on it. A sheet titled "Level 3 Floor Plan" that now shows levels 3 to 5 is a small error that costs a reader time. Compare the title with the view titles placed on the sheet at every issue, above all after views are moved between sheets late in CDs.

Project name and job number. These should come from one place. In Revit, the title block's project labels read the Project Information parameters, which are set once for the whole model. A title block with typed text in place of those labels is the usual source of a sheet with last year's job number.

The issue: items 4 and 5

Issue name and date. Every sheet in an issue shows the same issue name ("Plan Check Submittal 2", "Bid Set") and the same date, and both match the cover and the transmittal that goes with the set. In Revit, the Sheet Issue Date is a sheet property separate from the project issue date, and it can be set for many sheets in one step by selecting them in the project browser. A sheet list schedule with the issue date as a column shows any sheet that was missed.

Revision number, delta and cloud. A revised sheet needs three things that agree: the cloud around the change, the delta tag with the revision number, and the revision block that lists it. Plan checkers look for the cloud to find what changed since the last round. In Revit, revisions are defined once in the Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog. A revision cloud drawn in a view on a sheet adds that revision to the sheet's revision schedule on its own, and the sheet's Revisions on Sheet property shows which revisions are on the sheet (Autodesk help: Issue a Revision). Check that every revised sheet has a cloud in the right place, and that no sheet lists a revision that changed nothing on it.

Reading the drawing: items 6 to 8

Scale on every view. A view without a scale cannot be measured, and a reviewer who measures a plan to check a clearance needs one. Sets are also printed at half size for the field and for review, so sheets that may print at another size need a graphic scale, which stays correct at any print size. The view title family is the natural place for the scale, because it reads the view's scale from the model.

North arrow on every plan. Site plans, floor plans, roof plans and enlarged plans each need a north arrow, and on a rotated building the arrow shows true north as the survey gives it. Check enlarged plans in particular; they are the ones most often placed without it.

Key plan on partial sheets. A multifamily building large enough to split across match lines needs a key plan on every sheet that draws part of it, with the part shaded. The reviewer then knows which wing, which segment or which podium bay the sheet shows without reading the grid lines.

References: items 9 and 10

View number, title and scale match the callout. Every section, elevation, callout and detail on a sheet has a number and a title, and the symbol that points to it elsewhere shows the same number and sheet. In Revit, a callout, section or elevation tag reads its detail number and sheet number from the view once that view is placed on a sheet, so the reference updates when the view moves. The check here is the title: the view name in the model, or the Title on Sheet parameter where it is used, should say what the view shows.

Every callout resolves. A callout that points to a view that was never placed on a sheet, or to a drafting view deleted during a cleanup, is a reference to nothing. Reviewers and contractors both follow references, and a dead one becomes a comment or an RFI. In Revit, a reference to a view that is not on any sheet has no sheet number to display, so a blank or missing sheet number in a callout head marks the problem. A schedule of views with the sheet number as a column shows every view that is not placed.

Content: items 11 and 12

Keynotes, legends and abbreviations. A keynote legend on a sheet should list the keynotes used on that sheet and no others, and an abbreviation used on the drawings should appear in the abbreviation list. Revit keynotes come from a keynote file, a tab-delimited text file your office maintains (Autodesk help: About Editing the Keynote File), and a keynote legend can be set to list only the keynotes on the sheet where it sits. Check that the keynote file linked to the model is the office's current one.

Consultant references. Structural grids, shaft sizes, equipment locations and civil grades on the building sheets must match the consultant's current issue. The check is a date check first: note on the sheet, or in the issue log, which consultant issue the backgrounds come from, and confirm that it is the latest one received.

Roles: items 13 and 14

Drawn by and Checked by. Revit sheets hold Drawn By, Checked By and Approved By as sheet properties, which the title block displays. Drawn by and Checked by hold the name and date of the people who did those tasks. On a set drawn by a production team outside the office, these fields make the division of work visible, which supports the record of instruction and review California asks for; see the responsible control guide.

Approved by and the stamp. The approval field and the stamp box belong to your architect of record, who approves the set and stamps it as the licensee in responsible control. A production team leaves both empty.

Building the check into the template

The fastest title-block check is one the template makes easy. Four settings do most of the work:

  • A sheet list schedule on the cover, with the sheet number, name, issue date and current revision as columns.
  • Title block labels that read Project Information and sheet properties, with no typed text in the title block.
  • A view title family that shows the view's number, title and scale.
  • A schedule of views with the sheet number as a column, filtered to show views not on a sheet.

The standards handoff guide covers how to pass that template to a team outside your office. For the full list of sheets the check applies to, see the multifamily CD sheet list.

After the issue

A title-block check before issue cuts the correction items that come from the set's own inconsistencies, so the plan checker's comments are about the building. When the comments come back, the same numbering and revision discipline makes the resubmittal easier to assemble; see plan check corrections.

Sources

Related
ServiceConstruction documents for multifamily buildingsThe full sheet list for a multifamily building, drawn in your Revit model and on your template, and checked sheet by sheet before it reaches your office.GuideWhat a multifamily construction document set containsThe 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.September 30, 2026ServicePlan check corrections for multifamily setsCorrections answered on the sheets, with revised sheets clouded and numbered, a response keyed to every comment and a dated log for your office.