The contractor usually receives his job from the architect or developer who needs "shop drawings" for their approval before any furniture construction begins. The architect does not and will not do shop drawings, but he does expect the contractor to provide him with detailed drawings of his sketches for his approval.
Shop drawings are a great insurance policy. Everybody gets to be on the same page and paper is still less expensive than wood. I can't recall how many times I almost had a job completely drawn only to find out that the design had serious problems. When something like that happens with wood, it becomes a huge problem and much more expensive.
The contractor is obligated by the contract documents to submit shop drawings, product data, and samples for certain parts of the work. The architect is obligated by the owner-architect agreement to “review and approve or take other appropriate action upon Contractor’s submittals such as Shop Drawings, Product Data and Samples....” (B-141, Subparagraph 2.6.4). This is included among the architect’s Contract Administration Services.
Shop Drawings are drawings, diagrams, schedules and other data specially prepared for the Work by the Contractor or a Subcontractor, Sub-subcontractor, manufacturer, supplier or distributor to illustrate some portion of the Work.” (A201, 3.12.1)
How to prepare shop drawings? The best way to do shop drawings is AutoCAD software. It’s very powerful software although it’s quite complicated.
There are many books in bookstores regarding AutoCAD you can learn it from them. It usually takes 1 to 3 years to learn it well.
You can hire a professional drafts man who will do it for you. Typical rate for good AutoCAD drafts man is $39 per hour. It’s quite expensive so I recommend you to use one of outsourcing companies witch charge usually around $100 per page 24”x36”. I’ve been using http://www.thebluedrawings.com company for over 3 years now and I can truly recommend them.
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