Print size feedback from a GC in Austin flipped my dimensioning habit

Last month a general contractor called me out on a set of shop drawings. I was putting overall dimensions on every single view. He said it looked like I was afraid to let the crew do basic math. Told me to only dimension what gets fabricated on site, not the whole assembly. I started stripping back to critical dims only, leaving the reference stuff off. Less clutter in the field, fewer redlines coming back. Took about a week to get comfortable with it. Has anyone else had a contractor give them notes that simplified their whole approach? What did they tell you to cut?

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elizabeth2201mo ago

Three weeks ago I had a steel fabricator tell me to stop dimensioning the bolt holes on the connection plates. He said his crew always lays those out themselves with a template, so every hole dim I added was just noise. That one note cut maybe 15% of the dims off my drawings overnight. It took me two days to trust it, but sure enough, the field errors dropped because they stopped second-guessing my numbers and just used their own marks. The thing is, you gotta know where the line is between giving them what they need and disrespecting their own process. Now I ask the contractor or foreman upfront what they want left off, saves a whole revision cycle.