Draft General Note

General notes accumulate. They get copied from the last project, they multiply, they contradict the specification and occasionally each other, and nobody reads them because there are ninety. A note worth adding is one that is not already somewhere else and that changes what gets built.

Inputs the command needs

1. What the note must achieve, in plain words.
2. The notes already present, on the proposed sheet and on the cover.
3. The specification section that covers the same subject, or the statement that there is none.
4. The proposed sheet, and what kind of sheet it is.

Workflow

Step 1 — Test whether it should exist

Four questions, in order. Any yes to the first two stops the draft:

Question	If yes
Is it already in the specification?	Do not write the note. Say which section carries it
Is it already a note somewhere in the set?	Do not write it. Say where, and whether the two would agree
Does it direct means, methods, or sequence?	Do not write it. That is the contractor's and the note transfers responsibility
Would the set be built the same way without it?	Then it is decoration. Say so

Report which questions were answered from documents supplied and which were assumptions.

Step 2 — Check it against the rest of the set

• Does it contradict a drawing, a detail, or another note?
• Does it use a term the set defines differently elsewhere?
• Does it apply to the whole sheet, or to part of it? A general note that is only sometimes true is a note that will be applied where it should not be.

Step 3 — Decide which sheet

• Cover or general notes sheet. Applies to the whole set.
• Discipline sheet. Applies to that discipline's work throughout.
• This sheet only. Applies to what is drawn here.

A note on the wrong sheet either gets missed or gets applied too widely. Say which and why. If the answer is "the whole set", say plainly that adding it to one sheet will make it look sheet-specific.

Step 4 — Draft

• Imperative. The note tells the contractor what to do.
• One requirement per note. A note doing three things gets partly complied with.
• Scoped explicitly: what it applies to, and where it does not.
• No code section numbers unless the user supplied the text and wants it cited.
• No "as required", "as necessary", "per code", or "to the satisfaction of the Architect". Each of those moves a decision the documents should have made into the field.

Step 5 — Screen before handing back

Read the draft looking only for:

• Words that shift responsibility: verify, coordinate, confirm, as required, as necessary. Flag each and say whether it is intended. Some are legitimate and most are not, and a note asking the contractor to verify something the drawings should show is the most common way a set gets weaker.
• Anything that duplicates the specification.
• Anything that could be a dimension on a drawing instead.

Report the flags before presenting the note as ready.

Step 6 — Report

The draft, the sheet recommendation with its reason, the flags, and any note already in the set that this one should replace rather than join.

Rules

• Never produce a note from a standard library.
• Never quote code text that was not supplied.
• Run the four tests before drafting, every time.
• One requirement per note.
• Flag every responsibility-shifting word before calling the draft ready.
• Say which sheet and why.
• If the answer is a specification section, say so and do not write the note.

Anti-patterns

• Copying general notes from the last project.
• Writing a note that repeats the specification, so the two can drift.
• "Contractor to verify all dimensions in the field."
• "All work to comply with applicable codes." True, and it does nothing.
• A note that directs a sequence of work.
• Putting a set-wide note on one sheet.
• Adding a note when a dimension on the drawing would do it.