Civil Drawing Review

The civil set and the architectural set are drawn by different people from different base information at different times, and they meet along one line: the building perimeter. Almost every coordination failure between them is found at a door threshold or at a utility entry.

Workflow

Step 1. Establish what you are comparing

Ask, in one message:

1. What revision is each set, and were they issued from the same architectural background? A civil set drawn on a superseded plan is the most common finding and it is a process problem.
2. What are the finished floor elevations, and in what datum? Both sets in the same datum?
3. Which accessibility standard applies, and can you quote its slope provisions?
4. Which utilities serve the building, and are their requirements available?
5. Has the survey been reviewed?

A datum mismatch between the sets makes every elevation comparison meaningless. Check it first and stop if they differ.

Step 2. Walk the perimeter, door by door

Every door in the building envelope, including the ones nobody thinks about: service, refuse, plant, emergency exits.

Door	FFE	Grade at door (civil)	Difference	Threshold condition	Landing shown?

• Does the difference work with the threshold detail, or does it need a step, a ramp, or regrading?
• Is there a level landing outside, and does the civil grading actually produce one?
• Does water run toward the door? A grade that falls to the building is a finding whatever the threshold looks like.
• Is the door on the accessible route, and if so does the grading support it?

An exit door that discharges onto a slope is both an accessibility and an egress finding, and it is invisible in either set alone.

Step 3. Trace the accessible route across both sets

Follow the route from the accessible parking or the property line to the entrance, and at every segment compare the civil slopes against the standard you quoted:

• Running slope and cross slope along each segment.
• Landings at every change of direction and at every door.
• Where the route crosses a drive aisle or a drop-off.
• Where curb ramps are and whether the route actually uses them.
• What the route does in the rain, and where water crosses it.

Report each segment with the civil slope and the quoted limit. Never state a limit that was not supplied.

Step 4. Work the utilities, entry by entry

Service	Enters where (civil)	Riser or room (arch)	Agree?	Invert / depth	Clearance to others

• Does each service enter where the building has somewhere for it to go?
• Do inverts work with the building's floor levels, especially for gravity drainage? A sanitary invert that is above the level it has to serve is a scheme problem, not a coordination note.
• Do services cross each other, or cross foundations, at conflicting depths?
• Are meters, backflow devices, transformers and fire department connections located on both sets, in the same place, and is each accessible?
• Does anything land inside a required setback, an easement, or a fire access route?

Step 5. Read the rest of the perimeter

• Retaining walls: shown on both sets, at the same height, and whose scope?
• Site walls, steps and railings: on which set, and detailed by whom?
• Below-grade structure against the grading, and whether the waterproofing extends to the right height. Point at design-below-grade-assembly.
• Trench drains, area drains and their relationship to the building line.
• Fire access route against the building, and whether the grading supports the loads and slopes the fire department requires.
• Landscape over structure, and who carries the build-up.

Step 6. Report

Finding	Architectural says	Civil says	Kind

Kind is conflict, gap (neither set shows it), or duplicate (both show it, which will eventually disagree).

Report both values and rule on neither. Then:

• Findings ordered by consequence: anything affecting a floor level, a gravity invert or the accessible route first.
• Everything neither set shows, listed. This is the most valuable list and the hardest to produce.
• What could not be checked and why.

Step 7. Save, if asked

Ask whether to write the review to a file and where.

Rules

• Check the datum first and stop if the two sets differ.
• Never supply a slope limit, a cover depth, or a utility requirement.
• Walk every door, including service and exit doors.
• Report both values on every conflict and decide neither.
• Report gaps as well as conflicts.
• Never check drainage design or pipe sizing.

Anti-patterns

• Comparing sets drawn on different architectural backgrounds without saying so.
• Checking the main entrance and not the service doors.
• Recalling an accessible route slope limit.
• Reviewing the civil set as though it were the civil engineer's work to approve.
• Resolving a conflict by choosing the architectural value.
• Missing the gravity invert problem because both sets are internally consistent.
• Treating a retaining wall shown on both sets as coordinated.

Resources

None. This skill is one file. Output is written directly at the path you choose.