Went to the new library in Portland and their blueprint display made me rethink my whole process

They had this huge wall with old hand-drawn blueprints next to modern CAD prints of the same building. The hand-drawn ones had all these little notes in the margins, like 'check with plumber' and 'client prefers window here'. I always thought keeping my digital files super clean and note-free was the professional way. But seeing those old notes, which were basically the drafter's real-time thoughts, was a game changer. Now I'm adding a dedicated 'site notes' layer to all my Revit projects for those exact kind of reminders. It's only been a week, but it's already saved me two callbacks. Do you guys keep a separate layer or space for non-standard notes on your drawings?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyc332mo agoMost Upvoted

My buddy had a similar wake up call on a big hospital job. He started a "red pen" sketch layer in his CAD files for field fixes and weird site conditions the inspectors pointed out. It was a total mess, but the next crew said it saved them WEEKS. Do you keep your notes layer private or let the whole team see them?

taraw162mo ago

weeks" seems like a stretch lol. how many red pen notes could there really be on one job?