Approval Drawings
What Are Structural Steel Approval Drawings?
What structural steel approval drawings are for, who reviews them, and which sheets belong in a first approval package.
Approval drawings are the fabricator’s or detailer’s statement of how they intend to interpret the design, issued so the engineer or owner can comment before the shop is committed. They are not a second design set, and they are not yet a full fabrication set. They sit between those two jobs.
A good approval package answers a short list of reviewer questions: Is the geometry right? Are members and grades consistent? Are typical connections acceptable? Are reactions and anchors usable for foundations? Everything else can usually wait for shop drawings.
This article defines the package. The sequence lives in the steel approval drawing process. For PEB-specific sheet structure, see the PEB approval drawing process. Repetitive packages are the target of the StruTools MBS Approval Package.
Three drawing families people confuse
| Set | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Design drawings | What should the structure be? |
| Approval drawings | Has the fabricator understood that intent? |
| Shop / fabrication drawings | How is each piece made? |
Why approval exists as a separate stage
Steel is expensive to recut. Reviewing geometry and typicals on a compact package is cheaper than reviewing hundreds of piece drawings after plates are nested. Approval also creates a dated record of what was shown to the reviewer, which matters when later comments arrive after mill orders.
What usually belongs in the first package
- Cover sheet with project data, logos and a drawing index
- General notes: specifications, bolts, welds, grades, finishes, codes as stated in the contract
- Anchor-bolt or foundation interface plan when in scope
- Roof and floor framing plans
- Key elevations and cross-sections
- Typical connection and bracing details
- Reaction tables or load summaries when the reviewer needs them for foundations or interfaces
- Special details that affect design (heavy splices, crane brackets, framed openings)
What usually does not belong yet
Every clip angle, every purlin punch, every CNC nest. Those are shop information. Putting them in the first approval set slows review and freezes manufacturing decisions before the geometry is agreed. Exceptions exist when the contract demands all shop drawings for approval — read that clause instead of following this default.
Who stamps what
The reviewer’s stamp typically says the drawings were reviewed for general conformance with the design, not that the reviewer designed the connections or adopted every fabricator standard. Read the stamp language. Internal shop checking is still required. See how to check approval drawings.
PEB versus conventional packages
PEB approval sets are often highly standardised: rigid frames, secondaries, cladding notes, reactions. Conventional structural steel sets vary more with connection design. The purpose is the same. The sheet list is shorter and more repetitive on PEB work, which is why automation shows up there first.
A practical workflow
- Confirm the specification’s definition of approval drawings.
- Build the sheet list (cover, notes, plans, elevations, typicals).
- Complete internal QC before transmittal.
- Issue with a due date for comments.
- Log comments and decide which affect shop release.
Engineering tips
- State the purpose on the cover: ISSUED FOR APPROVAL.
- Give the reviewer a place to comment (clouds, a comment grid, or both).
- Do not hide a design deviation in a typical detail the reviewer might skip.
Common mistakes
Calling the design drawing the approval drawing
The design drawing does not show the fabricator’s interpretation of connections, marks or anchors.
Issuing without an index
The reviewer cannot tell if the package is complete.
Mixing shop piece drawings into the first review
You will get comments on hole gauges and miss a wrong ridge location.
Checklist
- Purpose: FOR APPROVAL on the cover
- Index lists every sheet
- Notes extract the specification; they do not invent criteria
- Plans and elevations show the whole frame story
- Typicals have a range of use
- Holds are obvious
- Transmittal has a comment due date
Frequently asked questions
Are approval drawings legal design documents?
They are contract submittals. They do not replace the engineer of record’s design drawings unless the contract says otherwise.
How many issues are normal?
Often a first issue plus a back-check. Complex jobs may have several. Each should have a revision letter and a comment log.
Do approval drawings include reactions?
When foundations or allied designers need them, yes. Present them as coming from the analysis method used on the job, with the load basis stated — not as a mystery table.
Can we skip approval on a small job?
Only if the contract allows it. Skipping review to save a week is how a wrong frame spacing reaches the mill.
Where this leaves the work
If a reviewer can understand the frame without opening piece drawings, you have an approval set. If they cannot, you have a stack of sheets with the wrong job.
Continue with the step-by-step approval process and what to put on the cover sheet.
This article provides general educational information. Project-specific structural design, calculations and drawings should be reviewed by appropriately qualified engineering professionals and checked against applicable project requirements and standards. StruTools does not replace engineering judgement or professional design review.