Drafting – Annotation

Last updated January 27, 2025
By Ian Story

Goal is to minimize the number of notes on plan drawings and especially to reduce or eliminate rote annotations

Types of Notes – Plans (incl. Elevations, Sections, Etc…. not details)

• Default Referencing: typical conditions (noted once in specifications or once per sheet under Typical Notes)
• System Scheduling: tag all instances with an automatic tag or reference to a schedule or detail (for example: doors, windows, beams, hold-downs)
• Drawing in lieu of notes: wherever the drawing by itself makes clear what something is, it doesn’t also need an annotation (for example, a sink in plan, a generic crown moulding profile, or the casing around a window)
• Clarifying label: where an object’s function isn’t clear from the drawing, add a short descriptive label (for example: “WH” inside a circle to indicate a water heater or “Furnace” inside a rectangle to indicate a furnace)
• Text in lieu of drawing: for finicky conditions that take a lot of effort to draw, you can sometimes skip the drawing and provide a descriptive note explaining the condition (for example, outlookers at a rake eave)
• Text detail: in lieu of drawing a detail for a simple condition, you can sometimes omit the detail and provide a descriptive note explaining the detail (for example, a 1-hour fire wall with an extra layer of densglass, instead of drawing a separate wall assembly detail)
• Unique or complicated condition: where atypical things are happening that required special thought and decision-making, use a descriptive note (often includes commentary on why this is necessary). For example, wall sheathing that must be continuous through a partition

General Rules for Annotation

System scheduling

If there is a standard tag or scheduling system available for an element, use that tag. For example:

• Doors
• Windows
• Beams
• Hold-downs
• Shear walls
• Posts

These standardized tags are thought-through ways to take the baked-in data and present it in the desired format. They are typically non-standard elements were every instance needs to be called out separately, which is time-consuming to do manually and difficult to maintain. Use these tags wherever they are applicable.