Coordinate levels by fixing the datum and unit first, then tracing each floor, the roof, the exterior grade and every drainage run through every discipline that draws it. Confirm that finished floor, slab and build-up agree, that doors meet grade without an undrawn step, and that inverts fall toward their outlets on the same datum as the floors. List each value that differs with both sources and ask the designer which governs.
Fix the datum and units before comparing values
Open the general notes of every discipline, the survey or site plan and any title block notes about levels. Write down the project datum, the benchmark and the unit each discipline says it uses. Two sheets can disagree for three reasons that have nothing to do with design: one uses a different datum, one uses a different unit, or one prints levels with a different sign. Settle those first, because a level that looks wrong by a large, round amount is often a datum or unit problem rather than a design change.
Notes can also contradict themselves. In the hospital laboratory annex review, general notes repeated across the consultant sheets gave levels in metres in one note and centimetres in another, and the storm drainage plan printed manhole covers and inverts as negative values beside positive floor levels on the same sheet. Neither reading worked: read as printed, the inverts sat far below the floor, and read with the sign changed, an invert sat above its own cover. The review recommended a note naming the benchmark, not a redesign.
Twelve questions to run across the set
Start with one floor or one drainage run and follow it through every sheet that shows it. The CSV has columns for the location, the source references, the reviewer, the status, the decision and the closure evidence. It contains no level values.
| Review area | Open these sources together | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Datum and benchmark | General notes, survey or site plan, title block notes | Does the set name one project datum and benchmark, and does every discipline state its levels on it? |
| Units and sign | General notes of each discipline, dimension and level tags | Do the notes give one unit for levels, and do the drawn values use that unit and a consistent sign? |
| Finished floor levels | Architectural plans and sections, structural plans, MEP plans | Does each floor carry the same finished level on the architectural, structural and MEP sheets? |
| Structural slab and build-up | Structural slab levels, floor build-up details, finish schedule | Does the gap between top of slab and finished floor match the build-up the details and finishes need? |
| Roof slab and parapets | Roof plan, building sections, elevations, mechanical and drainage roof plans | Do the roof plan, sections, elevations and the consultants’ roof sheets give the same roof slab and parapet levels? |
| Steps, thresholds and ramps | Ground-floor plan, site plan, door schedule, sections | Where a floor meets outside grade at a door, do the levels match, or is a step or ramp drawn and dimensioned? |
| Exterior grade and site | Grading or site plan, architectural ground-floor plan, elevations | Do the exterior spot levels and slopes on the site and architectural sheets agree at the building line? |
| Drainage inverts and covers | Drainage or utility plans and profiles, manhole and inlet schedules | Are inverts and cover levels on the same datum as the floors, and does each run fall toward its outlet? |
| Equipment and services levels | Mechanical and electrical plans, equipment schedules, ceiling plans | Are duct, pipe, tray and equipment levels referenced to the same floor or slab level the architecture uses? |
| Vertical transportation and stairs | Elevator brief or selection, stair sections, floor-to-floor heights | Do elevator travel, stair rise and floor-to-floor heights agree with the floor levels on the plans? |
| Flood and design levels | Flood notes, civil sheets, architectural sections | Where the notes set a design flood or minimum floor level, do the sections and civil sheets meet the same value? |
| Revision effects | Revised sheets of every discipline, transmittal | When a level changed, did every consultant redraw from the revised base in the same issue? |
Mark a row not applicable only after you record why. A single-storey building with no roof plant still has a datum, a finished floor and an exterior grade to check.
Trace each floor through every discipline
For each floor, compare the finished level on the architectural plans and sections with the slab level on the structural plans and the reference level on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing plans. The difference between slab and finished floor has to hold the build-up the details and finish schedule describe. In the house drawings budget review, the structural slab sat just below finished floor, leaving no depth for the specified floor layers, so floor, stair and threshold levels would all have moved.
Repeat the trace for the roof. In the hospital annex set, the HVAC and drainage roof plans set the roof slab higher than the architectural roof plan and sections, a site plan gave a third value, and the architectural roof plan gave one parapet a level below the upper floor while the section and elevation carried it to the main parapet height. Equipment bases, roof drains and parapet copings would each have followed a different slab. Check vertical transportation too: in the school science building review, the elevator brief and selection used less travel than the architectural and structural floor levels indicated.
Check where floors meet the ground
A level change at an exit door is easy to miss on a plan. Compare the floor level inside each exterior door with the paving or sidewalk level outside it on the plan, the site plan and the sections. If they differ, a step, ramp or landing has to be drawn and dimensioned. The hospital annex review found a ground-floor exit door with the sidewalk below the interior floor and no ramp, which the regulations the review cited do not allow at that door, and found the exterior grade and a toilet floor on the drainage plan at different levels from the architectural plan.
Where the project carries a design flood level or a minimum floor level in its notes, check that the sections and civil sheets meet it. In the underground parking bid scope review, a plan note required the lowest slab above the flood level while the sections set it lower, so the slab, ramp and pits depended on which source governed. The required level itself comes from the authority having jurisdiction and the project’s flood study; this checklist only finds where the documents disagree.
Run each drainage line to its outlet
For storm and sanitary drainage, read the invert and cover levels from the plan or profile and follow the run from its highest structure to its outlet. Each pipe should arrive at or above the floor of the structure it enters, and each structure’s outlet should sit at or below its incoming pipes. In the hospital annex set, the last storm collector reached its manhole lower than both the manhole floor and its outlet, so the run could not drain by gravity as drawn.
Inverts also decide slope. In the sanitary sewer as-built survey review, two sheets gave one pipe end different inverts, and one of them put the run below the minimum slope the set’s own notes required. In the residential pool hardscape review, slope callouts required a minimum fall that the drain inverts on most runs did not give. List both values with their sheets and ask the civil or plumbing designer which is correct; the plumbing drawing review checklist covers the rest of the system.
Close the item across every sheet
When a level changes, the architect usually revises first and the consultants follow from the new base. Record which discipline owns each level, which issue the consultants drew from, and which sheets must change. A revised architectural section does not close the item if the drainage plan, the roof plant layout and the structural slab plan still carry the old value.
Use the MEP coordination checklist for the services that hang from these levels and the structural drawing review checklist for slabs and openings. The drawing register template records which issue of each sheet you compared.
Where Groundbook fits
Groundbook compares the architectural, structural, MEP and civil drawings you upload and returns potential conflicts with links to each source, such as a roof slab level that differs between the architectural sections and a mechanical roof plan, or an invert that sits below the outlet it drains to. It does not survey a site, set a datum or design grades and slopes. Each finding is a question for the responsible designer to confirm. See the cross-discipline coordination review for the workflow.