Shop drawings · Product data · Submittals
Upload your shop drawings or submittals, together with the design drawings and specifications they need to match. We check dimensions, quantities, materials and connections, then put comments directly on the shop drawings with references to the design requirements.
Inside Groundbook
Start a Submittal review. Add the submitted shop drawings or product data, then the contract drawings, specifications, approved changes and prior reviews they must follow.
Identify the material or building element and the areas or levels in the package. We trace the applicable requirements and compare them with the submitted information.
Open each comment and its design references. Edit or move the markups and export the reviewed PDF for your team’s response.
On the shop drawing
At grid 3/B.3, the markup calls for 12 #5 top bars each way and points to the reinforcement callout. The comment cites the S2.03 legend so the detailer can find the requirement behind it.
What a shop drawing review compares
A shop drawing review is a set of comparisons, each running from what the supplier proposes back to what the contract requires. This is what Groundbook checks, and what the reviewer confirms.
| What is compared | Against | What the reviewer confirms |
|---|---|---|
| Contract basis | Structural, architectural, and MEP drawings; the specification section; the transmittal or addendum the submittal claims to follow. | Confirm the submittal was prepared from the current contract issue, not a superseded one. A shop drawing built on an old revision is a finding on its own. |
| Scope and quantities | The submittal schedule or index against the specification’s submittal requirements and the drawing’s scope of work. | Check that every required item was submitted and that none was substituted without a request. A missing submittal reads as an open item, not a pass. |
| Dimensions and marks | Member marks, sizes, and locations against the contract drawings and the schedules that reference them. | Every mark should resolve to one drawing location and one schedule row, with consistent sizes and quantities across all three. |
| Performance and materials | Stated performance criteria, ratings, and material or finish data against the specification section and any delegated-design criteria. | Where the specification gives a performance value and the submittal gives a product, confirm the product’s published data actually meets that value. |
| Connections, embeds, and interfaces | Connection design basis, embeds, and anchor points against the structural drawings and the trades that provide the receiving condition. | An embed shown on one discipline’s documents and missing from another is exactly the kind of gap a shop drawing review exists to catch. |
| Deviations and substitutions | Notes, cover letters, and redlines the supplier adds to the submittal. | A stated deviation still needs a decision from the responsible designer. Groundbook flags it; it does not approve or reject it. |
From published project reviews
These anonymized findings come from published Groundbook reviews of construction drawing sets. The same comparisons run on shop drawings and submittals: which issue governs, whether an interface is shown on both sides, and whether the equipment or schedule data agrees. They are potential issues for professional verification, not completed corrections.
Mixed-use residential
Two structural schedules carried different requirements, while the set did not clearly establish which version governed or update all downstream references.
See sources and verification stepsMixed-use residential
A sump shown in the mechanical/plumbing design was not represented in the corresponding structural slab and footing area.
See sources and verification stepsMixed-use residential
Equipment tags, quantities, duties, materials, and operating sequences did not consistently reconcile across plans, diagrams, schedules, and specifications.
See sources and verification stepsExisting comments included
Upload prior reviews with the submission. We inspect existing comments and responses, connect them to the design requirements, and check whether the response addresses the concern.
Comments about the same requirement at the same location are linked to the existing review. Different locations, layers and conditions are checked separately.
Questions, answered
Yes. We compare shop drawings and submittals with the supplied contract drawings, specifications and related documents, and return comments with their design references.
No. Reviewing shop drawings for conformance with the design concept is the engineer or architect of record’s responsibility under the contract. A Groundbook review prepares that decision by surfacing the places where the submittal and the contract documents disagree, so the reviewer spends time deciding rather than hunting.
Any trade that submits shop drawings, product data, or samples as PDFs. Structural steel, curtain wall and façade, elevators and conveying, commercial kitchen equipment, and low-voltage systems have their own checklists with trade-specific prompts; this page covers the general comparison, and mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire-protection submittals are checked the same way.
No. Groundbook compares documents and returns findings; it does not generate a submittal log, assign approval status, or replace your project’s submittal-tracking process. Use your existing register alongside the review.
We inspect existing comments and responses alongside the submission. An issue already identified at the same location and for the same requirement is linked to the existing comment instead of repeated.
Yes. Comments and leaders can be edited and moved in the drawing view, and the exported PDF retains editable annotations.
Yes. We read the drawing images and existing markups as well as extracted text. Unreadable or missing evidence remains an open question.
Open Submittal review in the app and upload the submission with its contract references. The exact review price is shown before payment.
Keep exploring
Check marks, connections, camber, bolting, welding and embeds.
Read the checklistStart with an address, edit the outlines, and export a scaled drawing.
Explore Site planFollow earlier findings into the next drawing revision.
Explore RecheckUpload it with the contract set it has to match.
Check shop drawings against the design
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