Architectural CAD Services: Importance of a Good Record Keeping Policy

Architectural CAD services have to deal with tons of records each year, it’s never easy to decide which records to keep and for how long. Without a good record keeping policy in place, there is always a danger that Architectural CAD services would be lost in a maze of records that are unmanageable and in many cases unusable. Architects produce a lot of paper drawings and countless computer files. Every organization faces the challenge of deciding what to do with these drawings and other records during the course of a project and after the project is over. The first basic question that naturally comes to one’s mind is why should the architectural CAD services keep these records at all? Once the project is completed and the building is handed over to the client along with the set of final drawings, do the architects really need to maintain all these records that take so much time and resources? There may be several reasons why record keeping is so important in the short term and in the long term. One very important reason is to stay clear of any law suits.

Different countries have different laws regarding the time frame in which an action may be taken. In some countries the architects are responsible for a building till 5 years after the building is handed over to the client, in other countries this time period may be up to 15 years. Another reason is to be ready with the earlier drawings and other details if the client wants to make alterations or additions in the building some time in future. Architectural CAD services can easily go ahead if previous records are readily available and no measurement and redrawing work is necessary in such a case.

We will continue our discussion about the importance of keeping records and the necessity of employing a good record keeping policy by the Architectural CAD services in our future posts.