Contractor Documents
Contractor documents are the drawings, schedules and specifications issued to a builder to price and construct a project.
This is the set the builder actually builds from. It typically includes dimensioned plans, elevations and sections, construction details, window and door schedules, finishes schedules, electrical and joinery layouts, and the engineering documentation, together with the written specification.
The quality of this set has a direct financial consequence. Where the documentation is thorough, builders can price with confidence and their tenders are comparable. Where it is thin, builders either load their price to cover the unknowns or absorb the gap and recover it later through variations.
Contractor documentation follows design development and is generally more detailed than what is required for approval. An approval set demonstrates compliance; a contractor set explains how to build it.