Last updated July 29, 2026
- An average guide to how long it takes to produce a single structural drawing. Some take longer, some less.
- A theory put forward by YZ, who works in the Sydney structural drafting industry, 6-5-2007
- Applies to large and medium size structural projects in Australia.
- Includes document control time and meetings to discuss design etc.
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| Time to complete chart – Structural drawing |
This image displays a graph illustrating the relationship between the percentage of completion for structural drawings and the time invested in hours, specifically for large to medium-sized projects.
Here’s a breakdown of the key milestones shown on the graph:
- Issue for Architectural Co-ordination: This stage is reached at approximately 40% drawing completion, requiring about 2 hours of work per sheet.
- Issue for Tender: At roughly 60% completion, after about 4 hours per sheet, the drawings generally appear complete to the client and are ready to be issued for tender.
- Issued for Construction: When the drawings reach 90% completion, around 9 hours have been spent per sheet. At this point, the drawings are issued for the actual construction process and should be sufficiently detailed to build from.
- Structure Built: The graph indicates that reaching 100% completion (which corresponds to the structure being built based on the drawings) takes approximately 12 hours in total per sheet.
The curve demonstrates that the time required per percentage point increases significantly in the later stages of the drawing process.