Hi @Arch123, this is a good question. Liability is nuanced and with respect to annotations it depends upon the specific information you are trying to convey in your drawings. Of course you need to give enough information to the contractor to inform them of the design intent without getting your firm in trouble.
In general the senior architect is correct. Per the AIA A201 “General Conditions”, the Contractor is responsible for means and methods, sizes and quantities. However, if the Architect puts quantities or dimensions on the drawings the Architect can be held responsible if something does not work out. However, you can’t leave all the information off the drawings or the Contractor will be lost, and the owner frustrated and wondering why they hired you. What your Senior Architect should be instructing you to do is the following:
For any existing dimensions or critical dimensions where a manufacturer has specific requirements (such as inside clearances at an elevator shaft) ALWAYS instruct the Contractor to VERIFY. This can be done by adding an instruction to verify in the field: “X’-X” VIF" to verify an existing dimension, or by adding a note to “VERIFY CLEARANCES PER MANF.” In this way, you can both inform the contractor of the information they need to know while also leveraging the responsibility of verifying those dimensions.
Dimensions for interior elevations are no exception. Let’s take your example of the receptacles. Your goal is to instruct the contractor to understand your intent to center the outlets between walls, regardless of the overall length of the wall. So, if you gave the contractor an overall width of, say 10’-0", you might think you could dimension off the right side to the center of the outlet as 5’-0." Seems logical, right? However, say the wall is actually 9’-7 13/16" long. Now your 5’-0" dimension doesn’t put the outlet at the center of the wall - it would be slightly but noticeably off center. Let’s say the contractor has installed the receptacle and the wall is closed up and finished before you notice the error. Now you have the choice of asking the owner if they want to go through the trouble of undoing the work (and you will technically owe them the cost of doing so), or asking them to live with it. This is why it is good practice to give an overall wall width as X’-X" VIF and then show the dimensions to center of the fixture as “EQ” / “EQ.” Does that make sense? You will see many practical examples of this in your career and it will make more and more sense down the line.
The information you include in your interior elevation drawings will depend on the drawing set and where your firm tends to show various kinds of information. You could potentially show vertical dimensions for window sills / headers, placement of fixtures and openings such as outlets, lights, doors, windows, toilets, grab bars, etc. You might show ceiling heights and widths of rooms - it all depends on how your drawing set is set up, and if you have consultants who are showing some of this information elsewhere. One general thought on this is to always look to avoid redundancy. If you have a dimension showing the spacing of walls on a floor plan, you probably don’t need to show it again on the elevation. This is an area where we architects commonly get into trouble… because if there is an inconsistency from one to the other the contractor will pick the wrong one every time…
Last, I am unfortunately not aware of any great resources for complete working drawings. I have been thinking someone needs to author a text on the subject. Work experience is your best tool, which of course depends upon the quality of mentoring you’re getting. Never be shy to ask questions at your firm. They are investing in you and want to help you become a better architect. It helps you and them.
Hope it helps.
