Standard order of drawing disciplines?

[Vincent.Lee]

I keep finding differing lists of the drawing disciplines in a construction document set. Black Spectacles lists:

A (Title Sheet)
Civil
Landscape
Demo
Architectural
Structural
Mechanical
Plumbing
Electrical
Fire Protection

And other sources (AIA CAD Standards) list:

Civil Landscape
Architectural
Structural
Mechanical
Plumbing
Equipment
Fire Protection
Electrical
Telecomm
Interior Furnishings

National CAD Standard lists:

General Hazardous Materials
Survey
Geotechnical
Civil
Landscape
Structural
Architectural
Interiors
Equipment
Fire protection
Plumbing
Process
Mechanical
Electrical
Telecomm
Resource
Other

What bothers me most is structural’s placement (sometimes before architectural and sometimes after), as well as MEP disciplines being jumbled in varying order. Which would NCARB be testing with?

[monicafitzpatrick]

Hi @Vincent.Lee & welcome back to the Community!

Let me ping one of our expert architects to help with this. @coachbryanhadley do you mind jumping in?

[coachbryanhadley_SME]

Greetings @Vincent.Lee,

Excellent question. I am not an NCARB representative so will speak from my own experiences. Others may offer additional viewpoints.

While several entities have endeavored to create standards for the ordering of sheets by discipline, NCARB does not appear at this time to expect exam candidates to memorize any particular standard for sheet ordering. What NCARB does seem to be testing for is knowledge of which types of information can be found where, and that candidates understand the implications of the contents.

Throughout your career you may work for offices that prefer to order sheets in different ways, and you are likely to see some variation based on the scopes of projects. For instance certain trades may be omitted (if an interior only job, no landscape / civil drawings, etc.).

A couple good rules of thumb:

1. Information should be organized from most general to most specific (detailed).
2. Information is often organized in the order of construction, (but not always).

Hope it helps.

[Vincent.Lee]

This does help! Working with AoR’s has already taught me that using a standard order and even sheet numbers is less of a standard than i assumed. This makes sense for NCARB to have you understand the process behind ordering drawings rather than the order itself.

The rules of thumb are noted and appreciated. Thanks again.

[sloquist]

I was coming to ask this same question. Would it be possible to either correct the videos pertaining to this, or to correct the practice exams? I have been taught Structure then Arch. Mark told us Arch then Structure, so I answered that way on my practice test, and I got it wrong. You have conflicting information in 2 different places.

[alexfinolr]

Agreed, just did a black spectacles practice exam where I was asked to order the disciplines. If this is not something Ncarb will test us on, it should be removed from the practice exam.

[coachchrishopstock]

Hey @alexfinolr - thanks for bringing this back up. We agree that this topic will not be tested on by NCARB and therefore have removed these questions from our exams.
Good luck in your studies!