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O P I N I O N
Shop drawing liability
Good contracts can help, but timely and thorough reviews of shop drawings are, perhaps, the best defense.
S hop drawings are a controversial area for design professionals. These documents, prepared by others, not under the architect or engineer’s supervision are, by cus- tom and by contract, reviewed by the designer and “approved” for fabrication and for construction. Several courts have found design professionals liable for negligent shop drawing review. A discussion of this topic starts with understanding the purpose of shop drawings.
William Quatman
PURPOSE OF SHOP DRAWINGS. Contrary to popular belief, architects and engineers do not design each and every component of a building. Some items are manufactured products and the design professional specifies a particular make, model, color, and size appropriate for the project. The contractor is then required to submit information verifying that the right product will be supplied. Still other building components are custom fabricated for the project, and the detailing is left up to the fabricator itself. The fabricator’s drawings are then given to “the shop” for use in making the component – thus the name “shop drawing.” As one court stated, “shop drawings are the final word as to how the work should proceed on the job, and supersede the architectural plans.” Under standard AIA contracts, the review process requires that the fabricator’s shop drawings are first submitted to the contractor, who is to review and “approve” them. The contractor checks the drawings for materials, field measurements and field construction criteria, and coordinates the information in such submittals with the require- ments of the contract documents, and sends it on to the architect. The architect’s review and approv- al is limited to “checking for conformance with in- formation given and the design concept expressed in the Contract Documents.” AIA A201 Par. 4.2.7
(2017). When the shop drawing is returned “ap- proved” by the architect, then the contractor can order or fabricate that item. LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENT REVIEW. Negligent review and approval by the design professional may result in liability, depending on the facts and the contrac- tual duties of the reviewing professional. In a 1983 case, specifications called for use of 10-gauge steel on a stair landing, but shop drawings were submit- ted which called for thinner, 14-gauge steel and were approved by the architect. When the light- gauge landing pan collapsed and injured two work- ers, the architect was sued and was found liable for the injuries. In a 1995 case, a worker was injured when he fell from an unguarded walkway along a shoring wall and he sued the engineer for profes- sional malpractice in reviewing the shop drawings. The court ruled for the engineer, however, find- ing that the engineer owed no duty to the worker for handrails or barricades of a temporary nature since those features were “primarily a safety mea- sure rather than an inherent design requirement of the structure of the shoring wall.” Where the shop drawing relates to the means and methods of construction, AIA-type contract language may shield the design professional from liability. In a 1982 case, an architect was found
See WILLIAM QUATMAN, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER January 6, 2020, ISSUE 1326
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