What Detailers Can Provide During Fabrication
During fabrication, a detailer should be available for: answering shop floor questions about drawings (typically via phone with the shop foreman); processing revisions when EOR review comments require drawing changes; regenerating CNC files when drawing revisions affect hole patterns or profiles; providing clarification sketches for unusual connection geometry; and tracking open RFIs through to response. The detailing PM should be available during normal business hours and should have a defined process for urgent production questions that arise after hours.
Erection Support Services
During erection, the detailer's role shifts toward field revision processing — handling the fit-up problems, dimension conflicts, and design changes that arise during the erection sequence. A detailer whose PM is accessible by phone during erection hours can turn field requests into revised drawings in 24–48 hours. Detailers who are difficult to reach during erection leave ironworkers improvising solutions without engineering backup — which creates risk for the fabricator.
Project Closeout Support
At project closeout, the detailer should provide: a final as-built model updated to reflect all fabrication and field revisions; a final drawing register listing all drawings at their final revisions; a final RFI log showing all RFIs closed with documented responses; and any other deliverables specified in the contract (KISS files, IFC model, native Tekla model). Closeout deliverables should be formally received and acknowledged in writing — not just emailed and assumed received.
CNC File Support During Production
One of the most immediately valuable services a detailer provides during fabrication is responsive CNC file support. When a drawing revision affects hole patterns, member lengths, or cope geometry, the corresponding CNC files must be regenerated and re-issued before the member can be processed. The turnaround expectation for CNC file revisions is typically 24–48 hours — fast enough that a member can be pulled from the production queue, the revised NC file issued, and the member returned to the queue without disrupting the day's production schedule. Detailers who require a week for CNC revisions create real shop inefficiency. Tectonix regenerates CNC files for all affected members as part of each drawing revision package — they are issued simultaneously with the revised drawings, not as a separate follow-up.
Shop Floor Clarification Sketches
Complex connection geometries — skewed connections, canted members, multi-plane gussets, or unusual embed conditions — sometimes require supplemental clarification sketches that show three-dimensional assembly in a way that a traditional 2D shop drawing does not convey adequately. A good detailing partner provides these sketches promptly when the shop floor flags a connection as unclear. The sketch does not replace the drawing — it supplements it, showing the shop how the pieces fit together before the fitter attempts assembly. Tectonix project managers can produce clarity sketches directly from the Tekla model in 3D view and issue them as PDF attachments within the same business day for most standard conditions.
Tracking Fabrication Progress and Anticipating RFIs
A proactive detailing PM tracks the shop's fabrication progress against the release schedule — not just as a reporting metric, but as an early warning system. When the shop is about to begin fabricating members that are in the next release zone, the PM knows which RFIs are still open for that zone and can escalate them before the shop is blocked rather than after. This requires the fabricator to share production progress updates with the detailing PM — a simple weekly report showing which packages are in cutting, fitting, and welding — and the detailing PM to map that progress against the RFI log. Projects where this communication happens systematically have far fewer production holds than those where the detailer learns about fabrication progress only when calling to check on a payment.
What to Include in the Post-Fabrication Support Scope
When negotiating the detailing contract, explicitly scope the post-fabrication support services that will be provided. Ambiguity about what is included after fabrication begins leads to disputes when the shop or erection crew needs assistance.
- RFI response through erection completion — confirm whether the detailer's PM obligation ends at fabrication release or continues through erection
- Field revision processing — state turnaround commitments for urgent (same day) and non-urgent (standard 3–5 day) revisions
- CNC file re-issue for revisions — confirm included at no additional cost for EOR-driven changes
- As-built model update — state when the as-built model will be delivered and what revision tracking is included
- BIM model updates for field changes — if the GC's coordination model must be updated after field modifications, state who is responsible and at what cost