5 steps to make a better reinforcement plan
Making a reinforcement plan at first glance seems like a simple task – just draw lines, circles, put some numbers and inscriptions and you’re done. However, it often happens that the errors in the reinforcement plans prepared by the draftsmen could even block the construction process. For example, a draftsman failed to multiply correctly the count of reinforcement bars and that lead to the delivery of reinforcement with 12 km of total length less. Imagine what a shock it is for the site manager to find on the day he has to put them in the formwork, they are missing! It is necessary to stop the whole construction process, to wait several weeks for the delivery of such a quantity of reinforcement. This brings with it not only the inconvenience of delaying construction but also financial losses.
These financial losses could also affect the drafting office. Another negative effect for them would be the fact that after such omissions, the already submitted drawings will certainly have to be corrected, which in return may slow down the overall organization of other projects. In addition, with a series of such mistakes, it is very likely that the drafting office will no longer receive so many inquiries for new projects, as clients will no longer trust them and surely not recommend them to other design offices.
All these difficulties can be avoided when a specific work process is followed, independent of the external control of plans.
In our work, we have defined a five-step process that ensures a quality reinforcement plan that is easily doable from the construction site.
Here are these 5 steps:
Step 1: Preliminary review of the input information
A preliminary review of the initial data is really important. We make sure that the information we have is complete and clear so that we can get started without any problems. At first glance, this may seem like a waste of time, but it is essential for a smooth start to any type of work or project.
Step 2: Consultation with the engineers for the basic details in the drawings
If after this step we have questions, we must discuss them with the engineers to make sure that we can start working. We specify the design requirements that must be observed in the relevant drawings, such as whether we use staggered lapping, where it will be necessary to use hooks for anchoring the reinforcement, where and what amplifiers will need to be placed, as well as how to organize the drawings. This prevents misunderstandings at the very beginning of the project, saves time from subsequent communication and many alterations of the drawings themselves.
Step 3: Check for possible conflicts between the different elements in the structure
After reviewing the information sent to us, we need to go into more detail about the project itself. We check the compatibility of the individual elements of the reinforcement plan and in case of conflicts, we immediately contact the leading engineer. It is important from the very beginning to find out where we can have problems in the reinforcement, to discuss it with the engineer we work with, and to find a working solution. This will save us “surprises” during the work process and will facilitate the work of the draftsman and then the engineer that controls the plan.
Step 4: Planning the different activities related to the production of the reinforcement plan
We are now ready to start drawing the plan of reinforcement. But before that, there is one more thing we need to do – to divide it into parts for implementation and parts for intermediate control. We make a plan of the plan. Why are we doing this? In a plan with 10 positions, it doesn’t matter where you start. But with a plan with over 100 positions, if you start drawing it chaotically, it is 100% certain that something will go wrong. That’s why we plan what we will draw first, second, third, and so on until the end. After each phase, we do an intermediate check, while things are still easy to control. This makes it easier to detect errors in time. Because a mistake, even a small one, repeated a hundred times, will cause an avalanche effect and 90% of the drawing may be wrong. That’s why intermediate checks are so important – we make sure we catch even the smallest mistakes on time.
Step 5: Final control of the plan
For the final control of the reinforcement plan, you need the help of a friend. It is known that if a person checks his work, he will find it difficult to see his mistakes. However, if someone else checks it, he will immediately notice where it is wrong. That is why it is strongly recommended that the final control of the reinforcement plan be done by a second person, and not by the one who prepared it. It is good to have a list to check the drawing with the most basic things – whether the instructions are observed, whether the formwork plans used as an underlay are correct, whether the title pages are correct, whether everything is visible on the drawing, etc.
At Kreyo, we follow these five steps in preparing each drawing. As a result, our drawings are accurate, without delays, and easily executed on the construction site.
If it is important for you that the drawings you prepare are also correct, on time, and easy to apprehend on the site, contact us to talk about your situation and how we can help you.
You can check some of our projects here: https://kreyo.bg/projects/