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If it weren’t for drawings, most of us in the construction industry wouldn’t have as much of a grasp on exactly what we were to build. The bulk of the building trades would be running amok haphazardly building things across the jobsite with no rhyme or reason! In today’s episode of Electrician U, Dustin walks us through how to read a set of Commercial Blueprints.

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The biggest difference between a Residential set of drawings and a Commercial set of drawings is the engineering. Residential plans are drawn primarily from an architectural standpoint as there is much less going on. A commercial set of drawings is much larger and more complex and requires engineering (on top of the architectural) to design ALL the systems to work together to perform what the end customer needs. The architectural set of drawings for commercial looks much the same as in a residential set, just a larger scope. You will have overall views, elevations, and details but will also have things like roof plans and reflected ceiling plans. The RCP’s will show LAYOUT of light fixtures, but not the circuitry, and are a good resource to check vs. the electrical set to make sure everything is cohesive. There will also generally be structural drawings (which show the buildings structure) and maybe even a civil set (which covers the major utilities underground and the site itself).
The Mechanical and Plumbing sets show the buildings systems for these two trades. Always check the mechanical and plumbing schedules vs. what is shown on the electrical sheets to make sure you are roughing in the appropriate conduit and wire as well as from the proper voltage panels. The drawings don’t always line up and it’s good to identify issues early on. Also worth note for these two sets are the larger ducts/pipes. It will show general locations for these so you can see where NOT to install something electrical that conflicts with the location.
The electrical set is much larger and has more detail for a commercial set of drawings. The front electrical sheet usually contains notes and symbols. This will help us navigate what is shown on the rest of the sheets. There will be a lighting page showing all the different fixtures as well as the switches, dimmers, and sensors that control them. It may be helpful to mark up the sheet with colors to help you identify circuitry/fixture/switch types easier. The power sheet will show the locations of all the power type devices along with the panels they are being fed from. Many power drawings will also show you how many wires and what size to run for each circuit. Again, these are drawn by an engineer and are usually very thorough. You may even see a kitchen drawing that will show the electrical rough in for the kitchen equipment if there is one on your project.
Also within the electrical set of drawings there will be a one-line diagram. This diagrammatically shows the panels, transformers (if there are any), and large switchgear. This drawing will show us what panels are being fed from what along with conduit and wire sizes. A grounding plan is usually available as well to guide us through what size grounding conductors to put where. Most commercial buildings have more than one panel in them, and a panel schedule sheet will also be available to us. This will give us general information about our panel(s) along with an itemized list of what breakers are being used for all the equipment.
We hope this has been an insightful look into how to read a set of commercial Blueprints. Is there a topic you would like to see discussed here on Electrician U? Leave us a comment in the comments section and let us know. Please continue to follow Dustin Stelzer and Electrician U as we are constantly updating our content to assist our followers in becoming the best electricians that they can be.


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