Assessing the significance of mismatching in buildings' final drawings in Dubai projects

As-built drawings represent the final constructed projects. They are the contract drawings revised during construction and, before handing over, including all changes. They provide owners and facility managers with a proper reflection of a facility by which the necessary information is used for operation and maintenance processes. They are successfully used in developed industries in the world. This paper is mainly aimed to investigate the significance of buildings' as-built drawings in Dubai through examining the factors that determine their value in terms of availability, accuracy, impact on cost, time and safety. This work will study the significance of mismatches between final drawings and the as-built projects in villas, multi-story and industrial buildings. Technical reports of more than 170 projects were studied in order to analyse and assess the mismatches found at the final inspection for the completion certificate process. The results show 53% of buildings studied had mismatches mainly in external elevations, internal design features and fixtures, specifications, and general works omissions. Improving as-built drawings can be achieved by handling such mismatches earlier in projects' brief and design.