Common Features on House Plans & Diagrams

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To make them more easily understood, diagrams and plans are (in theory) required to stick to certain conventions in terms of the way things are laid out and drawn.

House plans, including floor plans, framing plans, site plans, elevations and so forth should be drawn so that they adhere to the Australian Standard AS1100 (Part 3: Architectural Drawing). This Standard sets out what information should be provided, where on the page things should be listed, and – quite specifically – how different things should be drawn, abbreviated and annotated.

While different architects and building designers might use a little creative license in their designs and represent various things slightly differently depending on the software they use, it’s vital that what’s being shown is clearly represented in a way that leaves no room for misinterpretation.

Below are a few of the common elements you can expect to see on most house plans and diagrams:

• Title Block – the title block explains:
o What the drawing is (i.e. Site plan, floor plan)
o What revision of the drawing you’re looking at
o Who drafted it
o Your details
o The architect or building designer’s details
o The address or location of the site
o The date
• Scale – unless they’re preliminary sketches, formal plans and diagrams should be drawn precisely to scale. The plan you’re looking at will usually represent the scale both as a ratio (e.g. 1:200) and as a block or granulated scale.
• Orientation – plans and diagrams must show which direction north is in relation to the diagram you’re looking at. Where possible, the drawings for a given project should use the same orientation for the sake of consistency and clarity.
• Callouts – These small symbols indicate where further detail is provided in a separate diagram.

Key Terms & Concepts
Types of structures could include:
• Road construction
• Multi-storey buildings
• Bridges and towers
• Details of an article to be manufactured