In brief
- An as built drawing is only as good as the field records behind it, so review red line markups and survey sheets rather than a skills claim on paper.
- Inaccurate service records hide pipe, cable and duct routes, which turns later maintenance and extension work into guesswork and cutting.
- Verify as built drawings competency in Borama by asking for one full drawing set from a finished job, with the field notes that produced it.
Contents
A company that claims as built drawings competency in Borama has not proved anything by saying so. The proof sits in the record behind the drawing: red line markups, level books, service routes measured on site and a finished set signed off by the person who checked it. Ask to see that set before you shortlist.
Why do unverified as built drawings claims carry risk?
A claim with no record behind it tells you nothing about what will reach your handover file. The danger sits in drawings that look complete while carrying invert levels, pipe routes and cable runs that were never measured.
That gap then travels. A crew laying an extension in Borama can cut a live water line or a buried cable because the drawing shows a route the pipe does not follow. A technician hunting a blockage spends a day tracing a line drawn from memory. A septic tank or soakpit is dug where the drawing places it and the actual pit sits away from the drawn location.
Service records matter most on the work nobody sees after backfill, such as drainage runs, water supply lines, electrical ducts and foundation set out. Confirm the technical requirements for your own project against the specification and engineer, since the required contents of an as built set depend on the project, and the engineer and specification decide what is accepted.
How do you test an as built drawings claim before award?
Ask for one complete as built set from a finished job the bidder names, and ask for the field records that produced it. A genuine set arrives with red line markups carrying dates and initials, level or survey sheets, and a check signature. A set produced after the fact usually arrives as clean CAD only, with no measurable trail.
Then do three checks:
- Compare one drawing coordinate or invert level against the finished structure on that completed site. Walk the site with the drawing in hand.
- Ask who recorded the levels, who drafted the drawing and who checked it. Three names, three steps, is normal practice on controlled work.
- Ask what changes the site team made during construction, and how those changes reached the drawing. A crew that cannot describe its own change process did not run one.
The same method applies to a bidder's supervision depth, labour plan and programme. If the as built claim is thin but the drawings carry initials and dates, you have enough to keep the bidder on the list and ask more questions about the rest. If the drawings carry nothing, treat the claim as a sales line and move on.
Where a bidder's records are partly missing, a paid trial can close the gap. Ask for one small service survey, such as a drainage run or a water line trace, priced and delivered before the main award. Check the output against the site yourself. Confirm payment terms, scope of the trial and what it costs against your contract before you commit.
What does a weak as built record do to the handover?
The damage lands on the owner after practical completion, when the contractor has left and the site team has moved on. Maintenance crews then work from drawings that disagree with the ground, or from no drawings at all, and every repair becomes an excavation to find out what is actually there.
The client can limit that exposure during the build. Require as built drawings as a handover deliverable listed in the contract, with field records attached, not just a CAD file. Ask the municipal engineer's office what records it keeps for the plot, and cross check your drawing against anything it can share.
For a Borama project, treat the handover set as something to agree project by project: agree at the start what the completed set should include, who signs it and what evidence supports each drawing, then confirm those requirements with the engineer or the office issuing your permit before the work starts.
What to do next
Ask each shortlisted bidder for one as built drawing set from a finished job, with the red line markups and survey sheets attached. Compare one level or route against that completed site, then decide whether the firm keeps its place on the list. Reject any claim that arrives without a field record behind it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a client require as built drawings before final payment?
That depends on what your contract says. Check the payment terms and the list of handover deliverables with your engineer before you commit, and put the requirement in writing at award stage.
Who can confirm local service records for a Borama plot?
Ask the municipal engineer's office what records it keeps for the area, and check your as built set against whatever it can share.
Local reporting: this article is written for building work in Borama and Somaliland. Ground conditions, prices and rules differ between places; confirm the details for your own site.