As-built drawings in Qatar: when you need them and what they must show

As-built drawings record a building as it stands today. They show the real walls, levels, structure and services, measured on site, not the building that was planned. In Qatar you need them when an authority, landlord, buyer or engineer must rely on the existing building.

The common triggers are the building completion certificate, a permit to modify or extend a building, and a fit-out in a tower or mall. A sale, a lease or lost drawings can also create the need. A complete set covers architecture, structure and MEP, which means mechanical, electrical and plumbing services.

As-built, design and shop drawings are three different things

Design drawings show what the owner and consultant intend to build. The authorities approve them with the building permit. Shop drawings come next. The contractor or a specialist prepares them to show how each part will be made and installed.

As-built drawings come last. They record what was actually built, including every change made on site. On a new project, the contractor usually updates the drawings during construction and the supervising consultant checks them. On an existing building with no reliable records, a consultant produces them from a measured survey.

When you need as-built drawings in Qatar

Six situations cause most requests.

• Building completion certificate. Hukoomi, the government services portal, explains how the municipality issues it. The municipality first compares the existing building with the drawings approved in the building permit.
• Modification or extension. A permit for an added floor, an annex or a change of use starts from the existing building. The existing drawings must therefore be accurate.
• Missing or unreliable drawings. Older villas often have no complete set, or only paper copies that no longer match the site.
• Sale, lease or valuation. Buyers, tenants, banks and valuers want areas and layouts they can trust.
• Fit-out in towers and malls. Landlords expect tenants to design over the real unit and to hand over as-built drawings at the end.
• Facility management. Maintenance teams need to know where valves, isolators, access panels and cable routes really are.

What a complete as-built set contains

A full set has three disciplines on one shared survey base. A simple need, such as a lease plan, may need architecture only. Extensions, added floors and fit-outs with new loads need structure and MEP as well.

• Architectural: site plan with setbacks and boundary wall, dimensioned floor plans, roof plan, elevations and sections. Plans show room names, doors, windows, stairs and floor areas.
• Structural: positions and sizes of columns, walls and beams, slab types, expansion joints and visible defects. Hidden items such as reinforcement need scanning or testing if an engineer must rely on them.
• Electrical: distribution boards, a single line diagram, and lighting and power layouts.
• Mechanical and plumbing: air conditioning units and duct routes, water tanks and pipework, and drainage with manholes.
• Fire systems: fire alarm devices, sprinklers, hose reels and pumps.
• Survey base: plot boundaries and levels related to the plot plan, the survey date, and any areas that could not be accessed.

How a measured survey is done

A measured survey turns the building into reliable dimensions. The tools depend on the size of the building, but the steps stay the same.

1. Collect every record that exists: title deed, plot plan, building permit, approved drawings and completion certificate.
2. Agree the scope, the disciplines, the level of detail and the file formats.
3. Measure on site. Surveyors use hand-held laser measures for small buildings and total stations or 3D laser scanners for large or complex ones.
4. Trace the services. Engineers open access panels, follow pipe and cable routes and read equipment nameplates.
5. Draw the building in CAD, then cross-check architecture, structure and MEP against each other.
6. Return to site with the draft drawings and check them room by room.
7. Issue the final set with a list of assumptions and a comparison against the approved permit drawings.

When the building differs from its permit

Surveys of existing buildings often find differences from the approved drawings. Typical examples are a roof room, a closed balcony, a car shade or a kitchen annex. Some differences are minor. Others affect setbacks, built-up area, structure or fire safety.

The honest route is the only workable one. The as-built drawings must show the building as it is, and a separate comparison should list each difference from the permit. Some can be regularised through a permit application for the modification. Some need engineering checks first, such as a structural assessment of an added floor. Some cannot be approved under the planning rules for the plot and must be altered or removed. The municipality decides, and no consultant can promise the result.

Never hide a difference on the drawings. Inspectors compare the drawings with the site, and a false drawing damages every later application for that plot.

As-built drawings for fit-outs in towers and malls

Tenants meet as-built drawings twice. At the start, the landlord's base-build drawings may not match the unit. Ceiling void heights, column sizes, sprinkler positions and service connection points are the usual problems. A measured survey of the unit before design prevents clashes and redesign. At the end, most fit-out manuals require as-built drawings of the completed fit-out, including fire alarm and sprinkler changes.

How to choose who prepares them

Price alone is a poor guide, because a cheap set that misses the structure or the services must be redone. Check the points below before you appoint anyone. We prepare architectural, structural and MEP as-built drawings as one coordinated set, and we handle the permit application when one follows.

• One team covers architecture, structure and MEP, so the three sets agree with each other.
• The firm is an engineering consultancy that can also submit to the Ministry of Municipality if a permit is needed.
• The team measures on site and does not only redraw old paper drawings.
• The result is compared with the approved permit drawings, and the differences are listed in writing.
• You receive editable CAD files and PDF files.
• The drawings state what could not be inspected, such as buried pipes or concealed reinforcement.

Common questions