Introduction

Drawing scale relates the number of inches measured on paper to the number of feet in the real world. For example, when you say a drawing scale is 1”=20’ that would mean that 1” on the paper represents 20’ in the real world.

 Determine Plan Scale Early

Sort out your drawing scales at the start of your plan set; this will determine the annotative scales for symbols and text and will define sheet layouts. The complexity of the site and the level of annotation needed will determine the drawing scale.

If you are working on a complex site containing many features and multiple utilities throughout, a scale of 1”=20’ would be appropriate. If the site is too large to fit on a single sheet at this scale, develop a matchline scheme to split the site between multiple sheets. Be consistent with your scale and matchline arrangement throughout the plan set.

Some plan sheets may not require the same level of annotation and detail; for these sheets, a larger scale of 1"=50' or 1"=60' showing the entire site on a single sheet would work. Again, be consistent throughout the plan set with the large-scale plans; use the same scale for all overall site plans. Try to keep the number of scales in a plan set down to two; you don’t want to be bouncing between more than two scales as this will make your plan sets feel chaotic and disorganized.

Details are in a different category and don’t need to follow these rules; they should be scaled depending on detailed object or area.

When setting up your plan sheets, arrange the sheet layout to allow extra room between the plan view and the border. Typically you want to show roughly 50’ beyond the project boundary and you will also want to provided about 6” on the right hand side of the sheet for notes. Plans are much more readable when the site plan is not stuffed into the plan sheet.