Updated
What detailed design should contain.
Permit design is for the authority. Detailed design is for the contractor. They are two different documents at two different levels of resolution, and confusing them is the most common reason a site stops and the phone calls start, “so how is this meant to look, exactly?”
The difference in one sentence
Permit design proves the house complies with the law and the zoning plan. Detailed design says what to build it from and how. Polish building regulations do not require the second one for a single-family house, which is precisely why it is so often skipped, and why the material decisions end up being made by the bricklayer.
| Building design | Construction drawings | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | the authority | the contractor on site |
| Answers | may this be built | what it is built from, and how |
| Required by law | yes | no, for a single-family house |
| Level of detail | layout, envelope, compliance with the plan | details, reinforcement, material specification |
| Who decides without it | the bricklayer, on site, on the day |
What belongs in it
Architecture
- plans of every floor at working scale, fully dimensioned
- sections through the difficult places, not the easy ones
- wall elevations for bathrooms, the kitchen and anywhere tile setting out matters
- window and door schedules with performance data, not only sizes
- details: eaves, parapet, terrace threshold, window-to-wall junction, plinth, balustrade
- floor finishes layout with setting out and movement joints
- suspended ceilings with levels and access panels
Engineering
- structure with reinforcement drawings and steel schedules
- electrical layout with outlets, circuits and distribution board
- plumbing and drainage with runs, falls and penetrations through the structure
- mechanical ventilation with ductwork and air intake
- heating and cooling with the plant and its distribution
The parts people forget
- material specification: the actual product, not “thin-coat render”
- a bill of quantities you can price against and use to compare tenders
- external works with levels, drainage and planting
How to spot a set that is too thin
Count the details. A 500 m² house has dozens of them. If the documentation is plans, two sections and four elevations, that is a permit design in nice packaging, the rest will be resolved on site, in a hurry, and in the contractor's favour.
The second signal is missing schedules. Without a joinery schedule and a material specification you cannot compare two tenders, because each one is pricing something else.
Why it matters to the client
Three reasons. Comparable tenders: contractors price the same thing, so a difference in price means a difference in margin, not in scope. Fewer changes mid-build, and every change on site costs many times what it costs on a drawing. And the house looks like the design, because nobody had to invent anything on the spot.
The construction drawings are where you see whether someone designed the house or merely drew it.
Sources
You can check the legal position yourself: the links go to the acts in the official Polish register and to Statistics Poland, not to somebody's summary.
We will check what fits
on your plot.
Other questions
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