MEP shop drawings in Revit: how to produce coordination and installation drawings

An MEP shop drawing is the drawing a crew builds from. It shows more than the construction documents do, because it has to explain how each item is fabricated and installed. Revit holds the model, and the work is turning that model into sheets that a foreman can read.

This guide covers the job in order. RayCAD is a Revit plugin for MEPF tagging and annotation, and it handles one part of this workflow, the tagging. Under each step where tags matter, you will see what the step costs by hand and what RayCAD does.

What is a shop drawing, and what does it contain?

A shop drawing is prepared by the installing trade, not by the designer. Wikipedia describes it as showing more detail than the construction documents, drawn to explain the fabrication and installation of the items. The trades covered include sheet metal ductwork, piping, plumbing, fire protection, and electrical.

A typical MEP set holds:

• Plans of each trade, with routes, sizes, and elevations.
• Sections through congested areas.
• Fittings, accessories, and equipment, identified and tagged.
• Supports and hangers where the contract requires them.
• Sleeves and penetrations through walls and slabs.
• Schedules that tie the tags to quantities.

Coordination drawings are related and different. They show all the trades together in the space to resolve clashes, and shop drawings then show one trade in the detail it needs.

How do you produce MEP shop drawings in Revit?

1. Start from accurate backgrounds

Design models are often not detailed enough for trade coordination. Practitioners describe the first step as getting accurate architectural and structural models to use as backgrounds.

1. Go to Insert, Link Revit, and link the architectural and structural models.
2. Use Manage Links to set Positioning to origin to origin, or to shared coordinates, as the project requires.
3. Check levels and grids against the design team's models, and report differences before you model against them.

2. Build the trade model to installable detail

Model the system to the level the crew installs. Use the right family or fabrication parts for ducts, pipes, fittings, and accessories, and connect the systems.

1. Use Check Duct Systems and Check Pipe Systems on the Analyze tab, and Show Disconnects, to find open ends.
2. Review warnings in Manage, Inquiry, Review Warnings.
3. Run Interference Check on the Collaborate tab against the linked models, or run clash detection in Navisworks.

3. Create the views from view templates

1. Create a plan view for each level and each trade, using View, Plan Views.
2. Apply a View Template that controls scale, detail level, discipline, and which categories show.
3. Create sections through congested areas with View, Section, and apply a section view template.
4. Set Crop View and the view range so each plan shows what the crew needs and no more.

A shop drawing view template should show the trade in full and the background lightly, so the model reads as the main subject.

4. Dimension to the structure

Dimensions tie the work to something the crew can find on site.

1. Go to Annotate, Dimension, Aligned.
2. Dimension from grids and walls to the centerline or side of the run.
3. Add elevation values with tags or spot elevations. See the duct elevation guide and the pipe elevation guide.

5. Tag every element

Each tag ties an element to a schedule or a size.

1. Load the tag families for each category, as set out in the guide to tagging ducts and the guide to tagging pipes.
2. Use Tag by Category for single tags, or Tag All Not Tagged for each category in each view.
3. Move the tags clear of each other, and add leaders where space is tight.
4. Repeat for every plan and section.

6. Add schedules for quantities

1. Go to View, Schedules, Schedule/Quantities.
2. Create schedules for equipment, air terminals, valves, and fabrication parts.
3. Add the same fields that your tags show, such as Mark and Type Mark, so the two match.

7. Place the views on sheets

1. Create sheets with View, Sheet Composition, Sheet, using your titleblock.
2. Drag the views and schedules onto the sheet.
3. Add keynotes, general notes, and revision clouds.
4. Fill the sheet number, name, and revision.

8. Check, then issue

Run the checks in the MEP sheet QA checklist, and review the sheets with someone who did not draw them. Then issue for review.

What goes wrong on a shop drawing set?

What else breaks when you produce shop drawings by hand?

Model changes. Coordination moves routes for weeks. Every move leaves tags and dimensions in the old place. Select what moved and RayCAD's Retag tool tags it again with the same settings, while Review Tags lists anything it could not place.

Drawing consistency. A set drawn by several people drifts in tag style. RayCAD applies the tag families and layouts your firm saved in a preset, so each sheet follows the same standard. See firm standards.

How does RayCAD fit into a shop drawing workflow?

RayCAD handles the tagging. You pick the views. RayCAD reads the model, decides where tags belong, places them, and lists anything it could not place. You review the result. Click-savers cut the time per click, and every placement decision stays yours.

RayCAD does not create views, sheets, or dimensions. Those steps stay in Revit. RayCAD supports HVAC and piping today.

What should you check before you issue the set?

• Every element has the tag your standard requires.
• Dimensions tie the work to grids or structure.
• Schedules match the tags.
• The set passes the MEP sheet QA checklist.

RayCAD covers Revit 2021 to 2027. Start the 15-day trial, or email us for a demo and an onboarding call. See also the HVAC shop drawings guide. If clash rounds keep moving your routes, see RayCAD with Navisworks.

What building a shop drawing tagging script yourself really costs

• Time. Whoever builds and maintains the script is doing software development instead of the billable engineering and drafting work they were hired for.
• The AI loop.With Claude or ChatGPT it becomes an endless loop of “fix this”, “now fix that”. Each fix can break a case that worked before, and nobody on the team owns the code.
• Cost. Hours spent building and maintaining scripts, times your hourly rate, against $200 per month for RayCAD for the whole company.

You can build a shop drawing tagging script, and this page shows how. For production MEPF sheets, RayCAD is the cheaper and safer choice. Try it free for 15 days.