Design review checklist

Ten things every review comment should record, so the review can be proved later. Free, one page, no sign-up.

Download the free PDF

For design managers, principal designers and contractors who review drawings or change details on site. A marked-up PDF shows what was raised. This checklist covers what a review record needs to show: who raised each comment, who answered it, and the revision that closed it.

Download the free PDF (one A4 page, no sign-up), or read it below.

A. Every comment should record

If a comment cannot answer these, it cannot be proved later.

  1. A number that never changes between revisions.

  2. The drawing number and revision it was raised on.

  3. Where it applies: a pin, a cloud or a grid reference.

  4. Who raised it, and the date.

  5. The issue, in one plain sentence.

  6. Whether it is a health and safety risk, and if so whether it is eliminated, reduced or passed on as information (Regulation 9).

  7. Who owns the response.

  8. The response, and the date it was given.

  9. Status: open, closed or carried forward, and the revision that closed it.

  10. Where the outcome went: into the design, to the principal designer, or into the health and safety file.

B. Before anyone changes a detail on site

Under Regulation 2, anyone who modifies a design in the course of a business is a designer, contractors included.

  1. Who is making this decision, and are they competent to make it?

  2. What foreseeable risks does the change create: to build it, maintain it, clean it or use it?

  3. Has the principal designer been told?

  4. Is the change on the drawing, not only on a sketch in the cabin?

  5. Does the health and safety file need to know?

C. At every new revision

  1. Carry every open comment forward. Never restart from a blank sheet.

  2. Close each comment against the revision that resolved it.

  3. Send the comment schedule back with the revision, not after it.

The printable version

The same checklist on one A4 page, to print, pin up or send round. Download the free PDF.

Preview of the free design review checklist (one A4 page)

Related reading

Keep it in Clarity Markup

Clarity Markup keeps every cloud, dimension and numbered comment editable, so open comments carry across to the next revision, and the whole list exports as a comment schedule. Seven days free, and no card needed to start.

See Clarity Markup

More free one-page checklists are on our free checklists page.

This checklist is general information, not legal advice.