Versions and revisions

A document has versions. A-101 Floor Plan is the document; Rev A, Rev B and Rev C are versions of it.

Getting this right is what makes everything downstream work.

Uploading a revision

Upload the new file as a version of the existing document, not as a new document. Set Version Name to the revision — Rev C.

The new version becomes current. The old one is superseded, still there, still findable.

Why it matters

Three things depend on the relationship between versions.

Take-Off carry-over. Open a drawing you have measured on when a newer revision exists, and Take-Off offers to bring every measurement forward, flagged for review. That only works because it knows the two files are the same drawing. See Drawings, revisions and export.

The Take-Off picker hides superseded revisions by default, so you cannot accidentally measure last month’s drawing. Tick Show superseded if you deliberately want an older one.

Tender attachments send what is current, so a package going out after a revision carries the new drawing.

Uploading a revision as a new document breaks all three

You get two unrelated files, no carry-over offer, both showing in the picker, and no indication which is current. It is the single most consequential mistake available in this module.

What to do when drawings change

A sequence that works:

1. Upload the new revision against the existing document.
2. Note what changed — from the architect’s revision cloud or transmittal.
3. Open Take-Off and accept the carry-over.
4. Review the carried measurements against the new drawing. Adjusting one clears its flag; confirm the ones still correct.
5. Check the BOQ for quantities that have moved.
6. Raise a variation if the change is the client’s and the job is under contract.
7. Revise or void any orders affected.
8. Re-issue any tender that is still out on the old drawing.

Steps 6 to 8 are the ones missed under pressure, and they are the expensive ones. A drawing change is rarely just a drawing change.

Version names

Use the issuer’s revision letter or number exactly — Rev C, not latest, v3, or new one.

When they email about Rev C, you want to find Rev C.

Superseded revisions are worth keeping

Never delete an old version. It is the evidence of what was issued when.

The question it answers is a real one: “you priced this off Rev B, which showed a timber deck — Rev D changed it to concrete, which is why there is a variation.” That argument needs Rev B to exist.

Which revision was priced?

Worth recording, in the costing name or a note, which revision an estimate was built on: Tender — Rev A drawings.

When the client asks why the price has changed, the answer is usually that the drawings did — and being able to name the revision you priced makes that a fact rather than an assertion.