Accessibility Drawing & Plan Reviews - MAPS Has You Covered Nationwide

Architects, contractors, developers, and owners handle a lot of responsibilities on a project; hence it would be impossible for anyone in that role to dedicate all their time and focus to the accessibility codes. If you're relying on the permitting plan review by your local jurisdiction to ensure accessibility, keep in mind that they are only reviewing for local code compliance in the limited time they have. They are not responsible for verifying accessibility compliance with the federal codes, such as the ADA Standards or the Fair Housing Act.

The accessibility specialists at MAPS dedicate all their time to understanding the accessibility codes, staying up to date on revisions to the code, and keeping informed about new ideas, products, and concerns. We use this knowledge, construction experience, and our architecture backgrounds to provide detailed reviews for all your project drawings. The question you should be asking yourself is: When one dimension can be the difference between code compliance and future legal risk, why take the chance?

Project Plans

You provide us with the project plans (including but not limited to Architectural, Civil, MEP, Interiors) and we can review them as they progress through every stage, from Schematic Design up to the Construction Drawings. We recommend multiple reviews because as the drawings progress we have the ability to see new details and revisions, this allows us to catch any issues early before they grow into overwhelming problems. We perform all our plan reviews to the applicable city, state, and federal accessibility codes for that project's location.

Following our review we share a drawing set with redlined comments, where we call out anything that's a current problem as well as items that have the potential to become a problem later. In addition to flagging the issues, we also try to provide recommendations for ways to easily address an issue based on our experience.

Shop Drawings

They don't just have to be shop drawings for kitchen cabinets and millwork, we also can review shop drawings for restroom partitions, built-in service counters and bars, and any other element that has an accessibility concern.

We go through all the dimensions and double check that the shop drawings are accurate, meaning no missing dimensions and that references & labels are correct. The last thing anyone wants to see is a typo causing cabinets to be ordered for the wrong room or one wrong dimension causing costly delays.

Submittals

Door thresholds, window hardware, shower pans, we can review all your submittals for accessibility so that's one less thing to worry about when it comes time for construction. By providing us these submittals we can give you an immediate answer if these items meet the accessibility requirements.

Technical Sheets - Specifications

Whether it be product specs for toilets, garbage disposals, or hand showers, there are accessibility requirements to keep in mind for nearly every product. We don’t recommend relying on the manufacturer's word that a product is “ADA accessible”. There’s times where that's simply inaccurate and other times that might not be taking into account all the drawing details unique to that project.

For example an undermount sink, the specs say accessible knee clearance is provided underneath. But what if the project has countertops that are thicker than what the product specs account for? If nobody catches that discrepancy, accessible knee clearance won’t be provided. When MAPS reviews your technical specs, we take into account all the project details so there’s no surprises later.

In addition to performing plan & drawing reviews, did you know we can come out to your project and perform accessibility site visits? We can review new construction and existing projects, no matter the size or project location. For more information and background about site visits, please see our previous blog here.

Feel free to contact us, if you have a question about anything discussed above or another accessibility concern.