Pro tip: That "faster" layer setup in AutoCAD will cost you later...

I hear drafters all the time saying to keep layers simple with just 5 or 6 types. But that bit me hard on a commercial remodel in Denver last fall. We had plumbing, electrical, and structural all on the same few layers because the previous guy set it up that way. When the city asked for a separate demolition plan, I had to spend 3 full days untangling what was what. The engineer said "just use visibility states" but it was a mess... Now I use at least 15 layers for any project with MEP involved. Has anyone else run into this with the "keep it simple" crowd?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph4481mo ago

Man, I hear you loud and clear. That same "keep it simple" philosophy cost me two weekends on a hospital remodel last year. The original drafter had everything on just "A-LAYR" for architectural and "M-LAYR" for mechanical. When we needed to pull a ceiling plan for the fire marshal, I had to manually sort through every wall, duct, and pipe one by one. It's like the simplicity folks never had to deal with real world code review or a picky plan reviewer. I swear, having 15 or 20 layers and using good naming is the only way to survive when you get a city request at 4 PM on a Friday.

ross.river1mo ago

Man I get the frustration but is it really that deep? An extra weekend sorting layers sounds like more of a workflow issue than a layer count problem. I've seen guys with 50 layers that still make a mess because they name them "LAYER1" and "COPY OF LAYER1". Good naming matters way more than having tons of layers. And for a fire marshal review most of the time they just want to see the ceiling grid and lights anyway.