Tried to stay out of this (really, I did!)

Bob is on to something on the public/private sector thing... if it's a
public building, by law the owners/operators are required to maintain an
accurate set of drawings depicting current and past conditions in a
facility.  Main reason, if something collapses you need to show that the
facility hadn't been altered in any way that compromised the structural
integrity.

Here's an example from 1981 of why http://goo.gl/UQ7qA

Now, regardless of public/private... to efficiently and effectively manage
any facility, you need records indicating any additions, removals or
changes to services such as Peter and others mentioned (HVAC, waste, supply
water, electrical, sprinklers, alarms, etc).  This is the only way to
ensure where services are located to shut them off, tie into them, avoid
interferences, etc.

So, while there is not necessarily a LEGAL requirement to obtain EVERY
version of every drawing, until someone can verify that markups to a print
of version 1 were transferred to version 2 (or a subsequent version) and
markups to version 2 were transferred to... etc, etc, etc.  Failure to
retain all versions of the information included on those various
generations of blueprints and markups until someone has verified that all
changes have been incorporated could result in costly excavation,
deconstruction, or rework when making future changes to the facilities.

Here's an example from this year of what happens from failing to maintain
accurate and up to date information on facilities, http://goo.gl/8M7G3 or
the cost of failing to ensure changes are reflected on operation drawings
http://goo.gl/17nP3

Larry
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-- 
*Lawrence J. Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972*

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