How to mark up a construction drawing

Updated 26 October 2026 · from SiteHelm

A good markup says one thing clearly: what’s wrong, where, and what you want done. These are the habits that make that happen.

Cloud the change, not the whole sheet

Draw a revision cloud tight round each thing that changes. A cloud round half the sheet tells nobody anything. One cloud, one issue.

Say it in a note with a leader

Put the words next to the cloud with a leader arrow pointing at it: “Door moved 300 to the left, see RFI 012”. Keep notes short and in the same place on every sheet.

Use real sizes

Set the drawing’s scale first, then dimension what matters. A dimension read off the drawing to scale is better than “about a metre”. Check the scale against a known length before trusting it.

Stamp the status

Approved, approved as noted, rejected, for construction: a stamp with your name and the date shows at a glance where a drawing stands.

Keep the original

Mark up a copy and save it under a new name with the date, for example “GA plan C02 marked 26-10-2026”. The design team’s issue stays untouched.

In PDF Picasso

All of these are in the free editor: Cloud, Note, Dim (to scale), Stamp, and typed commands as in CAD (RC for a cloud, DIM for a dimension). Markups are saved as real lines and text, so they print sharp.

Open the editorFree. No sign-up. Nothing is uploaded.