Part II · The set · Chapter 7
Title blocks, revision blocks, general notes
The three blocks that repeat on every sheet of a millwork set: what each field is for, what the standard requires, and how revisions and notes carry the record.
10 min read
Three blocks repeat on every sheet: the title block, the revision block and the general notes. Nobody admires them. But they are what lets a single sheet, found loose on a bench three weeks later, tell you what job it belongs to, whether it is current, and what rules apply to it.
This chapter goes through each block field by field, using the Woodwork Institute's published sample, a real residential submittal, and the Architectural Woodwork Institute's submittal standard, AWI 100.
Why the blocks repeat on every sheet
Sheets get separated. The shop prints a section and takes it to a machine. The installer takes two elevations to site. A reviewer marks up one sheet and sends it back alone. The sheet that travels has to carry its own identity and its own rules, because the cover will not be there.
The residential set shows the principle in its simplest form. Every one of its 16 sheets repeats the same strip in the lower right corner: general notes, revision block, company, project, drawn by, checked by, date, scale, drawing number and phase. The cover adds a sheet index. Nothing else is printed once.
The title block
What the fields are for
A basic drafting handbook describes the title block as the place for information that "is not always directly related to the construction of an object, but is needed for its manufacture". It lists fields such as company, part name, drawing number, scale, general tolerances, and a "drafting room record" of the names or initials of the people responsible, with dates. It also notes that layout "will vary from company to company, but will usually be standardized within a given company". Millwork title blocks follow the same pattern with fields suited to construction work.
Here are the fields in the two sets in hand:
| Field | Woodwork Institute sample | Residential set |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Company, address, phone/fax, state licence number | Company |
| Job | Job name, job address | Project, description |
| Other parties | Construction manager, architect | — |
| Sheet | Sheet no. 1 OF 10 | Drawing no. 04 OF 16 |
| Job number | Job no. | — |
| Scale | Scale | AS NOTED |
| Date | Date | Date |
| People | Drawn by, reviewed by | Drawn by, checked by |
| Status | Revision column in the strip | Phase, with a revision triangle |
The sample runs its title block as a vertical strip down the right edge of each sheet. The residential set uses a box in the lower right corner. Both work. Pick one layout for the shop and never change it between jobs, so people learn where to look.
What the standard adds
AWI 100 does not prescribe a title block layout, but it sets requirements a title block has to carry:
- Each sheet is "sequentially numbered and dated" (§3.2.3 c).
- A cover or title sheet gives the project name, address, specified AWI grade and scope, plus the aesthetic and performance grade, duty level, and contact details for the design professional, general contractor, manufacturer, installer and finisher (§3.2.1).
- Sheets are a minimum of 11" × 17" and a maximum of 24" × 36" (§3.2.3 c).
The project data sheet
The Woodwork Institute sample goes further than a title block. Its sheet 1 is a whole page of project data, and it is worth copying for any commercial job:
- A block each for fabricator, contractor and architect: company, address, licence number, contact, phone.
- Project: name, address, phone.
- Empty boxes for the architect's stamp, the general contractor's stamp and the W.I. label. The reviewer's stamp lands on your sheet, in a space you reserved for it.
- Specified grade by item: tops, cabinets, millwork and doors each get their own grade. In the sample, three are Custom and the doors are Premium. One job can carry more than one grade.
- Yes/no boxes for certification and labels: shop drawing labels, countertop labels, cabinet labels, millwork labels, door certificate, installation certificate.
- Installation requirements stated up front. The first says it is the architect's or engineer's responsibility to "direct and provide specific detailed requirements for anchoring of cabinets to walls / floors / ceilings".
That last item shows what a data sheet is for. It records, on the first page, who owns a decision the shop does not.
Why 04 OF 16, not 04
A sheet numbered 04 tells you where it sits. A sheet numbered 04 OF 16 also tells you how many there should be. A bench hand holding sheets 09 to 14 of a 16-sheet set knows two are missing without finding the cover. Both sets in hand print the total on every sheet: n OF 16 in one, n OF 10 in the other.
The US National CAD Standard numbers architectural sheets differently, with a discipline, a sheet type and a two-digit sequence, such as A-201. It allows gaps in the sequence "to permit future insertion of sheets during design". That suits a large set that grows. For a millwork submittal, a simple sequence with a total is easier to check. If the general contractor's submittal log uses its own numbers, put both on the sheet.
The revision block
What it holds
A revision block is a table: revision number, date, initials, description. The residential set has one row on every sheet:
| Rev. | Date | By | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | (issue date) | (drafter's initials) | SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL |
The phase field in the title block repeats the revision number inside a triangle. On a later issue, the same number belongs beside each change on the drawing, inside a revision cloud, so a reader can find what moved.
How revisions accumulate
Revision 0 is the first issue. Every issue after it adds a row. Keep the old rows: they are the history. The National CAD Standard describes the usual practice: small changes are made "with the use of revision clouds and numbers accompanied with a brief description in the revision block". Only when a whole drawing changes in scope does it suggest a suffix on the sheet number, such as R for a revised issue of similar scope and X for a complete change.
Here is one way the rows can run on a commercial job. The descriptions are examples; the review outcomes in rows 1 and 2 come from AWI 100's list of approval stamps.
| Rev. | Description | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Submit for approval | First issue to the general contractor and architect |
| 1 | Revised per review comments, resubmit | Returned "Revise and Resubmit"; comments answered |
| 2 | Field dimensions incorporated | Returned "Approved as Noted"; site measured; notes and dimensions added |
| 3 | Issued for fabrication | Released to the shop floor |
The four review stamps
AWI 100 names "four common levels of approvals" and what each one means for you (§3.2.3 f):
| Stamp | What you do |
|---|---|
| Approved | Proceed with production |
| Approved as Noted | Proceed with production. The design professional keeps a marked copy and returns a marked set. |
| Revise and Resubmit | Revise as noted and resubmit for approval before proceeding with production |
| Rejected | Do not proceed. Meet to agree the changes needed, then resubmit. |
It adds that a general contractor's stamp reading "Reviewed", "Reviewed for General Conformance" or "No Exceptions Taken" counts as Approved or Approved as Noted (§3.2.3 g). It also says one marked copy is returned "within 10 days" of review (§3.2.3 e). Record each stamp and its date against the revision row it answers. When two people hold different versions of a sheet, the revision block is the first thing anyone checks.
"Approved as Noted" is the one that bites
Approved as Noted lets you proceed, but the notes are now part of the approval. If you build without folding them into the drawings, the shop builds from a sheet that no longer matches what was approved. Issue a new revision that incorporates the notes before the floor cuts anything, and describe it in the revision row.
A warning in the margin
The job sheets bundled with the Woodwork Institute sample print a warning along the title strip of every sheet:
Warning: these shop drawings are not approved and must not be used by any contractor until they are approved and dimensions are verified. Use of these drawings will be at your own risk. … These drawings are for submittal review only.
Job sheets bundled with the Woodwork Institute sample
It does the same job as the revision row. It makes the status of a loose sheet impossible to miss.
General notes
What they are for
General notes state the rules that apply to every sheet: what is excluded, who supplies what, which standard governs, and what must happen before fabrication. The National CAD Standard's notations module sets out why they matter: "Drawing notes, as part of the contract documents, have important legal consequences." It warns that notes must not "create unintended obligations between the parties", that their terms should match the specification, and that they "should not include vague references such as 'SEE SPECIFICATIONS.'"
Two real sets of general notes
The residential set carries one general note on every sheet:
Finishes to be reviewed and approved before fabrication.
Residential millwork submittal, every sheet
That single line makes finish approval a condition of fabrication, on every sheet that goes to the floor.
The Woodwork Institute sample puts its general notes on the specification sheet. There are nine:
- Plumbing/fixtures by others.
- Electrical/fixtures by others.
- Painting/finishing by others.
- All blocking for cabinet anchorage is by others.
- Casework shelf span to comply with W.I. manual.
- All construction is based on the latest edition of the Architectural Woodwork Standards unless specified otherwise.
- All rubber, vinyl, or finish base to be supplied by others.
- Locks supplied only where indicated.
- Shelf location and quantity supplied only where indicated.
Five of the nine name work someone else supplies, and two more limit what the shop supplies. Saying what the shop is not doing is the main job of a general note. Scope disputes start with work nobody wrote down as excluded. Items 8 and 9 turn "where indicated" into a rule: if the drawing does not show it, the shop does not supply it. Which makes the callout count in chapter 6 matter even more.
The same sheet carries one more note, under the table:
Shop drawings must include all items required in original specifications. Changes from the original specifications shall be submitted by the fabricator in a separate document signed & approved by the architect prior to fabrication.
Woodwork Institute sample, specification requirements sheet
AWI 100 says the same in its own words: changes and substitutions drawn into shop drawings "do not constitute a request for approval", and must be "itemized separately from the shop drawings", with the reason and the expected effect on schedule, cost and other trades (§3.2 b–c). A change hidden in a drawing is not approved just because the drawing is.
Writing general notes that work
- Exclusions first. List what others supply: blocking, plumbing, electrical, appliances, base, stone. The sample's "by others" notes are the model.
- Name the standard and the grade. "Latest edition" is what the sample says; the specification may name an edition. Use the specification's words.
- State the conditions for fabrication. Finish approval, field dimensions, hardware confirmation. The residential note is one example.
- State who verifies. The sample's installation note puts cabinet anchorage requirements on the architect or engineer. If field verification is yours, say so; if it is the contractor's, say that.
- Keep them short, and the same on every sheet. Notes that differ between sheets make the reader wonder which one wins.
- Put sheet-specific notes on the sheet, not in the general notes. A note about one cabinet belongs beside that cabinet.
The notes list above is written from the sets in hand, not from a rule. Your specification may require more.
Worked example: setting up a title strip
For a commercial job under AWI 100, a strip that carries everything above holds, top to bottom:
- General notes: exclusions, standard and grade, conditions for fabrication.
- Revision block: rev, date, by, description; room for at least five rows.
- Company: name, address, phone, licence number where your jurisdiction uses one.
- Project: name, address, general contractor, architect.
- Sheet title: what is on this sheet, in words.
- Drawn by, checked by, date, job number.
- Scale, or AS NOTED with the scale printed under every view.
- Sheet number: n OF n.
- Status: the current revision number, large enough to read at arm's length.
Then put the project data sheet at the front of the set, with the grade by item, the contacts AWI 100 asks for, and empty boxes for the reviewers' stamps.
What to check before you issue
- Every sheet has the same title block, filled in, with n OF n and a date.
- The revision block on every sheet shows the same current revision, and the description says why it was issued.
- Each change since the last issue is clouded and tagged with the revision number.
- Comments from the last review are either incorporated or answered in writing.
- General notes are identical on every sheet and list every exclusion.
- Any change from the specification is listed in a separate document, not only drawn.
- The cover carries grade, scope and contacts if the job is under AWI 100.
Sources
- Woodwork Institute, Sample Shop Drawings (watermarked SAMPLE, fictitious names). Title block fields; project data sheet with grade by item, stamps, certification boxes and installation requirements; the specification sheet's nine general notes and its note on changes; the warning strip on the bundled job sheets. Document.
- A residential millwork submittal, 16 sheets. Title block fields, n OF 16, revision 0 SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL, phase triangle, the single general note. Names, initials and dates not reproduced: live job. Document.
- Architectural Woodwork Institute, AWI 100 – Submittals, §3.2 b–d, §3.2.1, §3.2.3 c, e, f, g, awinet.org, read 21 September 2026. Cover sheet contents, numbering and dating, sheet sizes, the four review stamps, 10-day return, substitutions itemised separately. Primary.
- National Institute of Building Sciences, US National CAD Standard v6, UDS Module 1 §1.3.4–1.3.5 (sheet sequence, revision clouds, R and X suffixes) and Module 7 §7.2.1 (legal weight of notes, no vague references), nationalcadstandard.org. Primary.
- Student Handbook for Basic Drafting (research/ptech_drafting_handbook_new.pdf), "Title Blocks". Title block purpose and fields, drafting room record, standardisation within a company. Written for manufacturing drafting. Document (textbook).