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Plan and Profile Drawings

Construction-stage drawings prepared to municipal standards.

What plan and profile drawings cover

Plan and profile drawings are the construction-stage documents for buried infrastructure. They cover sewer and watermain in the road right-of-way.

The plan view shows horizontal alignment, structures, and the services the work crosses. The profile view shows the vertical picture.

The profile is where the real coordination happens. It sets pipe grades, invert elevations, cover depth, and every crossing with an existing utility.

Clashes get resolved on the drawing rather than in the trench. Existing utility information is shown so the contractor knows what is already there.

Drawings are prepared to municipal design standards for construction-stage submission, then reviewed and sealed by a licensed Ontario Professional Engineer, as applicable.

The alignment comes from the site layout, so these drawings follow the servicing plan. Surface levels along the corridor are taken from the grading plan so cover over the pipe holds the whole way.

For more on construction-stage submissions, read What Information Does a Civil Engineer Need From the Architect? .

When you need plan and profile drawings and what they include

When you need them

  • New sewer or watermain in a municipal right-of-way
  • Subdivision servicing construction
  • Municipal capital works
  • Service extensions to reach a development site
  • Infrastructure replacement or upsizing
  • Any work requiring a municipal construction permit

What you receive

  • Plan view with horizontal alignment and structures
  • Profile view with pipe grades and invert elevations
  • Existing utility crossings shown and annotated
  • Cover depth confirmed along the full run
  • Chainage, stationing, and structure schedules
  • Municipal standard detail references
  • Drawings to municipal standards, sealed as applicable

Where profiles come apart

Most profile comments came down to crossings. An existing gas or hydro duct shown on the plan but never picked up in the profile, so nobody had checked whether the new sewer actually clears it. The other one was cover depth going thin at the tie-in, where the proposed grade met the existing road. Both are resolvable on paper. Neither is cheap to resolve on site.