marcosmodly Reviewing floor plans
A floor plan review is a specific, checkable pass — not a general design critique. Work through it in order; don't skip to "looks good" without walking the checklist.
1. Orient yourself first
Before checking anything, confirm you actually know what you're looking at:
- Find the scale (a scale bar or a noted ratio like 1:100). If there isn't one, say so and ask — don't estimate real-world dimensions from an unscaled drawing.
- Find north. Orientation affects which egress paths and window placements actually make sense.
- Identify what's drawn vs. what's missing: is this a full floor, or one wing? Are furniture/fixtures shown, or just walls? Note the drawing's scope before flagging something as "missing" that was simply out of scope.
2. Run the review
Go through reference/review-checklist.md for the full pass: egress,
clearances and door swings, structural conflicts, and room-by-room
usability. It's long on purpose — this is where the actual domain checks
live, split out so this file stays a quick entry point.
3. Report findings the way a reviewer would use them
Group findings by severity, not by discovery order:
- Blocking — code violations, egress problems, structural conflicts. These need to be fixed before the plan moves forward.
- Should fix — usability or constructability problems that aren't code violations but will cause real friction (an awkward door swing, a too-narrow galley kitchen).
- Worth flagging — things you're not certain about because the drawing didn't give you enough information (unscaled area, ambiguous room label).
For each finding: name the room/location, what's wrong, and why it matters — not just "this seems tight," but "the corridor outside bedroom 2 measures ~34 inches at its narrowest, below the ~36 inch minimum clear width most residential codes require." Cite the specific measurement or rule, not a vague impression.
4. Common mistakes to avoid
- Don't invent a code you're not sure applies — jurisdictions vary. Flag "this looks tight for typical egress-width requirements, worth confirming against your local code" rather than citing a specific code section you can't verify applies here.
- Don't review a plan you can't actually read clearly. If text or dimensions are illegible, say which ones rather than guessing.
- Don't stop at the first few issues. Walk the entire checklist even after you've found something — plans commonly have unrelated problems in different rooms.
See reference/worked-example.md for a fully worked review showing the
severity grouping and citation style in practice.