Acronyms are pretty popular right now in all industries, and the construction industry is no different. Construction acronyms have always been around, due to the nature of construction drawings, complex terms and the need to condense important construction terms and jargon.
Knowing your construction acronyms can be really important for anyone in the industry, as acronyms are used generously and across many different phases and activities involved in a construction project.
You can need to decipher and understand acronyms on drawings, or need to quickly interpret acronyms on the fly in meetings.
We've covered some of the main construction acronym categories for you below, so that your acronym game is on point.
If you have a suggestion for any other construction acronym categories, please let us know and we'll add it to the ever-growing list of construction acronyms.
Floor plans are filled with construction acronyms because of the size constraint associated with a floor plan. When a lot of information needs to be squeezed onto a much smaller scale, acronyms do a great job of explaining what things are without overloading the plan or document with text. Here's some of the more common and useful floor plan acronyms.
ASPH - Asphalt, one of the easier construction acronyms to figure out on the spot
B - Basin, a single B can even mean something amongst construction abbreviations and acronyms
BAL - Balustrades
BK - Brick, bricks are usually pretty self-explanatory, as they are usually large in number and very frequently used
CF - Concrete floor
DPC/DPM - Damp-proof course or damp proof membrane, which is used for water proofing
FCL/FFL - Opposing and yet related, these construction acronyms mean the finished ceiling level (FCL) or finished floor level (FFL)
GPO - General power outlet, one of the most common floor plan acronyms
MSB - The master switchboard, of course
RL - Reduced level, one of the less contextual and easily understood acronyms
RWH/RWP/RWT - Rainwater acronyms for the rainwater head, pipe and tank
SS - Good old stainless steel
U/G & U/S - Construction acronyms focused on the underside of things: underground (U/G) and underside (U/S)
W(number) - Basix window number
This isn't an exhaustive list of floor plan acronyms, and you can find many other acronyms floating around the internet, to help make your floor plan and construction acronyms easier to understand and use.
Architectural activities are filled with acronyms and jargon, which were and are established early in the architectural journey - particularly in architecture drawings.
While you may not have much to do with the architectural drawing side of construction acronyms, it can still prove very valuable for any one working in the industry.
Here's some of the mainstay architecture acronyms:
AFF - Above finished floor
ANOD - Anodised
CIP - Cast in place
CLG - Ceiling
CLR - Clear
COMPR - Compressible, some architect drawing acronyms are more self-explanatory than others
DIM/DIMS - Dimension or dimensions
EPDM -Ethylene Propylene Diene M-Class (Roofing) - Some construction acronyms save us a lot of time pronunciation issues
FD - Floor drain or fire department - make sure you know which acronyms it means here
FO - Face of
FND - Foundation - one of the most 'foundational' acronyms in the business of construction
HVAC - Heating, ventilating and air conditioning - an acronym which has become mainstream
HM - Hollow metal
ILO - In lieu of
NIC - Not in contract, some acronyms are related to outside forces and not materials or designs
OH - Overhang or opposite hand
OPP - Opposite or opposite hand
PT - Pressure treated
PNT - Paint or painted
RCP - Reflected ceiling plan
SPK - Sprinkler or speaker - another important one not to get mixed up
SSTL - Stainless steel - sometimes acronyms across the construction industry can be a little different. Even floor plan diagrams and architectural drawings can use different acronyms for the same thing.
STRUCT - A self-explanatory construction acronym, and one of the most important
TPD - Toilet paper dispenser, everything needs an abbreviation or acronyms
UNO - Unless noted otherwise
Architectural drawing diagrams can take a lifetime to get to know, and most architects start them early. But having a basic understanding can prove helpful and inform other areas of your construction knowledge.
The common theme of construction blueprints being front and centre of drawing and diagram related construction documents continues. Blueprints also have a bunch of acronyms which need decoding:
A.F.G - Above finished grade
B.O.W - Bottom of wall
F.A.C.P - Fire alarm control panel
FRPF -Fire proof
HDCP - Handicapped
J-box - Junction box, and important and commonly used construction acronym for electricians and related trades
LDD - Limited dimension drawing
LL - Live load, sometimes double letter acronyms are the hardest to decipher
REQD - Make sure you don't miss this required acronym
REBAR - One of the most common construction abbreviations and most important materials
T.O.B - Top of beam - Similar to the bottom of acronyms (B.O. 'x'), there are a bunch of top of acronyms to know
There are a number of other blueprint acronyms of course, but many of them have been covered in previous construction acronym sections. As you become more and more knowledgable about your construction acronyms, you'll see more and more overlap across activities.
The civil engineering 'part' of the construction industry has some of its own construction acronyms, but many of them are of course related to or covered by the other sectors as well.
Civil engineers are often working off the architectural drawings and blueprints, so many of their acronyms feed off of these prior activities.
Some of the more common construction acronyms and abbreviations used in civil engineering include:
A.B - Anchor bolt or asbestos board
ASC - Allowable stress of concrete
AE - Assistant engineer, not an account executive in construction acronyms, which is the more common business abbreviation
BM - Benchmark or bending moment
BOF - Bottom of foundation
BOQ - Bill of quantities
BRW - The brick retaining wall
CC - Centre to centre
CE - Not a CEO, but a chief engineer
CMU - Concrete masonry unit
CMP - Critical path method
CS - Comparative statement
Engineers use many acronyms, abbreviations and languages to communicate.
Construction project management is at the heart of the construction industry, and it has its fair share of construction acronyms.
While not as technical or drawing focused as some of the other acronym categories, construction project management and the people who work in this area (essentially everyone) have figured out a number of ways to simplify and abbreviate some of the more common project management words:
AC - Actual cost
AF - Actual finish date
BAC - Budget at completion
BCWP / BCWS - Budgeted cost of work performed or scheduled. The acronym may be more of a mouthful than the words
CPAF - Cost plus award fee
CPPC - Cost plus percentage of cost. Any time you see a construction acronym with CP, it's most often cost-plus something.
CWBS - A common and important acronym for project management - the contract work breakdown structure
EMV - Expected monetary value - project management acronyms can mean the difference between failure and success
FFP - Firm fixed price
IFB - Invitation for bid
PMIS - Project management information system. To some companies, this is folders and papers, to others, the information management system is software-based.
QA and QC - Quality assurance and quality control - two of the main components of project quality
RFP - Request for proposal or request for quotation - The buying and bidding process has its own fair share of acronyms
SOW - Statement of work - a document used to outline and schedule a project
SV - Schedule variance - because not all projects go to plan (most don't)
SWAG - Sophisticated wild ass guess, one of the more informal but still useful construction acronyms
TC - Target completion date, keep your eyes on this acronym prize
VE - Value engineering - the modification of designs and systems
As you can see, many of these project management acronyms are slightly different to the engineering and drawing focused acronyms. You will see much more crossover and overlap in design and engineering related fields than you do between them and project and site based work.
Understanding the office (design, engineering) and the site (project management, supervision, labour) is the holy grail of construction acronym mastery, as then you can converse and sound in the know no matter where you are working.
Many people in the construction and other industries (business etc.) complain about the number of acronyms and abbreviations used.
But while it can seem daunting when entering the workforce or learning a bunch of new construction acornyms, in the long run, these acronyms and abbreviations save you time and enable the better and more efficient transfer of information.
Acronyms have become even more of their own language with the development of instant messaging, texting etc., but in the workplace, and with construction acronyms, the purpose is to smooth the transfer of information.
As long as everyone is on the same page and everyone is peaking the same construction acronyms language - acronyms are great and will continue to develop and evolve in the years ahead - as they always do.
