Question about using grid paper for scale on site plans - waste of time or necessary?

I've been drafting for about 4 years now and I always just used plain paper and my eye for scaling. Last week an older drafter at a firm in Denver told me I was crazy and handed me a roll of grid paper. I tried it on a small commercial lot and honestly the spacing felt way more consistent. But it also took me twice as long to sketch out the same thing. Is this just a crutch for people who can't do it freehand or does it actually save time in the long run?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_gibson9h ago

i used to be totally in the "just eyeball it" camp too... thought grid paper was for people who couldn't trust their own hand. but then i did a site plan for a narrow lot and my spacing was so off i had to redo it from scratch, so i tried it out. now i find it actually saves time because i don't have to fix mistakes later, even if it feels slower at first.

joseph_martinez353h ago

That narrow lot saved you @eva_gibson, it's funny how one bad experience makes you see the method in everything from cooking to parking.