A steel detailer prepares two primary types of drawings: erection drawings and shop drawings.

Erection drawings are used to guide the steel erector on the construction site ("in the field") as to where and how to erect the fabricated steel members.

The shop drawings are intended for use by the fabrication shop, and thus contain little or no information about the erection and installation of the steel members they depict; this information belongs in the erection drawings.

Since the erection drawings are intended for use in the field, they contain very little specific information about the fabrication of any individual steel member; members should already be completed by the time the erection drawings are used.