When civil engineers and architects draft site plans, they assume the CAD lines correspond perfectly to the physical dirt on the job site. However, if the CAD file was drafted in State Plane NAD83(1986) but the surveyor stakes the building using modern GNSS WGS84, the blueprints will physically shift.
The Cost of Encroachment
If a commercial building is built utilizing the incorrect datum assumption, it may unknowingly cross a boundary setback line or even infringe onto a neighboring property. Correcting an active construction error of this magnitude easily scales into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation, delay damages, and physical tear-down costs.