I would ask for 3 sets, one as a record set that will not be marked up and one for you and one for the inspector to be able to mark up. I assume the lender and the building department have a set already.

Thank you Renovator8.

Very logical indeed.

Or none if your contract does not call it out.

A basic requirement of any construction contract is that the work of the contract be defined and if any of that information is contained in a set of drawings they would be included in the contract so it would render the contract void if the owner was denied a copy of any part of a contract to which he was privy.

And if there is a building department involved the drawings would be part of the public record and copies should be available to anyone although not necessarily in full size format.

Thank you Renovator8 & brickyee. Both good points.
While it is assumed that I am the owner of said blueprints since they are essentially the visualization of what I signed to buy them, it still wouldn't hurt to have it printed in black & white.

I don't have the latter as brickeyee pointed out but I am glad Renovator8 was able to point out the spirit of the contract as it is practically applied.

Ownership and right to use are not necessarily the same thing.

As the owner of the project you have the right to have copies of the drawings & specs and to use them in any way you like for your project but if you wanted to use them for another project or sell them you would need to be designated as the owner of them.

The owner of the drawings might be a third party not privy to the construction contract but ownership should not be an issue for what you want to do. You have free access to any document included in the contract while the contract is in force.

Ownership of drawings is something you normally buy from the author (if they are for sale) and the price is often very high so unless you wanted to use them for another project there would be no reason to spend the money; you've already paid to use them for your project.

The number of copies you get from the contractor is not important because you can have full sized plain paper copies made. A copyright only applies to unauthorized copying and you have the right to make a copy as long as you keep it reasonably under your control. You might require the inspector, in writing, to return all documents to you at the end of the project or you could share your original set with the inspector.

"the spirit of the contract as it is practically applied"

There is no spirit or practical application involved; what I have explained to you is a matter of contract law.

Don't sign a contract written by a contractor without showing it to your attorney. An agreement must be acceptable to both parties. But an agreement that denies you a copy of the contract documents would not be enforceable in any state.