Construction RFI template: form and log in one file

Why the log matters

RFIs pile up. In a 2013 research paper, the Navigant Construction Forum looked at about 1.1 million RFIs on 1,362 projects, most of them in Australia and New Zealand, and found an average of 796 RFIs per project and a median reply time of 9.7 days. From an informal survey of three US design and construction management firms, the authors estimated that a typical RFI takes about eight hours to log, review and answer, at about $1,080. With hundreds of questions open on a job, the log is the one place anyone can see which answer is holding up work.

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   1. One question per RFI

   Two questions in one RFI get one answer, and the second one gets lost. The Navigant Construction Forum's best practices limit each RFI to a single subject, which also keeps the log honest: one row, one issue, one date.

2. 2

   2. A date, never ASAP

   Set the response date from the schedule activity the answer holds up. The RFI form Navigant recommends rules out ASAP as a response date, and its best practices ask contractors to submit RFIs at least 10 days before the answer is needed.

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   3. Point to the exact sheet, detail and spec section

   A reviewer who has to hunt for the problem answers it later, and sometimes answers a different one. Navigant's best practices ask for specific drawing and specification references on every RFI, and the log keeps both in their own columns.

4. 4

   4. Propose a fix

   When you can see a way to resolve it, write it in the Suggested solution field. The reviewer can then answer with one word, and the fix comes from the people who know the field conditions. Navigant's best practices ask for a suggested resolution whenever the contractor sees one.

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   5. Flag cost and time on every RFI

   Mark cost and schedule impact as No, Yes or Potentially before the answer comes back. NAVFAC's guide specification (UFGS 01 31 23.13 20) works this way: a response with no cost and no schedule impact is not a basis for a contract change, and a contractor that disagrees has 14 calendar days to say so in writing.

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   6. Answer with the fix, not a pointer

   “See architectural drawings” is not an answer. A useful response cites the sheet and spec section it relies on and adds a sketch when the fix needs one. Navigant notes that a hand drawn sketch may be enough for a new or revised detail, and may speed the response up.

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   7. Put every answer back into the drawings

   An answer that lives only in the log is invisible to the next trade that opens the set. Navigant recommends working every RFI response into the design drawings as the RFI is processed. Issue it as a supplemental instruction or a revised sheet, and write that reference in the Resolution column.

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   8. One owner for the log, reviewed every week

   Navigant recommends a single RFI coordinator who receives every RFI the day it arrives, checks that it really is an RFI and tracks it to an answer. The red dates in the log are that person's weekly agenda.

Some RFIs are coordination conflicts that a model review can catch before the set goes out; if your team works in BIM, the BIM execution plan template covers how coordination is planned. And questions about doors, frames and hardware are easier to answer when every opening sits in one table: see the door schedule template.