THE ANATOMY OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI’S)

RFI’s are both the product and the process of requesting project-related information from the project team throughout the lifecycle of a construction project.

On large-scale construction projects, RFIs are typically managed and distributed through the use of construction project management software i.e., Procore, Autodesk Build (Plangrid), while on smaller projects, they are often distributed to the project team using email tools.

Regardless of the method of RFI management used for your project, RFI Composition is crucial to:

  1. clearly communicate the inquiry/question to the responsible party i.e., Architect, Engineer and Owner

  2. receive timely response from the responsible party to avoid progress delays.

Thus, we are enumerating our top 5 components of a successful RFI: 

  1. Drawing/ Document Reference List: This information provides the project team with a short list of drawings or documents to expeditiously to understand and respond to the RFI.

Ex: REF: A1.0 FLOOR PLAN, A.2.1 – ELEVATION, Attached Photos

  • Support Documents/ Drawings: From the reference list provided, the RFI will include support documents, drawings, and markups to graphically demonstratethe intent, content, and objective of the RFI.

Ex: Marked-up Drawings, Photos, Sketch, Drawing Overlay, Emails…

  • Statement of the RFI: This section constitutes the written body of RFI, which should include the following:

    • Summary of the Origin of the Issue – Provide a quick overview and history of the issue.

    • Clearly Stating the question and Call-to-action to the responsible party using phrases such as: Please advise…Please provide the following…Please provide design directives on… Please clarify…

    • Provide a suggested response or solution to the question. – Best practices compel General Contractors to provide suggestions to Design Team, as this may help expedite the response and execution, especially if the proposed solution is already vetted by the field team.

  • Responsible Party – Most construction software includes an input field for the responsible party expected to provide the response to the RFI. However, if a software is not used on the project, a successful RFI must state the name and email address of the project team member responsible to provide the response to avoid bystander effect in the RFI process.

  • Due Date: Most project teams will establish the timeline expectations on RFI responses in the project specifications. It often varies if the RFI must be forward to engineering consultantsto provide the appropriate response. If not stated in the specs, 3-5 days would be the recommended timeline for responses.

Stay tuned for the next article as we will tackle the most common pitfalls in the RFI process!