RFI Best Practices: A Guide for Construction Professionals
You're three weeks into a $12M office renovation. The MEP contractor hits you with an RFI: "Clarify duct routing at grid line C between floors 2 and 3."
That's it. No drawing reference. No photo. No indication of what the actual problem is or why they can't just follow the plans.
You forward it to the MEP engineer. They respond two days later: "Need more information. What's the conflict?"
Back to the MEP contractor. Another day lost. They send a blurry photo with no context. Back to the design team. Another two days.
By the time you get an actual answer, you've burned a week and a half. The duct installers have moved to another job. Your schedule just slipped, and you haven't even started solving the actual problem yet.
Sound familiar?
RFIs (Requests for Information) are supposed to keep construction projects moving by resolving questions and conflicts. In reality, poorly written RFIs are one of the biggest sources of delays, rework, and frustration on job sites.
Here's how to do them right.
Write RFIs That Actually Get Answered
The number one problem with most RFIs? They don't give the reviewer enough information to provide a useful answer.
Include Specific Drawing and Spec References
Don't write: "Clarify insulation requirements for exterior walls."
Write: "Detail 5/A-301 shows R-19 batt insulation in 2x6 stud wall. Spec Section 07 21 00 paragraph 2.3 requires continuous R-13 exterior rigid insulation. Both requirements together exceed available wall depth. Confirm insulation assembly."
See the difference? The second version tells the architect exactly where to look and what the conflict is. They can answer immediately instead of asking follow-up questions.
RFI best practice: Every RFI should cite specific drawing sheet numbers, detail references, and spec section numbers. Make it easy for reviewers to find exactly what you're asking about.
Ask One Clear, Answerable Question
Don't write: "There are issues with the door schedule and hardware. Please advise."
Write: "Door D-301 schedule calls for 3070 hollow metal door with Grade 1 lockset. Spec 08 71 00 requires Grade 2 locksets for all interior doors. Should D-301 receive Grade 1 (per schedule) or Grade 2 (per spec)?"
The first version is vague and forces multiple rounds of clarification. The second version can be answered with a single sentence.
RFI best practice: If you have multiple unrelated questions, write multiple RFIs. One question per RFI makes tracking and answering much faster.
Attach Relevant Documentation
Photos, marked-up drawings, product data sheets, anything that helps the reviewer understand the question without having to hunt through their own files.
When you're asking about a field condition, attach photos showing what you're looking at. When there's a conflict between documents, attach both conflicting pages with the differences highlighted.
RFI best practice: A well-documented RFI includes marked-up drawings with the conflict circled, arrows pointing to the problem area, and clear notes explaining what needs clarification.
Propose a Solution
Suggest answers.
Instead of: "Clarify structural support for roof-mounted HVAC unit."
Try: "Structural drawings do not show curb support for HVAC unit per M-401. Propose installing (4) W8x15 beams spanning between existing joists at grid lines B-C. Confirm this approach or provide alternate solution."
Reviewers appreciate when you've thought through the problem. Many times, they'll just approve your proposed solution, and you're moving again immediately.
RFI best practice: Include a proposed answer or solution in every RFI. Even if the reviewer chooses a different approach, you've demonstrated you're thinking constructively about the problem.
Timing and Workflow Best Practices for RFIs
How you manage the RFI process matters as much as how you write individual RFIs.
Submit RFIs as Soon as Issues Are Identified
Don't sit on RFIs hoping the problem will resolve itself. Don't wait until the weekly coordination meeting to bring them up.
The moment your team identifies a conflict or ambiguity that will affect the work, write the RFI and submit it. Every day you wait is a day added to the response cycle.
Best practice: Set a same-day or next-day standard for RFI submission after issues are identified. Train your project engineers and superintendents to document and submit immediately.
Set Clear Response Deadlines
Include a "required by" date that's tied to actual field activities.
"Need response by March 15 (rough-in inspection scheduled March 18)" is much more effective than "please respond ASAP."
When reviewers understand the actual schedule impact, they prioritize accordingly.
Best practice: Calculate the real deadline by working backward from when the work needs to happen, accounting for material lead times, fabrication time, and installation scheduling.
Use Sequential or Parallel Review Workflows Appropriately
Some RFIs need to go through multiple reviewers in a specific order. Structural questions might need the engineer's answer before the architect can respond. Others can be reviewed by multiple parties simultaneously.
Understanding when to use sequential versus parallel review workflows can save days on response time.
Best practice: For coordination questions involving multiple disciplines, use sequential review (engineer first, then architect). For clarification questions, parallel review gets faster responses. Tools like SubmittalLink let you configure review workflows at the project level so this happens automatically.
Follow Up Before Deadlines, Not After
If an RFI is due Friday and you haven't heard anything by Wednesday, send a polite reminder. Don't wait until Monday to realize you never got a response and the work is now delayed.
Best practice: Follow up at 75% of the expected response time. If you've agreed on 7-day turnaround, check in at day 5.
Common RFI Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced construction professionals make these mistakes that slow down projects.
Writing RFIs for Things Already Clarified in the Documents
Before you write an RFI, check:
- The latest drawing revision (is your question answered in the current set?)
- Approved submittals (does the approved shop drawing resolve this?)
- Previous RFI responses (has this been answered already?)
- Meeting minutes (was this decided in an OAC meeting?)
Why it matters: "RFI spam" trains reviewers to deprioritize your questions. If half your RFIs ask about things already clarified, they'll assume the other half are equally lazy.
Using RFIs as a Substitute for Thinking
"How should we install this?" when the installation is standard practice for the trade isn't an RFI. It's an admission your team doesn't know how to do their job.
RFIs should address genuine ambiguities, conflicts, or missing information in the contract documents, not basic construction knowledge.
Best practice: Ask yourself: "Is this a real document conflict, or do we just need to read the specs more carefully?"
Burying Critical Information in Long Narratives
Nobody wants to read three paragraphs to figure out what you're asking. Get to the point.
Use clear structure:
- Background: (1-2 sentences establishing context)
- Issue: (The specific conflict or ambiguity)
- Question: (What needs to be decided)
- Proposed Solution: (Your recommended answer)
- Reference Drawing: (Specify location, if applicable)
Best practice: Keep RFIs under 200 words unless the complexity genuinely requires more explanation. Use bullet points for clarity.
Not Documenting Verbal Responses
The architect tells you something during a site walk. Great. Write it up as an RFI response anyway.
Verbal agreements become "I never said that" arguments later. Get everything in writing, even if it means formally documenting a conversation that already happened.
Best practice: Send confirmation RFIs after verbal discussions: "Per our conversation on 3/12, confirm that [decision]. If this understanding is incorrect, please clarify."
Letting RFIs Languish Without Escalation
If an RFI has been sitting unanswered for twice the expected response time, escalate.
Contact the reviewer directly. Loop in the owner's representative. Flag it in the weekly meeting. Don't just keep sending the same reminder email that's being ignored.
Best practice: Establish an escalation protocol. If no response after X days, PM calls reviewer. After X+3 days, owner gets notified. After X+5 days, potential delay gets documented formally.
Tools and Systems That Improve RFI Management
Manual RFI tracking through email and spreadsheets works until it doesn't. Once you're managing 50+ RFIs across multiple projects, you need better systems.
Centralized RFI Logs
Every project should have one master RFI log showing:
- RFI number and title
- Date submitted
- Who's responsible for review
- Current status
- Due date
- Date answered
- Brief summary of response
This log should be accessible to everyone on the project team so nobody's asking "whatever happened to that RFI about the roof drains?"
Best practice: Update the log the same day RFIs are submitted or answered. Stale data is worse than no data.
Automated Notifications and Reminders
The best RFI management tools send automatic notifications when RFIs are submitted, answered, or approaching deadlines. This eliminates the manual chasing that wastes hours every week.
Construction management platforms like SubmittalLink automatically route RFIs to the right reviewers, send reminders when responses are overdue, and maintain complete audit trails of every action. Your team stops playing email tag and starts managing by exception, only intervening when things are actually stuck.
Best practice: Set up automated reminders at 3 days before due date and again at due date. This keeps things moving without manual effort.
Ball-in-Court Tracking
At any moment, you should be able to see who's responsible for action on each RFI. Is it waiting for the architect's review? The engineer's input? The contractor's resubmission after revisions were requested?
Clear ball-in-court tracking prevents the "I thought you were handling that" problem.
Best practice: Use status fields that identify responsibility, not just progress. "Pending - Architect Review" is better than just "Pending."
Making RFIs Part of Your Project Culture
The best RFI practices require project leadership to set expectations and hold people accountable.
Set RFI Standards at Project Kickoff
During the pre-construction meeting, establish:
- Expected response timeframes
- Required documentation standards
- Review workflows
- Escalation procedures
When everyone knows the expectations upfront, compliance is much higher.
Review RFI Quality Regularly
If your team is submitting sloppy RFIs, address it. Show examples of good vs. bad RFIs. Provide feedback when questions aren't clear enough.
Best practice: Do a monthly RFI quality audit. Look at turnaround times, number of clarification requests, and overall response effectiveness.
Track Metrics That Matter
Monitor:
- Average response time by reviewer
- Percentage of RFIs requiring clarification
- RFIs still open past due date
- Impact on schedule (how many delay days attributed to slow RFI responses)
These metrics help you identify bottlenecks and improve the process over time.
When RFIs are done right, they're a project management tool that prevents problems. When they're done poorly, they become the problem themselves.
Tired of chasing RFI responses through email chains? See how SubmittalLink automates RFI workflows with clear ball-in-court tracking, direct linking of RFIs to drawings, automated reminders, and sequential review routing that keeps projects moving. Stop managing RFIs manually and start managing them systematically.