If the drawings show a beam where the mechanical drawings show a duct, somebody has to ask. If the spec calls for one fire rating and the door schedule shows another, somebody has to ask. The RFI is how you ask: in writing, with references, to the party with authority to answer — usually the architect or engineer, routed through the GC. The answer comes back in writing and binds the record.
When to send an RFI (and when not to)
Send a formal RFI when there's a genuine gap (the documents don't cover it), a conflict (two documents disagree — see spec vs. drawing: which governs), or an ambiguity (the documents can be read two ways and the difference costs money). Those need a design-team ruling, on the record.
Don't send one when the documents already answer the question. A meaningful share of RFIs on most jobs are exactly that — questions the latest revision answers, formalized anyway because nobody had time to dig. Each of those burns a week of waiting and roughly $1,000 of administrative effort to learn something the project already knew.
RFI vs. submittal vs. change order
- RFI — asks a question about the documents. "The spec and the door schedule disagree on M-101's rating — which governs?"
- Submittal — proposes products, shop drawings, or samples for approval against the spec. "Here's the door hardware we intend to install."
- Change order — modifies the contract itself: scope, price, or schedule.
They chain constantly: an RFI answer reveals the design has to change → change order. A submittal review surfaces a contradiction → RFI. Full guide: RFI vs. submittal vs. change order.
What a good RFI looks like
Question: Spec section
08 11 13, ¶2.3 requires a 90-minute rating for mechanical room doors. Door schedule A-601, Rev 2 lists M-101 as 45-minute. Which governs?Proposed resolution: Install 90-minute per spec unless directed otherwise.
Response needed by: June 20 — door order placed June 23. Delay impacts framing inspection.
Notice what makes it fast to answer: one issue, exact references with revisions, a proposed answer, and a real deadline with the cost of missing it. Vague RFIs ("clarify door ratings?") sit at the bottom of the architect's pile for a reason.
What RFIs actually cost
Industry research puts the median response around 7–10 days and the average administrative cost near $1,000 per RFI — before counting crews re-sequenced around the missing answer. A mid-size commercial job carrying a few hundred RFIs is carrying a six-figure line item that never appears on any budget. The numbers, with sources: what an RFI really costs and cutting RFI turnaround from 10 days to 1.
How teams are cutting the RFI pile down
The fastest wins aren't process redesigns — they're answering the askable questions instantly so only the genuine design rulings become formal RFIs. That's the job IntelMS does by email: the field asks, the system answers from the project's own documents in minutes with the exact sheet, revision, and spec section cited — and when the documents genuinely don't say, it says so and that becomes your RFI, references already written. See real timed answers, including an honest decline. For the formal pile itself, RFI Autopilot keeps a live register with aging and overdue chasers.
Ask your documents before you draft the RFI
14-day free pilot on one real project. Email a question; get a cited answer back in minutes — and find out how many of your RFIs were never really RFIs.
Start a free pilot