RFIs, assumptions and the paper trail

Chapter 23 says: don't pass unanswered questions. This chapter is the how. A good RFI can be answered in one line. A bad one invites a meeting and an answer to a different question. And when a job goes wrong, the written record is what shows who decided what.

Why the paper matters

The documents you work under are explicit that changes must be written and signed. The Woodwork Institute's sample shop drawings carry this note on the specification sheet:

SHOP DRAWINGS MUST INCLUDE ALL ITEMS REQUIRED IN ORIGINAL SPECIFICATIONS. CHANGES FROM THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATIONS SHALL BE SUBMITTED BY THE FABRICATOR IN A SEPARATE DOCUMENT SIGNED & APPROVED BY THE ARCHITECT PRIOR TO FABRICATION.

Woodwork Institute, sample shop drawings, specification requirements sheet

Three things in that sentence set the rules for this chapter. A change is a separate document, not something tucked inside a drawing. It is signed and approved by the architect, not agreed on the phone. And it happens prior to fabrication, not after the panels are cut.

The standards say the same from the other side. The Architectural Woodwork Standards, 1st Edition, Section 10: "MODIFICATIONS by the contract documents shall govern if in conflict with these standards." The contract documents are what count. A conversation is not a contract document until someone writes it down and the right person signs it.

What an RFI is for

A request for information asks the design team to resolve something the contract documents do not. Use one when:

• The documents are silent: no edge detail, no grain direction, no hardware location.
• The documents conflict: the plan says 2,840 mm, the elevation says 2,850 mm; the spec says Premium, the finish schedule says Custom.
• The documents are ambiguous: "comply with AWS, latest edition" (Chapter 19).
• The documents cannot be built as drawn: a reveal narrower than the standard allows, a panel longer than the sheet stock.
• The documents conflict with code: a knee space too narrow for the accessibility rule (Chapter 22).

Do not use an RFI to ask something the documents already answer. Read the drawings, the specification sections, the schedules and every addendum first. An RFI that the architect answers with "see spec section 06 41 00, 2.3.B" costs you credibility and a day.

Do not use an RFI to propose a substitution quietly. Under the Woodwork Institute note above, a change from the specification goes in its own signed document. If you want to change a material, hardware item or construction method, say that is what you are asking, in those words.

How to write one that gets answered

Nothing here is a published standard. It is practice, and the reason for each part is given so you can judge it.

1. One question per RFI. Two questions get one answer. The other one is lost.
2. Point at the exact place. Sheet number, detail or grid, spec section and paragraph. The reader should find it in ten seconds.
3. Say what you found. Quote the conflicting text or dimensions. Do not paraphrase.
4. Propose an answer. "We propose 19 mm MDF, painted, matching the adjacent panels. Please confirm." A yes is faster to give than a design. It also shows you thought about it.
5. Attach a sketch if the question is geometric. A marked-up section says in one picture what a paragraph struggles to.
6. State what it holds up. Which drawings, which release to the floor, which order. Not as a threat. As information the reader needs to prioritise.
7. Give a date you need it by, and say what you will do if there is no answer. See "Proceeding on an assumption" below.

That example is invented. The ADA text it quotes is real (Chapter 22).

Routing

Follow the routing your contract sets. If your shop is a subcontractor, its questions go through whoever holds its contract. The Woodwork Institute sample's cover sheet shows the chain a submittal passes through: separate boxes for the fabricator, the contractor and the architect, and separate stamps for the ARCHITECT STAMP and the GENERAL CONTRACTOR STAMP. Send the RFI where your project manager says it goes. Do not email the designer directly because it is faster. An answer that did not come through the contract chain may not bind anyone.

If the job runs under a certification programme, there may be a second place to ask about the standard itself. The Woodwork Institute says its Architectural Services Representatives give fabricators "free and unbiased consultation regarding specification interpretation, compliance issues, shop-drawing protocol, standards interpretations". That answers what the standard means. It does not replace the architect's answer on what the project wants.

The RFI log

Keep one log per job. A spreadsheet is fine. A LinkedIn article on millwork submittals by Anuj S. puts it simply: "Maintain a submittal log for version control and deadlines." The columns that earn their place:

Column	Why
RFI number	Sequential, never reused. The number goes on the drawings.
Date sent	Starts the clock.
Sent to	Shows it went through the contract chain.
Subject and reference	Sheet, detail, spec section.
Question, as sent	The exact words, not a summary.
Proposed answer	What you offered.
Needed by	The date you gave.
Status	Open, answered, closed, superseded.
Answer, as received	Copy it in. Link the document.
Answered by, date	Name and role.
Sheets affected	So you can find every place the answer lands.
Revision issued	The revision number that carries the change.

The last two columns close the loop. An answered RFI that never made it onto a drawing is the same as an unanswered one on the shop floor.

Proceeding on an assumption

Sometimes the answer does not come and the schedule does not wait. You can proceed on an assumption. The rule is that the assumption has to be visible where approval will see it.

• Put it on the sheet, next to what it governs. A tag or note at the detail: ASSUMED 19 MM MDF, PAINTED. SEE RFI 014.
• Put it in the general notes. An "Assumptions" list: each item, the RFI number, the date asked. General notes repeat on every sheet in a well-made set, so a loose sheet still carries them.
• Put it in the transmittal. The covering letter or form that sends the submittal lists the open RFIs and the assumptions shown.
• Do not release it to the floor. An assumption the architect has not accepted is not something to cut. Hold that item back until the submittal comes back with the assumption accepted, or the RFI is answered.

Why this works: a reviewer who stamps a sheet that visibly says "ASSUMED, PENDING RFI 014" has seen the assumption. If they reject it, they say so on the return. If they accept it, the record shows that. An assumption hidden in a clean line was never put in front of the reviewer at all. Under the Woodwork Institute note, a change needs its own signed document; an assumption the reviewer never saw cannot have been approved.

Assumptions you make every day without noticing

• A dimension taken off the architect's plan instead of measured. Mark it VIF until measured. QeCAD, a drafting services firm, warns against leaning on "verify on site" too often: "Avoid ambiguous notes like 'verify on site' unless absolutely necessary." Both hold. Use VIF where the dimension really depends on site, and give it a date and an owner.
• A grade taken as Custom because the spec named none. Say so (Chapter 20).
• A standard's edition taken from the bid date. Say which (Chapter 19).
• Blocking assumed to be by others. The Woodwork Institute sample says it outright: "ALL BLOCKING FOR CABINET ANCHORAGE IS BY OTHERS." Say it on your set too.
• A floor assumed flat. State the shim allowance, as the Woodwork Institute sample does with "4" HIGH TOEKICK MAY INCREASE W/ SHIMMING DEPENDING ON JOB SITE FLOOR CONDITIONS."

The revision block is the history

Every set carries a revision block, and it is not decoration. The Student Handbook for Basic Drafting describes the practice: "All changes to the drawing are entered, dated and identified by a number or letter". A residential millwork submittal in hand for this book starts at revision 0, described SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL. Every return with comments becomes the next row.

QeCAD's checklist lists what a revision entry carries: "the revision numbers, dates, descriptions of changes and even initials of the person responsible." Make the description useful. Compare:

Useless	Useful
Rev 2: General revisions	Rev 2: Per RFI 014, reception desk lowered counter extended to 24" deep (sheets 07, 08). Per architect comments 12 Mar, veneer changed to rift white oak (sheets 04–06, 10).
Rev 3: Updated	Rev 3: Field dimensions received 2 Apr; run B reduced 7 mm, filler F3 removed (sheets 03, 05).

The useful version answers the three questions anyone asks when two people are holding different drawings: what changed, why, and on which sheets.

Mark the change on the sheet

The revision block says what changed. The drawing has to show where. Mark each changed area with the revision number beside it, using your office's convention, so a reader can find the change without comparing two prints line by line. The mclinestudios checklist names the failure: "Assuming updated drawings are error-free without reviewing them properly can cause new problems." A marked change is a change the reviewer can check.

Status on every sheet

Say what the drawing is for. The residential submittal prints SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL in the revision description. The Woodwork Institute sample prints a warning on the sheet edge: "THESE SHOP DRAWINGS ARE NOT APPROVED AND MUST NOT BE USED BY ANY CONTRACTOR UNTIL THEY ARE APPROVED AND DIMENSIONS ARE VERIFIED." QeCAD lists status labels in common use: "'For Review,' 'For Construction,' 'Approved as Noted,' or 'Rejected.'" When the set goes to the floor, the status changes, and so does the revision row. The shop should never have to guess whether a print is current.

Reviewer comments are a paper trail too

A set comes back marked up. Every comment gets one of three outcomes, and each is recorded:

1. Incorporated. The drawing changes. The revision row says so.
2. Questioned. The comment cannot be built, conflicts with another comment, or conflicts with the spec or code. Send an RFI. Do not quietly skip it.
3. Noted, no change. The comment is information, or it asks for something already shown. Reply saying where it is shown.

Keep the marked-up set. File it with the revision it produced. If a later argument turns on "who asked for that", the red pen answers it.

If the job is under a certification programme, there may be a second set of comments. AWMAC's inspection service describes its shop drawing review as "in addition to the usual review by the Architect", and says it "will also indicate deviation from architectural drawings and specifications." Treat those comments with the same three outcomes.

Phone calls and site meetings

Questions get answered out loud all the time. The answer is not in the record until someone writes it. After any call or meeting that decides something, send a short note the same day: what was decided, who decided it, what drawings it affects, and "please advise if this does not match your understanding." Log it against an RFI number if it answers one. Then it can go on a drawing.

What a clean paper trail looks like at the end

• Every RFI in the log is closed, with the answer copied in and the revision that carried it.
• Every assumption on the drawings points to an RFI, and every such RFI is answered.
• Every revision row says what, why and where.
• Every marked-up set is filed with the revision it produced.
• Every verbal decision has a confirming note.
• The set released to the floor carries a status that says it is released, and a revision number that matches the approved set.

When a dispute comes, the question is what was agreed and when. That is answered by what is written down. A drafter with this trail can answer it in five minutes.

Sources

• Woodwork Institute sample shop drawings, 26 sheets, watermarked SAMPLE. Specification-change note, cover-sheet stamp blocks, submittal warning, blocking and toe kick notes. Document.
• A residential millwork submittal, 16 sheets, revision 0, SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL, not reproduced (live job). Revision block practice. Document.
• Architectural Woodwork Standards, 1st Edition (2009), Section 10, Woodwork Institute web copy. Contract documents govern where they conflict with the standard. Superseded. Primary (superseded edition).
• Student Handbook for Basic Drafting (research folder, ptech_drafting_handbook_new.pdf). Revision entries numbered and dated. General drafting, not millwork. Primary for general drafting convention.
• Woodwork Institute, About page, woodworkinstitute.com. Architectural Services Representatives' consultation. Claimed (the WI describing its own service).
• AWMAC, Guarantee and Inspection Service page. Second shop drawing review; deviations noted. Primary for the programme's scope.
• 2010 ADA Standards, section 904.4, ada.gov. Quoted in the example RFI. Primary.
• Dolly Bulchandani, "15 Essential Elements of a Shop Drawings Quality Checklist", qecad.com, dated 02/05/2025. Revision block contents, status labels, the caution on "verify on site". A drafting services firm's blog. Claimed.
• mclinestudios, "Checklist For Quality Check Of Shop Drawings", mclinestudios.com, dated 03/12/2024. "Not checking changes carefully". A drafting services firm's blog. Claimed.
• Anuj S., "What Supporting Documentation Is Typically Required with Millwork Drawings?", LinkedIn. Submittal log. Reported.

Dropped for lack of an opened source: any standard contract form's RFI or submittal clauses (for example AIA or other published contract conditions), response-time norms for RFIs, and any claim about who pays for rework in a dispute, which depends on the contract and the law where the job is.