Pillar 03 — Real Project WorkflowDocumentation Professionals · Project Teams
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Educational content only
CoreSkills+ shares practical knowledge based on real project experience. This is not legal or contractual advice. RFI obligations and timeframes may be governed by the specific contract in place on your project. Always refer to the contract documents and seek legal advice where needed.
Requests for Information (RFI)
How to write a good one, how to manage them, and what goes wrong when neither happens
An RFI is a formal written question raised when something in the documentation is unclear, incomplete, or needs a decision. This happens at every stage of a project, not just on site. During design, the architect raises RFIs to consultants to resolve coordination issues before they become drawing errors. During documentation, the team raises RFIs internally when a structural or services detail conflicts with the architectural intent. During construction, the builder raises RFIs to the architect when something on the drawing set cannot be built as shown. At every stage, the purpose is the same: create a written record of the question and the answer, so there is no ambiguity about what was agreed.
The mental model — what this process is actually for
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What is an RFI?
A Request for Information is a formal written question raised when something in the documentation is unclear, incomplete, or needs a decision. It can be raised at any stage of the project: during design, during documentation, or during construction.
Definition
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Why formal matters
A verbal answer in a meeting has no record. An RFI responded to in writing becomes a project document. If a dispute arises later about what was agreed, the RFI register is one of the first places a lawyer will look.
Risk
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Who raises them, and when
During design: the architect raises RFIs to consultants to resolve coordination issues before they become drawing errors. During documentation: the team raises RFIs when a consultant drawing conflicts with the architectural intent. During construction: the builder raises RFIs when something cannot be built as shown.
All stages
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What happens if they are ignored
An unanswered RFI is a documented question without a documented answer. During design, the result is a coordination gap that becomes a defect in the documentation set. During construction, the builder may proceed on their own interpretation. Either way, the open RFI on the register is difficult to defend.
Consequence
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Volume is a warning sign
A high RFI count is not just an administrative burden. It is a signal that the documentation set has gaps. Tracking RFI volume by consultant or drawing area tells you exactly where the documentation needs to improve.
Signal
Writing a good RFI — what every one must include
A poorly written RFI creates a bottleneck. The recipient cannot answer it without asking follow-up questions, which delays the response, which delays the programme. These six elements make the difference between an RFI that gets answered fast and one that bounces back and forth for a week.
Receiving and managing RFIs — the five things that must happen
Whether it arrives from a consultant during design, from within your own team during documentation, or from the builder during construction, the same five steps apply. Each RFI requires an action, a record, and in many cases a chain of communication before a response can be issued.
The RFI register — what it looks like and what it tells you
A single register covers the whole project lifecycle, not just the construction phase. Design-stage RFIs to consultants sit alongside documentation-stage coordination queries and construction-stage builder requests. At any point, the register tells you how many questions are open, how long they have been open, and who is responsible for answering each one.
RFI No.
Title
Raised by
Date raised
To
Required by
Date responded
Status
RFI-001
Beam depth at grid 3/C conflicts with ceiling height — design stage
Architect
03 Mar
Structural Eng.
07 Mar
06 Mar
Closed
RFI-002
Mechanical duct clashes with FRL wall at Level 4 — documentation stage
Architect
18 Apr
Services Eng.
22 Apr
21 Apr
Closed
RFI-003
Lintel detail above sliding door — unit entry Type B
Builder
12 Jun
Architect
17 Jun
15 Jun
Closed
RFI-004
Slab thickening at base of lift pit — confirm depth
Builder
14 Jun
Structural Eng.
19 Jun
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Open
A representative register example. In practice the register also captures the drawing and specification references, the contract clause under which the RFI was raised, and in some contracts, the cost or time impact claimed by the builder.
What goes wrong — and the damage it causes
01Answering verbally and not following up in writing
The most common RFI failure. A site conversation happens, the builder proceeds, and three months later there is a dispute about what was agreed. The RFI is still open on the register. There is no written response. This is a very difficult position to defend.
02Letting RFIs sit in the inbox before logging
An RFI that arrives but is not logged for two days is an RFI that appears to have a two-day response delay before anyone even looked at it. Log on receipt, not when you get around to it.
03Combining multiple questions into one RFI
A four-part RFI will often receive a response to the easiest question and silence on the rest. Split questions into individual RFIs so each one has a clear, individual answer and a clear close-out status.
04Not checking who needs to answer before the deadline
If the RFI needs a structural or services consultant input and you only forward it to them two days before the deadline, you have created a programme impact that could have been avoided. The moment you receive an RFI, identify who needs to provide input.
05Treating all RFIs as equally urgent
Not every RFI has a concrete pour behind it. Not every RFI can wait a week. Triaging by actual programme impact, not by arrival date or assumed priority, is the difference between a functional RFI process and a bottleneck.
06No register, or a register no one maintains
A register that exists but is three weeks out of date is almost worse than no register, because it gives a false picture of the project's status. The register only works if it is updated in real time by the person who owns the RFI process.
Track RFIs with Nimbus+
Stop managing RFIs in spreadsheets
Nimbus+ is built for project teams who need a live RFI register, automated follow-up reminders, and a full response history against every question, all linked to the drawing register and design change log.
