An RFI log that shows who is holding each answer
Forty RFIs are open on a three-storey arts centre, listed by number with the date each was sent. At Tuesday's meeting nobody can say which answers the level 2 ceiling close-in needs in ten working days, or why RFI 63 has shown "with architect" for 26 days.
Give every open RFI the two facts its number cannot show — the date its answer is needed, worked back from the schedule, and who is holding it today — and review the list weekly in order of need. Many logs show only when a question went out and came back. In between it may pass from architect to engineer and back to you, and answers arrive in the order consultants reach them, not the order the site needs them. Washington State's transportation department, for one, expects its project engineers to give the contractor the status of RFIs at least weekly.
- Add the columns the site needs: the activity affected, the date the answer is needed, the current holder and since when, and any effect on cost or time.
- Work the needed-by date back from the schedule: the activity's start, less the time to act on the answer — redrawing, ordering or preparing the crew.
- Record the holder, not the addressee. When the architect passes a question to an engineer, or an engineer asks you for a measurement, update the holder and the date.
- Review weekly, sorted by needed-by date: late, due within three weeks, then the rest, with the days each has sat with its holder.
- Send the consultant the short list, each item with its date and what it holds up; for questions stuck anyway, see getting answers from a slow consultant.
- Close a line only when the answer is in the field: checked for cost and time, sent to the trades and marked on the drawings.
Common mistakes
- Sorting by RFI number, so next week's question sits below thirty that can wait.
- Setting the needed-by date as the date sent plus the response period.
- Writing "with architect" for everything the architect has passed on.
- Closing an RFI when the email arrives, before the trades have the answer.
Checklist
The weekly RFI review
- A needed-by date on every open line
- Holder and date updated whenever a question moves
- Sorted: late, next three weeks, later
- Short list sent to the consultant with the agenda
- Longest-held questions chased by phone
- Answers distributed and marked before closing
Check your understanding
RFI 12 is 40 days old and needed in two months. RFI 38 is 5 days old and needed next Thursday. Which leads this week's list, and why?
