How to write and track construction RFIs (free RFI log template)

Download the RFI log template

Download the RFI log template (Excel, .xlsx). No sign-up and no email. It opens in Excel and in Google Sheets: in Google Drive choose New, then File upload, then open the file with Google Sheets.

One file per job, with these tabs:

• RFI Log — one row per RFI: date sent, subject, the question, the drawing or spec reference, discipline, who raised it and who it went to, your suggested answer, the required-by date, the date answered and the answer, cost impact with an estimate, schedule impact in days, the change order or ASI number, and status. It numbers each RFI, works out who has the ball, how many days it has been open, whether it is overdue or was answered late, and flags anything missing.
• RFI Form — pick an RFI number and it lays that RFI out on one page, question and response, ready to print or save as a PDF and send.
• By Party — RFIs, waiting, overdue and answered late for each party, with their average days to answer.
• Summary, Setup, Checklist and Start Here — the totals, the cost and time still to be turned into change orders, the response time from your contract, and how to use the file.

Blue text is what you type. Black text is a formula. Yellow cells are settings. The file comes with a sample job, a library renovation, with 14 RFIs including a structural field condition, a hidden hazardous material, a duct clash, and answers that changed the cost. Its dates are set from today, so the overdue flags keep showing; type your own over them.

What an RFI is, and what it is not

An RFI is a written question during construction. AIA’s standard form for it, G716, is for an owner, architect and contractor to request further information from each other, and it asks the person asking to list the drawing, specification or submittal they reviewed while trying to find the answer. AIA Contract Documents

The part that matters most is what an RFI is not. AIA’s instructions for the form say that neither the request nor the response provides authorization for work that increases the cost or time of the project. An answer that adds work is information, not a change order. AIA Contract Documents

Federal construction contracts set the same rule from the other side. When the figures, drawings or specifications disagree, the matter goes promptly to the contracting officer for a written determination, and any adjustment the contractor makes without one is at its own risk and expense. Acquisition.gov

How to write an RFI that gets answered

AIA’s instructions for G716 set out what goes on the form: who it is to and from, the project, the date sent, the date the reply is needed by, the question described in concise terms with references to the related documents, any drawing or specification attached, the sender’s recommended solution with any effect on cost or schedule, and the receiver’s response with any effect on cost or schedule. AIA Contract Documents

• One question per RFI, so one answer closes it.
• Name the sheet and detail, or the spec section, and attach a marked-up drawing or photo where it helps.
• Say what you found and why it does not work: “field measure shows a W12x26, S-201 shows a W14x30”.
• Suggest an answer if you have one. A yes is faster to give than a design.
• Give a required-by date: the date in your contract, or the date work in that area stops without an answer.

The template’s RFI Form puts each RFI on one page in that order, with a line at the foot that the RFI and its answer do not authorize extra cost or time.

Why every RFI belongs in one log

RFIs add up. A 2013 Navigant Construction Forum study of 1,362 projects on the Aconex platform, most of them in Australia and New Zealand, counted an average of 796 RFIs per project, or 9.9 for every $1 million of construction cost. It found a median reply time of 9.7 days and estimated the cost of reviewing and answering an RFI at $1,080 each. The figures are old and the projects large, but the point holds on a small job: every RFI is time someone is waiting. Navigant Construction Forum (via CMAA)

Federal jobs review them as a standing item. The Army Corps of Engineers quality control specification lists reviewing the status of submittals and RFIs among the things its quality control meetings cover. WBDG

The template numbers each RFI as you add it, uses your contract’s response time when an RFI has no required-by date, and marks it overdue the day after that date passes. By Party shows who is sitting on your RFIs and how long they take, which is the conversation to have at the next project meeting.

When the answer changes cost or time

This is where money is lost. The answer comes back, the crew builds it, and the extra cost is never priced because the RFI felt like the paperwork. Since the answer does not authorize the cost or time, record the impact the day the answer arrives and price it as a change order before the work is built.

The template’s Check column flags any RFI marked with a cost impact or schedule days and no change order or ASI number, and the Summary adds up the estimated cost of those answers. In the sample, four RFIs with a cost or schedule impact still have no change order number.

Keep the dates as well. An answer that came back late, with the work in that area stopped while it waited, belongs in your daily report for the same days.

RFI checklist

These are the checks on the template’s Checklist tab.

1. Did you look in the documents first?

   What a good answer sounds like: The drawings, specs and submittals have been checked, and the RFI says which ones.

2. Is it one question?

   What a good answer sounds like: Each RFI asks one thing, so one answer closes it.

3. Is the reference attached?

   What a good answer sounds like: Sheet and detail, spec section, and a marked-up drawing or photo where it helps.

4. Did you suggest an answer?

   What a good answer sounds like: If you know a fix, say it, with any effect on cost or time you can see.

5. Is there a required-by date?

   What a good answer sounds like: From the contract, or the date work in that area stops without an answer.

6. Did it go to the right party?

   What a good answer sounds like: The person who can answer it, through the channel the contract names.

7. Is it numbered and logged?

   What a good answer sounds like: Every RFI in one log the day it goes out.

8. Are overdue RFIs chased?

   What a good answer sounds like: In writing, and raised at the project meeting.

9. Is the answer written down?

   What a good answer sounds like: The answer, who gave it and the date, in the log and with the RFI.

10. Does a change in cost or time have a change order?

    What a good answer sounds like: Priced and signed as a change order or directive before the work is built.

11. Did the answer reach the field?

    What a good answer sounds like: The superintendent and the affected subs have the answer and any revised sketch.

12. Is it closed out?

    What a good answer sounds like: Closed once the answer is built or the change order is signed.

When an RFI spreadsheet stops being enough

The template works for one job with someone keeping it up. These are the signs it has been outgrown:

• RFIs go out by email from three people and the log is updated when someone remembers.
• You find out an RFI was answered when the sub asks why nobody told them.
• The owner’s answers live in their inbox, not on the job.
• You run several jobs and cannot see which RFIs are overdue on all of them.

At that point RFIs belong on the job itself, numbered as they are raised, with the answer and the dates in the same place.

Where WorkHoist helps

WorkHoist numbers RFIs on each project as they are created, RFI-001 onwards, with the question, discipline, priority, who raised it, who it is assigned to, the date sent and the due date, and moves each one from draft to submitted, under review, answered and closed. The answer, who gave it and when are recorded with it, along with cost impact and schedule impact in days. The RFI list flags overdue ones, and any RFI prints or saves as a PDF.

Field supervisors can raise RFIs on projects they work on. When an RFI is assigned to the owner, they can answer it in the client portal: the answer, who gave it and the date are recorded, and the RFI goes back to whoever raised it. WorkHoist does not attach files to an RFI, so put the sheet and detail number in the question and send the marked-up drawing with it.

Questions contractors ask

What is an RFI in construction?

An RFI, a request for information, is a written question from the contractor to the architect, engineer or owner during construction, when the drawings and specifications are unclear, conflict with each other, or do not match conditions on site. It records the question, the documents checked, a suggested answer and the date a reply is needed.

What should an RFI include?

Who it is to and from, the project, the date sent, the date the reply is needed by, one clearly described question with references to the drawings or specifications checked, any attachments, the sender’s recommended solution with its effect on cost or schedule, and space for the response and its effect on cost or schedule.

Does an RFI response authorize extra work?

No. AIA’s instructions for its RFI form, G716, say that neither the request nor the response authorizes work that increases the cost or time of the project. If an answer changes cost or time, price it and get it signed as a change order before the work is built.

How long should an RFI take to answer?

Whatever your contract says; many set a response time in days. Without one, set a required-by date from when the work in that area will stop. A 2013 Navigant Construction Forum study of 1,362 projects found a median reply time of 9.7 days.

What is an RFI log?

An RFI log is the list of every RFI on a job: number, date sent, subject, who it went to, the required-by date, the date answered, the answer, any cost or schedule impact, and status. It shows who is holding up the job and which answers still need a change order.

What is the difference between an RFI and a change order?

An RFI asks a question; a change order changes the contract. An RFI answer can lead to a change order when it adds work, cost or time, but the RFI itself does not change the contract sum or the completion date.

Is there a free RFI log template?

Yes. WorkHoist’s construction RFI log template is a free Excel file, with no sign-up or email, that also opens in Google Sheets. It numbers RFIs, tracks who has the ball, flags overdue RFIs and late answers, records cost and schedule impact, prints a one-page RFI form, and lists the answers that still need a change order.