How do you track RFIs and their cost effect?
Log every request for information with its date, its question, its answer and its due date. Then flag each answer that changes cost or time, and move it into the change register.
What the RFI log needs
- A unique number and the date sent.
- The question and the drawing or clause it refers to.
- Who must answer, and the date the answer is due.
- The date and content of the answer.
- A flag: does the answer change cost or time?
Checklist for each answer
- Give each RFI the next number in the log.
- Read the answer against the price and the programme.
- Flag it on the day if it changes cost or time.
- Raise the change in the change register.
- Give notice as the contract requires.
- Record the due date, the date the answer came and the work that waited.
An answer that adds work, changes a material or moves a drawing may be a variation. Raise it before the work is done.
A late answer can hold up the work. The record of what was waiting supports a claim for delay. Without it, the cost of waiting is hard to show.
Review the open RFIs in the weekly meeting. List the ones past due, and name who must answer each one.
A worked example
Say a joinery subcontractor on a hotel fit-out sends an RFI: which timber for the reception desk? The answer is due in five working days.
It arrives seven days late. It names a hardwood that costs more than the pine in the price, and the desk now misses its slot with the install crew.
The log shows both facts. The project manager raises a change for the timber and records the seven days against the desk. Both go into the next weekly report. Without the log, the price rise would look like a pricing mistake by the joiner, and the lost week would look like a slow crew.
Related answers
Questions
Is an RFI answer an instruction to change the work?
Sometimes. Check the contract. If an answer adds work, raise it as a change and say so in writing.
How many RFIs are too many?
There is no fixed number. A high count on one drawing set can point to unclear documents, which is worth recording.
Need this done for your project?