RFI
Raise formal questions to the architect or engineer, track every response in a threaded conversation, and close the loop cleanly.
What are RFIs?
A Request for Information (RFI) is how you formally ask the architect, engineer, or client for clarification — about a drawing, a spec, a scope item, or an unexpected site condition. Every question and its answer are kept in one place with a full audit trail, which is invaluable for disputes, delay claims, and keeping the design team accountable.
RFIs live inside each project. Open any project from your dashboard and select RFI from the sidebar to get started.
Click "RFI" to expand · Then click any stage to see details
Creating an RFI
Click New RFI to open the form. Each RFI captures:
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| RFI ID | Auto-generated from the project code (e.g. PROJECT-RFI-001) |
| Subject | Short title — what the question is about |
| Question | Full detail of what you need clarified |
| Priority | Low, Medium, or High |
| Due Date | Optional deadline for the expected response |
| Labels | Project-level colour-coded tags for filtering |
| Attachments | PDFs, drawings, photos — anything that helps explain the question |
The subject is what shows up in the list, so make it specific. "Column sizing clarification" is more useful than "Query".
Assignees and Watchers
Every RFI has three roles:
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Manager | One person accountable for driving the RFI to a clean close |
| Assignees | The people who must respond — typically the architect or engineer |
| Viewers | Stakeholders who need visibility but aren't responding (e.g. client, superintendent) |
Everyone assigned comes from the project's Team roster — add the person to the team first if they aren't listed.
Responses and Threads
RFIs support multi-turn conversation. Every response is timestamped and attributed, and responses can have nested replies so a back-and-forth stays readable.
Once the authoritative answer comes in, mark the relevant response as Approved — this tags it as the definitive answer, even if other comments continue on the thread.
Statuses and Impact
An RFI moves through five statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Still being written — not yet sent |
| Open | Submitted and awaiting a response |
| In Progress | Responses are coming in but the RFI isn't resolved yet |
| Answered | A response has been recorded — awaiting close-out |
| Closed | Signed off and archived — can be reopened if needed |
Each RFI also captures impact flags that make schedule and cost consequences explicit rather than buried in a comment:
- Schedule Impact — Yes / No / TBD, with an optional days field if Yes
- Cost Impact — Yes / No / TBD, with an optional amount field if Yes
These don't auto-update your programme or budget, but they're filterable and keep the commercial consequences in view.
Filtering and Managing
The RFI list comes with the essentials for navigating a project with hundreds of questions over time:
- Search — match by RFI number or subject
- Status filter — show Draft, Open, or Closed RFIs
- Label filter — pull every RFI tagged with a specific category (e.g. Design, Site Condition)
- Column toggle — show or hide Priority and Assignees to suit the scan
- Bulk select — tick rows to delete several RFIs at once
- Pagination — 50 RFIs per page for large logs
Click any row to open the RFI, read the thread, add a response, and close it out when the answer is locked in.