What is a submittal?
Submittals are documents a responsible contractor submits to required reviewers for approval. For example, a subcontractor might submit a shop drawing that outlines the dimensions of windows to the architect. The architect will check that the shop drawing specs match the original design (or are a suitable alternative) before approving or rejecting the submittal.
All equipment and materials for a project must be approved through the submittal process before construction begins.
Why is the Submittals tool important?
The
Submittals tool is used early in the construction process to support collaboration, transparency, and smooth communication among teams.
For example:
1. Both the project architect and an electrical engineer are assigned as required reviewers for a wire diagram submittal.
2. The
Submittal Manager assigns the project owner as a watcher so they receive email notifications about status updates.
3. The required reviewers ask for more information from the responsible contractor, using the markup tools in the document editor to outline exactly where information is missing.
4. When the submittal is closed and distributed, all stakeholders can review each step in the process leading to approval.
Detailed and accurate submittals in
Forma Build help ensure a project is completed according to design specifications, within the proposed timeline, and within budget.
What’s included in a submittal?
Because submittals must cover all aspects of a project, one project may require thousands of submittal items. These will be submitted individually or as templated packages with several line items.
Examples of submittal items include the following:
- Product cut sheets
- Shop drawings
- Color and finish selections
- Material data
- Samples
Note how this course uses the following terms.
- Attachments: the documents attached for review in a submittal item.
- References: links to project data in other tools, such as Assets, Forms, and RFIs .
