What is a request for information?
A request for information, or RFI, is a formal question raised during construction to resolve a gap, conflict, or ambiguity in the contract documents, logged and answered on the record. A contractor or subcontractor raises it against the drawing and clause it relates to, and the design team answers in writing, dated.
For the asset owner, the RFI matters twice: once while it holds up the work, and again years later, when the answer explains why the asset differs from the as-constructed drawings.
Also called: RFI · site query · technical query · Related term: submittal package
The RFI workflow, step by step.
An RFI is a controlled exchange with a number, a route, and a clock on it. Work often waits on the answer, so the value of the process is in how quickly a question reaches the person who can settle it.
An RFI sent to the wrong discipline sits unanswered while the work waits, which is why routing matters as much as the answer.
See how change requests hold, forward, and close- 01Identify
Someone on site meets a gap: a detail that is missing, a drawing that conflicts with the specification, or a condition nobody drew.
- 02Raise
The question is written down with its references, the drawing number and revision, the specification clause, and a photo or a markup.
- 03Log
The RFI is numbered and registered, so it can be tracked, chased, and counted rather than lost in an inbox.
- 04Route
It goes to the party who can answer it, usually the architect, the engineer, or the owner's representative.
- 05Respond
The answer is issued and dated against the RFI, and the site can proceed from a written instruction.
- 06Close out
The RFI is closed, and where the answer changes the design it triggers a revision, a variation, or both.
The answer has to reach the drawing.
Most RFI processes close at the answer. The question is marked resolved, the site proceeds, and the log records what was said. The drawing carries on showing the design that raised the question in the first place.
That gap is the one an owner pays for. Maintainers, auditors, and the designers of the next project all read the drawing rather than the RFI log, and by then the log may sit in a system the contractor decommissioned at handover. Every RFI that changes the design has to land as a revision on the affected sheet and carry through into the as-constructed set, so the record and the answer say the same thing.
A question from the contractor out to the design team.
A deliverable from the contractor in for the design team to review.
Resolve an ambiguity or a conflict in the contract documents.
Show that what will be supplied or built meets the specification.
The question, its references, and usually a photo or a markup.
Shop drawings, product data, samples, calculations, and manuals.
A written answer, sometimes followed by a revision or a variation.
Accepted, accepted with comment, or returned for resubmission.
The two often concern the same item of work, with months between the RFI answer and the submittal package it shaped.
Raise the question on the drawing that raised it.
A reviewer marks up the sheet in Lunr’s browser viewer and turns the redline straight into an RFI or a change request, so the question, the markup, and the document all sit on one record. The change that answers it runs through workflow and comes back as a revision.
- Mark up a drawing in the browser viewer and turn the redline straight into an RFI or a change request.
- The question and the document that raised it stay together, so the answer is read beside the sheet it applies to.
- RFIs, transmittals, and change requests run in project spaces, where contractors join as Collaborators who see only what you grant them.
- Put a change request on hold while you wait on an answer, then release it, with both moves logged.
- Forward a change request to the right reviewer or discipline without losing the thread.
- When the change is approved, the revision is incremented and synchronised back to the drawing title block.
- When the project ends, the record stays with the asset, so the RFI history and the drawings it changed stay together.
redline to rfi · project spaces · collaborators · holds and forwards · revision on approval · audit trail
See configurable workflowsKeep reading.
The other half of the pair: what the contractor sends in for review and acceptance.
The annotation that raises the question, drawn over the released sheet without altering it.
Run change requests with holds, forwards, reviewer nomination, and an audit log that writes itself.
Keeping site changes flowing back into the record as they happen, rather than at the end.
Questions about RFIs.
- What is an RFI in construction?
- An RFI, or request for information, is a formal question raised during construction when the contract documents are unclear, incomplete, or in conflict. A contractor or subcontractor writes the question against the drawing and specification it relates to, submits it to the design team or the owner's representative, and receives a dated written answer. The RFI and its answer are numbered and logged, so the instruction the site worked from can be produced later.
- What is the difference between an RFI and a submittal?
- An RFI travels out from the contractor as a question, asking the design team to clarify the contract documents. A submittal travels in from the contractor as a deliverable, asking the design team to review and accept shop drawings, product data, samples, or manuals against the specification. The RFI resolves an ambiguity, and the submittal demonstrates compliance. They often relate to the same item of work, with months between the RFI answer and the submittal it shaped.
- Who raises an RFI, and who answers it?
- The contractor or a subcontractor usually raises it, because they are the ones who meet the gap while building. It is answered by whoever holds responsibility for the design: the architect, the engineering discipline concerned, or the owner's representative on an owner-managed project. On a large project the routing matters as much as the answer, since an RFI sent to the wrong discipline sits unanswered while the work waits.
- Why do RFI outcomes have to reach the drawing record?
- Because the people who operate the asset read the drawings, not the RFI log. If an answer changes a route, a clearance, or a specification and the change lives only in the RFI, the drawing keeps showing the superseded design. Years later a maintainer works from that drawing and finds the asset does not match. Every RFI that alters the design has to land as a revision on the affected drawing and carry through into the as-constructed set.
- Is an RFI the same as a variation or change order?
- No. An RFI asks a question, and a variation changes the scope, the price, or the programme. Many RFIs are answered with a clarification that costs nothing. Some reveal a genuine change, and the variation follows as a separate instrument with its own approval. Keeping the two distinct matters, because an RFI answered casually can commit a project to work nobody has priced.
Close the loop from question to revision.
Book a walkthrough and watch a redline become an RFI, run through review, and come back as a revision on the drawing that raised it.
10M+ documents under management · Hosted in Australia and the US · SAML · Full audit trail · Export anytime
- entity
- Lunr Labs Pty Ltd
- location
- Melbourne AU
- workspace
- documents.lunr.app
- rev
- 2026