RFI Basics

An RFI usually lives in three places at once: a Word template, an email thread, and someone's memory of what was answered. Here the question and the answer share one page, numbered, dated, and findable.

Write it

Start a new RFI and everything is on one page: subject, the information request, an optional proposed solution, drawing and spec references, and notes. Once your layout is set, the editor shows only the fields it prints, plus any form fields it declares. From picks who signs; it starts as the person who wrote the RFI, so their title prints too. A project fact the layout prints blank gets Set, which writes it to the project. Body fields are rich text (bold, lists, links), and the draft saves itself as you type. The recipient comes from your project's firms and contacts, with the address staying editable. Attach whatever the question needs; PDFs and images ride in the issued document, while Word, Excel, and CSV files are tracked and downloadable alongside it.

Preview, then mark it sent

Preview shows the finished document on your configured layout. Mark sent assigns the next RFI number in the project and freezes the PDF as the record of what went out. Nothing here emails anyone: you send the PDF through your own channel, and the log starts counting the days.

If the record needs correcting after sending, edit it and rebuild the PDF; the page flags a record that has drifted from its document so the two never silently disagree.

Record the answer

When the response comes back:

1. Drop the returned PDF under Got an answer back?.
2. A reading of the document pulls the answer into the record: what it does to the work, who answered, the date, and the response text. A progress bar tracks it, and Stop lets you take over and type the answer yourself at any point.
3. Review what was pulled in. Fields that came from the PDF are marked so you know what deserves a second look, and clearing a mark is one click.

No returned PDF? Expand Or record the answer by hand and type it in.

Every answer says what it does to the work: Changes the work, No change, or Needs more information. The read suggests one and the chip on the answered record shows it.

Or skip the inbox: Share in the header sends the RFI to a reviewer as a link. They read the PDF and its attachments on the page it opens, type the answer, pick its effect, and can attach a signed PDF. It waits under Answers from the share link until you Accept it, which files the PDF and puts the answer on the record. Share with an outside reviewer has the details.

Keep the thread together

Ask a follow-up re-asks within the same thread: the recipient, subject, and references carry over, the new question gets a sub-number, and nothing is renumbered. The answered question stays on the record above it.

Related RFIs cross-links records that touch the same issue: link one, add a note about why, remove the link any time. The link shows on both RFIs, and likely matches are suggested from the text of the log itself.

Track everything on the RFI Log, including RFIs that went out by email before the project moved here.