The Ultimate Guide

to Construction
Submittals
How Streamlining the Submittals
Process Yields ROI in Construction
 The Ultimate Guide to
Construction Submittals
How Streamlining the Submittals
Process Yields ROIs in Construction

Submittals are an essential part of pre-construction and construction that

can sometimes get disjointed. With the volume of documents used for
clarifying material selections and ironing out details like color choices, it’s
easy to assume they’re low priority and have little impact. Yet a mistake
on a submittal form can lead to unimaginable accidents and losses,
such as what occurred in the 1981 Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse.1

The skywalk collapse was caused in part by submittal documents

offering a suspension option that wasn’t approved by the engineers. If
a better process for handling submittal documents had been in place,
the skywalk collapse and resulting losses could’ve been prevented. With
a better understanding of the importance of the submittals process,
let’s explore how to optimize it and the workflow producing them.

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The Importance of
Accurate Submittals
Before construction begins, one of the most They’re especially important in buildings
important aspects of any contractor’s job is utilizing prefabrication and modular
construction submittals. These documents construction techniques. Each of these
ultimately determine the accuracy of units may generate a dozen or more
project completion, the success of the submittal forms to hammer out the details.
proposed timeline, and the nitty-gritty
Whether they’re traveling up the chain
details of the budget. Each submittal form
of command or laterally, there’s always
should outline a single material or supply
a chance of a submittal missing one
choice that needs approval from high-level
or more important checkpoints during
team members like architects, engineers,
approval. Inaccurate submittal forms are
project owners, and general contractors.
also behind many of the delays that add
These documents are generally sent up throughout a construction project.
by trade contractors, subcontractors,
and suppliers. Sometimes they are also
generated internally between team
members to determine specific design
choices. Unlike as-built drawings,
which are meant to be submitted after
construction is complete to show the
final form of the project, submittals
are furnished beforehand to guide how
the project will actually be built.

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 The Ultimate Guide to Construction Submittals

What Should a Submittal Contain?

Before construction begins, every piece These documents are essential to
of equipment, building material, and even successful construction because they
design details such as the exact color of show the project at a very granular level,
paint need to be reviewed and approved. and allow design professionals to approve
This is accomplished via submittals. every aspect individually. Approval needs
Depending on the size and complexity of an to happen before items are fabricated
individual project, construction submittals and delivered because these processes
can involve thousands of different items. can take weeks. Manufacturing new
These include: trusses or structural units due to a
slight mistake can add weeks or even
months onto a project’s total timeline.
• Product cut sheets that identify
the manufacturer, specifications,
The more detail that is included in
and model number of each piece of
equipment or material option construction submittals, the better the
chance of an accurate budget and schedule.
• Shop drawings that lay out the
Due to the sheer volume of submittals
dimensions of such prefabricated
products such as trusses, cast concrete, produced by the average construction
windows, appliances, and millwork project, keeping them organized and
accessible by the right parties is a
• Color and finish selections
major undertaking. Only a construction
• Material data sheets technology solution can keep up with the
• Variations on engineering growing demand for more data during the
options to take advantage of pre-construction and design phases.
prefabricated and modular units

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 Building an Efficient
Submittals Workflow
The submittals review process has for compliance, while the general contractor
traditionally been long and arduous. First, reviews them all to ensure they have the
all submittal items must be aggregated right products and specifications. Missing
from subcontractors, ensuring you have review steps can lead to extra costs,
detailed data and specifications for each building failures, and losses. Documents
facet of the project. In the past, this meant also tend to get misplaced, mislabeled, or
a time-intensive manual entry process, lost altogether during multiple stages of
ripe for inaccuracies and mistakes. After the workflow. This graphic demonstrates
submittal items are collected, the architect a typical submittals workflow optimized
and design team must review everything for both efficiency and safety:

Create submittal Transmit Update package

SUB package package to GC with notes

Review Create submittal Share with

specifications register log the field

Review Track and manager Transmit

GC package submittals package

DESIGN Review
package
Transmit
package
 The Ultimate Guide to Construction Submittals

Building an Efficient
Submittals Workflow (Cont.)
Any construction company that doesn’t decisions about equipment, materials,
already follow a procedure close to and design elements give the owner
this one should adopt one as soon as important insight into the maintenance
possible. Informal and uneven handling and repair of the building. If nearly a third
of important documents often causes of those documents go missing on every
them to become lost or ignored entirely. project, customer satisfaction during the
Ideally, implement a system capable of close-out process is likely to suffer.
tracking each document from its first
stages of creation to completion. This Manual methods for tracking and
allows you to benchmark the company’s organizing submittals are ill-equipped to
handling of each submittal, which reveals handle the volume of paperwork created
important weaknesses and suggests by modern projects. Only construction
how to solve them all at the same time. management software like Autodesk
Construction Cloud™ can optimize this
Research from Emerson shows that up to process. By automating as much of the
30 percent of all documents generated data tagging, tracking, and security as
during the construction process are lost possible, managers and engineers are
by the end of the project. 2 That’s a lot of freed up to reveal and approve submittals
important data going missing. Submittals instead of just organizing them. Delays
may seem like they’re only important during are prevented, the work flows smoothly,
pre-construction and construction, but and the project overall is completed on
they actually form the backbone of close- time rather than behind schedule.
out documentation given to the owner or
tenant of the building. The same cut sheets
and manufacturing forms used to make

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5 Steps to More Effective Submittals
Crafting effective submittal forms is the 3. Reduce errors and cut down on Submittals are harder to completely digitize
first step to optimizing the workflow. Even manual labor by automating as like RFIs because they often include
much of the workflow as possible.
if you’re only responsible for receiving concrete components like samples. Photos
Subcontractors and suppliers should
and approving them, providing templates be able to jump into a template, insert and drawings help convey important
for the various types of forms will help the relevant data or drawings, and specifications, but they don’t compare to
standardize the process. Here are five submit without spending hours on actual window units or room assemblies
formatting or document conversions.
concrete steps to take to improve the being shipped for direct inspection by the
submittals process at any stage. 4. Ensure compliance with all review team engineers or general contractors.
processes to ensure errors are caught Make sure your construction technology
1. Track the submittals from the very before submittals are approved. It’s solution can adapt to track these physical
beginning and make this information as costly to reverse a submittal and reopen
artifacts as well as the digital files so that
transparent as possible. Each team member the process, and those costs increase
involved should be able to see where the if inspectors or approval committees materials stay organized and easy to access
item is in the process and what actions are are involved. Make sure any important during the decision-making process.
needed next from each party. PlanGrid’s changes are approved by structural
Automatic Submittal Log is ideal for this. engineers or other design team
members with proper qualifications.
2. Control visibility with accurate roles for
various team members rather than trying 5. Standardize sample handling so it’s directed
to set permissions individually. Delays to the right teams instead of languishing
in giving access to submittal forms are in shipping and receiving departments.
a constant cause of unnecessary lost Samples of prefabricated assemblies can
time in manual submission processes. require heavy equipment to move, so
designate space and time for organizing and
storing these units so they’re not damaged
or degraded before they’re inspected.

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 The Ultimate Guide to Construction Submittals

Building a Strong
Routine for Submittals
Even with the help of software and
automation, construction teams must References:
commit to following the same routine
[1] Bernhardt, Randall P. “Hyatt Regency
every time they receive a submittal. By
Skywalk Collapse Remembered.”
handling even the smallest issues like STRUCTURE Magazine, Aug. 2016
www.structuremag.org
paint color or finish choice as seriously
as those involving design and material [2] “Operational Readiness: Bridging the Gap
Between Construction and Operations for
changes, nothing will slip by unnoticed. New Capital Assets.”
This greatly reduces the chances of rework Emerson, Nov. 2018
and change orders that slow down project
completion and increase the total costs.
Encourage the team to see submittals as an
important stepping stone on the path to a
productive and profitable project. Changing
the mindset surrounding these documents
is just as important as implementing
software solutions. Good adoption of
new construction technology begins with
managers highlighting its benefits to
every member of the contracting team.

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