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The short version
An RFI, or request for information, is a written question about the drawings or specifications sent to the design team so the contractor can price or build the work correctly. During bidding, RFIs go in before the question deadline and the answers come back to every bidder as an addendum.
A good RFI names the sheet, the detail and the spec section, asks one question and proposes an answer. If the deadline has passed or the question is minor, qualify the bid instead. Either way, track each answer until it changes the quantity, the price and the proposal. Related: how to track addenda on bid day and how to read Division 01 before you bid.
RFIs during bidding, in order
Know what an RFI is, and what it is not
An RFI, a request for information, is a written question about the contract documents sent to the person who can answer it: the architect or engineer, usually through the GC or the owner’s representative. It asks what the documents mean. It does not change them by itself.
That second point matters. An answer to an RFI is information. Scope, price and time change through an addendum before the bid, or through a change order or a directive after the contract. If an RFI answer adds work, the paperwork that pays for it is a different document, and you should expect to ask for it.
An RFI is also not a substitution request, a request for a time extension, or a place to argue. Those have their own forms and their own sections in Division 01. Keep the RFI to the question.
Tell a pre-bid RFI from a construction RFI
During bidding, questions go to whoever the instructions to bidders names, by the method it names, before the question deadline it sets. That deadline is often several days before bid day, so the architect has time to answer. Miss it and the answer to your question is whatever the documents already say.
Pre-bid answers do not come back to you alone. They come back to every bidder, as an addendum, so everyone prices the same job. Some owners also post a question-and-answer log. Read the instructions to bidders to see which of the two is binding: usually the addendum is, and a phone call or a site-walk conversation is not.
During construction, an RFI goes from the contractor through the GC to the design team and comes back with an answer on the job. It is tracked in the RFI log, and the contract usually sets how fast the answer is due. Same idea, different stakes: by then the price is signed.
Find the questions while you do the takeoff
Most good RFIs come out of the takeoff, not out of a separate review. You are on A-501 measuring partitions and the type tag points to a wall type that is not on the legend. You are counting fixtures on E-201 and the panel schedule lists more circuits than the plan shows. Write it down the moment you see it, with the sheet and the grid line.
The other place they hide is where the drawings and the spec disagree. The finish schedule says LVT and the spec section for resilient flooring was never issued. The detail calls for a 5/8" Type X board and the partition schedule says 1/2". Each of those is a quantity you cannot finish or a unit price you cannot pick.
Keep one running list per bid. By the time you are a third of the way through the set, you will know whether the documents are tight or whether the question deadline is going to be a busy day.
Write it so it can be answered in one line
A good RFI points to an exact place, asks one question, and offers an answer the architect can accept with a yes. The table below is the anatomy. If yours is missing the reference or the proposed answer, it will come back late, vague, or as "refer to the documents".
One question per RFI. Two questions in one RFI get one answer, and it is usually the easier one. Number them so the addendum answer can be matched to the question you asked.
| Part | Why it is there | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Project and number | So the answer can be matched to the question in the addendum | Bid RFI 07, Riverside Clinic TI |
| Sheet and detail | Points the architect to the exact spot | Detail 4/A-501, partition type P3, grid C-D/4 |
| Spec section | Shows where the drawings and the spec disagree | 09 21 16 Gypsum Board Assemblies, 2.2.B |
| The conflict, in one sentence | Says what you found, not what you think of it | Detail shows 5/8" Type X both sides; schedule on A-601 shows 1/2" Type X |
| The question | One question, answerable in one line | Which board applies to P3 partitions on Level 2? |
| Proposed answer | Gives the architect a yes to say | Assume 5/8" Type X both sides per detail 4/A-501 |
| Cost or schedule effect | Tells them why it matters before the bid | Changes board quantity on roughly 3,200 SF of wall |
| Answer needed by | Ties it to the question deadline | Before the bid question deadline in the instructions to bidders |
Decide: ask, or qualify the bid
Not every question is worth an RFI. Ask when the answer changes your quantity or your price in a way that matters, when every bidder needs the same answer to price the same job, and when there is still time before the question deadline for the answer to come back.
Qualify instead when the deadline has passed, when the answer is minor and you can state your assumption, or when you would rather price your reading than wait. A qualification is a line in your proposal: "Based on 1/2" Type X board per partition schedule, sheet A-601. Detail 4/A-501 not included." It tells the GC exactly what you priced.
There is also a third option: carry your best reading in the number and say nothing. That is the one that turns into a dispute after the contract. If you are going to guess, put the guess in writing.
Send it the way the bid documents say
Use the channel named in the instructions to bidders: the email address, the bid portal, or the form. A question sent to the wrong person may never reach the architect, and you will not be told. If you are a sub, your question may go through the GC; send it early enough that they can forward it before the deadline.
Keep a copy of what you sent and when. If the answer never comes and the question changes your price, that copy is what lets you write a clean qualification instead of an apology.
Track every answer until it reaches the number
When an addendum lands, read it against your RFI list first. Mark each question answered, answered differently than you proposed, or not answered. Then do the work the answer implies: change the quantity, re-price the line, update the qualification, and tell the subs whose scope it touches.
The step people skip is the last one: checking that the answer actually made it into the bid. The addendum is acknowledged on the bid form, the takeoff was revised, and the proposal language still matches. An RFI that was asked, answered and never carried into the number did nothing for you.
Asking after the question deadline
Late questions often go unanswered, and an unanswered question is worth less than a written assumption. If the deadline has passed, qualify the bid.
Asking without a sheet or a section
"Please clarify the drywall scope" gets "refer to the contract documents". Name the detail, the schedule and the spec paragraph.
Treating a phone answer as an answer
Only what the bid documents name as binding is binding, usually the addendum. A friendly answer on the site walk is not in the contract.
Two questions in one RFI
One gets answered. Split them, number them, and you can match each one to its answer.
Reading the addendum but not the RFI list
Check every question you asked against the addendum. The answer may be different from your proposed one, or missing.
Getting the answer and not carrying it
Revise the quantity, the price and the proposal language. An answer that never reached the number is the same as no answer.
Questions people ask
What does RFI stand for in construction?
Request for information. It is a written question about the drawings, the specifications or another contract document, sent to the design team through the channel the contract or the bid documents set. It asks what the documents mean. On its own it does not change scope, price or time.
Who answers a pre-bid RFI?
Usually the architect or engineer of record, through whoever the instructions to bidders names: the owner, the owner’s representative or the GC. The answer is normally issued to every bidder as an addendum, so everyone prices the same documents.
Is an RFI answer the same as a change order?
No. An RFI answer explains the documents. If the answer adds or changes work, the change to the contract comes through a separate document: an addendum before bid, or a change order or directive after award. If an answer during construction adds cost, ask for the change in writing.
When should I qualify my bid instead of sending an RFI?
When the question deadline has passed, when the issue is minor enough to state your assumption, or when you would rather price your own reading than wait. Write the qualification with the sheet, detail or spec section, and say exactly what you included and what you did not.
Can a subcontractor send an RFI directly to the architect?
Only if the bid documents allow it. On most GC-led bids, subs send questions to the GC, who forwards them to the design team. Send yours early enough that the GC can pass it on before the question deadline.
Caliente Vision
Caliente Vision keeps every question tied to the number
Caliente Vision reads the drawings, the spec and the addenda your team already has, and finds the places they disagree, with the sheet and the section side by side. It drafts the RFI with the reference and a proposed answer, waits for your approval before anything is sent, then matches the addendum answer back to the question and checks that it reached the quantity and the bid. Caliente Vision finds, connects and checks. Estimators decide.