Two logs for one kind of question
The M&E contractor keeps a TQ register and the main contractor an RFI log. The same question about a riser turns up in both, numbered differently, with two different answers.
Technical queries
Technical query in construction: the TQ, the RFI and the difference
A technical query, or TQ, is a question about the design raised by whoever has to build it: a contractor or subcontractor who finds a clash, a gap or an ambiguity in the drawings and specification and needs the designer’s answer before carrying on. On many UK projects, particularly in M&E and infrastructure, TQs run alongside RFIs, and teams often disagree about where one ends and the other begins.
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Where technical queries get stuck
Answered against an old drawing
The designer replies to a TQ raised on revision P02 without noticing that P03 has already changed the area, so the answer no longer fits what is on site.
No owner and no date
A query waits in an inbox with nobody named to answer it and no date by which the site needs it, and it surfaces only when the work stops.
TQ or RFI: the usual distinction
Usage differs between firms and contracts, so treat this as a common pattern rather than a rule. A technical query is usually raised by the party building the works and is about the design: a missing dimension, a clash between services, a product that can no longer be obtained. An RFI is often broader, covering any information one party needs from another, and on some projects it is simply the name for every such question. What matters is that each query has one reference, one owner and one answer on record.
Reviews, RFIs & issues
Technical queries as issues
In a UK project, Technical query is one of the issue categories, beside Non-conformance, Coordination, Quality and Environmental. Each issue has a title, a description, a discipline, a company, a location such as Level 3, grid C4, a priority, an owner and a due date, and moves through Open, In progress, Blocked, Resolved and Closed. Typing Technical query into the issue search lists every TQ, and the Mine, Open and Overdue views narrow the list further.
Logging a technical query in Fidrel
Step 1
Choose an issue or an RFI
Raise an issue in the category Technical query when the question needs an owner to resolve it, or an RFI when it needs a formal written answer from a named recipient. Both live in the same project.
Step 2
Tie it to the drawing
Draw a markup on the drawing in a review and choose Create RFI from markup, so the RFI keeps the exact revision and the spot it was raised on, with the markup as its source.
Step 3
Name who answers and by when
Give the RFI an Assignee / recipient, a Response due date and a Priority from Low to Urgent, or the issue an Owner and a Due date. The recipient gets a notice in Fidrel once the RFI is sent.
Step 4
Answer, check and close
The recipient writes the answer and sets the RFI to Answered, which is refused while the answer is empty. It can then be closed, or sent back as Action required if the answer does not settle it, and every change stays in its history.
Technical queries as RFIs
An RFI suits a query that needs a formal answer. It gets a number in the form RFI-0007 and has a title, the question, a recipient, a deadline, a priority and an area. It can link drawings and documents at a specific revision and carry attachments of up to 25 MB each. An RFI raised from a markup keeps the revision and markup it came from, and if that drawing is revised later, the RFI shows that the drawing has a newer revision than the one the question was asked on. RFIs can also be linked to issues, so a TQ logged as an issue and the RFI that settles it point to each other.
When the answer changes the price
From an RFI or an issue, a new variation can be raised with the query as its source, so a technical answer that adds work is carried into the variation register rather than left in a comment. The variation then follows its own route to approval, and the query and the variation stay linked to each other.
What Fidrel does not do for technical queries
Fidrel has no separate TQ register with TQ numbers of its own: a technical query is either an issue in the category Technical query, identified by a short code such as #D02829, or an RFI. The recipient of an RFI and the owner of an issue must be members of the project; Fidrel does not send either to someone outside it. An RFI or issue has no fields of its own for cost or programme effect; where an answer changes either, raise a variation from it.
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Technical queries
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usA question about the design, raised by the contractor or a subcontractor who has to build it, asking the designer to resolve a clash, a gap or an ambiguity in the drawings or specification.
Usually a TQ is a design question from the party building the works, while an RFI can be any request for information between parties. Projects define the two differently, so agree the terms at the start.
Yes, as issues in the category Technical query, which the issue search and the Open and Overdue views list together, or as RFIs where a formal answer is needed.
Raise it from a markup on the drawing. The RFI keeps the revision it was raised on and warns when the drawing has a newer revision, with a link to it.
The recipient gets a notice in Fidrel when the RFI is sent, not while it is a draft, and the person who asked gets one when it is answered.