Technical submittals
Before a curtain wall is fabricated or a door set is ordered, the design team has to see the product data, the fabrication drawings or a sample and say yes, yes with comments, or not yet. A technical submittal register keeps that exchange in one place: what was sent against which clause, who must answer, by when, and what the answer was. Fidrel keeps the register inside the project, beside the drawings the submittals refer to.
30 days free · No minimum term.
The ironmongery supplier needs eight weeks, so the order goes in on the strength of a phone call. When the architect’s written comments arrive later, they ask for a different finish, and the site discovers it on delivery.
A revised data sheet is saved over the original in the shared folder. Months later, when a defect is traced back, nobody can show what the design team was actually shown and what it said about it.
The register lives on one laptop and is updated on Fridays. The subcontractor does not know which items are waiting for them, and the engineer does not know which are waiting for the engineer.
Whatever tool keeps it, a register earns its place when each line answers the same questions: a unique reference; the specification clause, often an NBS reference such as L20/110; what is being submitted and by whom; who in the design team reviews it; when the item is needed on site and when the response is due; which issue of the submittal this is; and the status and comments of the response. The two dates matter most. A late response is only a problem when it threatens the date the item is needed, and a register that holds both shows which answers to chase first.
Documents, drawings & models
Each submittal has a type: Product data sheets, Fabrication drawings, Samples, Mock-ups, Certificates, Test reports, Calculations, O&M manuals, Warranties & guarantees or Other. Numbers run SUB-001, SUB-002 and so on in each project. Most types need at least one document attached before they can be submitted, but samples and mock-ups are physical things, so they can go in without one and the register still records the response to them.
Step 1
Choose New submittal and fill in the Specification clause, a Title such as “Ironmongery, level 2”, the type, the Responsible contractor and person, the Reviewer (design team), and the dates Required on site and Response due.
Step 2
Attach the data sheets or drawings from the project’s documents, then choose Submit for review. Until then the draft is visible only to you and the project administrators, and the reviewer receives a notice in Fidrel when it is sent.
Step 3
Each line shows the reference, type, status, who the action is with, the due date and the revision. Filter on Awaiting my action to see your own items, and anything still waiting after its due date is flagged Overdue.
Step 4
If the design team returns the submittal, attach the revised documents for the resubmission and choose Resubmit, which raises the revision by one. Once it is approved, with or without comments, close it so it can no longer change.
A submittal moves from Draft to Submitted, Under review and then one of four answers: Approved, Approved with comments, Resubmit or Rejected. A returned item can only be submitted again; an approved one can only be closed. The Action with column follows the item: it passes to the reviewer when the submittal goes in, back to the responsible person when it is returned, and to nobody once it is approved. The person whose turn it is gets a notice in Fidrel saying that a submittal is awaiting their action.
The first issue is revision 0, and each resubmission raises the revision by one. Documents are attached to the revision they belong to, and once a revision has been reviewed its documents can no longer be swapped. The history keeps every status change and comment. While a submittal is under review, and after approval, its title, specification clause and type are locked, so the record of what was approved cannot be quietly rewritten.
Each submittal has one reviewer from the design team, and that reviewer must be a member of the project; there is no multi-stage review route. Notices about submittals appear in Fidrel only; no e-mail is sent. The register cannot be exported to Excel or printed as a schedule from Fidrel. There is no approval stamp on the submitted documents, no lead-time field and no link from a submittal to an activity in the programme. The specification clause is typed in by hand: Fidrel does not read the specification or build the register from it.
Your trial applies to your first own project and starts when that project is created. No card required. Afterwards, choose card or invoice to continue.
The project system of the future connects people, documents and decisions. Discover the thinking behind Fidrel.
Read more
On site, answers need to be close at hand. Fidrel displays DWG drawings in your mobile browser, within the project’s document structure.
Read more
When everyone can see the next step, moving the project forward becomes easier. Fidrel brings activities, dates and reported progress together in a shared Gantt view.
Read moreTechnical submittals
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usIt is information a contractor sends to the design team for approval before work is built or ordered: product data sheets, fabrication drawings, samples, mock-ups, certificates, test reports or calculations, usually tied to a specification clause.
Yes, if its staff are members of the project with write access. Otherwise the main contractor’s team raises the submittal and names the subcontractor or supplier as the responsible contractor.
No. Samples and mock-ups can be submitted without a document. Every other type needs at least one document before Fidrel lets it be submitted.
The status becomes Resubmit and the action passes back to the responsible person, who attaches revised documents and resubmits. The revision goes up by one and the first issue stays on record.
Only the person who created it and the project administrators. Everyone else with access to the register sees it once it has been submitted.
Filter the register on Awaiting my action. Submittals whose next step is yours are also listed among your own work, and you get a notice in Fidrel when one reaches you.
