Process & workflow
How to track submittals on a project
A submittal is the shop drawing, product data, or sample a contractor sends up for review to prove what they intend to install meets the specification. On any real project there are hundreds, and losing track of even one stalls a trade or lets unapproved material go in. The submittal register is the log that keeps them moving; running it well is what lets the preparatory phase confirm 'submittal approved' instead of 'submittal missing.' This guide covers building and running that register.
For project engineers, QC managers, and coordinators responsible for keeping submittals moving and tying them to the work they gate.
Step by step
Build the register from the specification
Comb every spec section for required submittals and list them — spec section, description, type (shop drawing, product data, sample, mock-up), and the trade responsible. That list is the register's backbone.
Sequence submittals against the schedule
Back-schedule each one from when the material is needed on site, accounting for review time and fabrication lead time. A submittal approved the week you need the material is a submittal that arrived too late.
Log each submittal in and route it for review
When a contractor submits, log the date, revision, and reviewer, and route it to the designer or engineer. The register should show at a glance what's in review, with whom, and how long it's been sitting.
Record the disposition and close the loop
Capture the returned status — approved, approved as noted, revise and resubmit, rejected — and get it back to the contractor. Anything short of a clean approval loops back around, and the register tracks the resubmittal.
Tie each approved submittal to the work it gates
Link the submittal to its definable feature of work so the preparatory phase can confirm the approved, current revision is in hand before that feature starts. This is the connection that makes the register a quality tool, not just a filing system.
Flag long-lead and critical items
Mark the submittals whose approval or fabrication drives the schedule — switchgear, structural steel, elevators, curtain wall — and watch them closely. A late long-lead submittal is a schedule problem before it's a paperwork problem.
Keep the register current and visible
Update it as items move and review it in the weekly coordination meeting. A register nobody looks at is where submittals go to be forgotten.
What gets missed
- Building the register from a prior project instead of this project's spec, so required submittals are missing and irrelevant ones clutter it.
- Tracking submittal status but not lead time, so an item approved 'on time' still misses the material delivery.
- Letting a feature start against a superseded revision because the register wasn't tied to the work it gates.
- Treating approved-as-noted as done without confirming the contractor incorporated the noted changes.
- Losing visibility on long-lead items until the fabrication window has already closed.
Questions people ask
- What's the difference between a submittal and a submittal register?
- A submittal is a single item sent up for review — a shop drawing, product data sheet, or sample. The submittal register is the master log that tracks every submittal on the project through its review cycle from first log to final disposition.
- How do submittals connect to the preparatory phase inspection?
- The prep phase can't open a feature until its submittals are approved and current. Tying each submittal in the register to the definable feature it supports is what lets QC confirm the right, approved revision is in hand before work starts.
Checklists that make this a one-tap job
Free, field-ready checklists, each with the photo every item needs before it can be submitted.
Related guides
- How to run a preparatory phase inspectionRun the before-work meeting that confirms submittals, materials, criteria, and preceding work are ready before a definable feature of work starts.
- How to write an RFIWrite an RFI that gets a clear, usable answer fast — one specific question, the documents it references, and a proposed answer — instead of a slow round of clarifying questions.
- How to set up a QA/QC program on a projectStand up a QA/QC program from scratch: separate quality assurance from quality control, write the QC plan, break the job into features, and assign who inspects what.
Reading the steps is one thing. Proving you walked them is the job.
RTI holds the submit button until every mandatory item is answered and the photos are attached, then chains the record so it can be proven untouched later.