Request for Information (RFI)
A formal question from the contractor or site team to the design team, seeking clarification on drawings, specifications, or scope - essential when construction details are ambiguous or conflicting.
What an RFI Actually Does on a Construction Site
A Request for Information is a formal document used when the construction team encounters something in the drawings or specifications that is unclear, incomplete, contradictory, or physically impossible to build as drawn. The RFI asks the designer or consultant for a clarification or decision.
Common RFI triggers include: dimension conflicts between architectural and structural drawings, unclear material specifications, MEP routing conflicts where duct and pipe runs clash with structural elements, and missing details in areas where the design was issued at a preliminary stage.
The Cost of Unmanaged RFIs
On a typical Indian residential high-rise, the site team can generate 50-100 RFIs during the structural phase alone. Each RFI represents a point where work either stops waiting for an answer, or proceeds based on assumptions that may be wrong.
The problem isn't the number of RFIs - it's the response time. When an RFI is sent via email and the consultant responds in 7-10 days, the site team has three choices: wait (causing delay), proceed with their best guess (risking rework), or escalate through phone calls (consuming management time without creating documentation).
In a typical scenario, a structural RFI about a beam-column junction detail on Floor 12 is raised on Monday. The structural consultant receives it Tuesday. They check, consult with the architect, and respond Friday. But by Wednesday, the steel fixing crew needed to proceed to maintain the slab pouring schedule. They fixed steel based on a similar detail from Floor 8. The consultant's response on Friday reveals the detail on Floor 12 is different - a haunch is required. Rework is now unavoidable.
This pattern - RFI raised, response delayed, assumption made, rework required - is one of the most expensive recurring issues in Indian construction. Multiplied across 100+ RFIs per project, the accumulated rework and delay cost can run into crores.
RFI Management Best Practices
Effective RFI management requires three things: a central register (not scattered emails), clear response deadlines with escalation paths, and linkage to the construction schedule so the urgency of each RFI is visible.
When an RFI is linked to a scheduled task that starts in 5 days, the response deadline is automatically clear. When that RFI remains unanswered with 2 days to go, escalation happens based on data - not on the site engineer remembering to follow up.
The best-run projects also track RFI patterns. If 15 RFIs come from MEP coordination issues, that signals a BIM clash detection gap in the design phase. If 10 RFIs relate to a single consultant's drawings, that's a design quality issue to address at source.
Why this matters in construction
On Indian construction sites, ambiguities in architectural or structural drawings are common - especially during early execution phases when detailed design is still evolving. Every unresolved ambiguity is a potential rework trigger. An RFI creates a documented trail of questions and answers, preventing the "I was told verbally" disputes that plague project closeouts. Unresolved RFIs are among the top 3 causes of construction delays in India.
Related terms
MEP Coordination
executionThe process of coordinating Mechanical (HVAC), Electrical, and Plumbing systems within a building to ensure ducts, conduits, pipes, and cables don't clash with each other or with structural elements.
Building Information Modeling (BIM)
planningA digital 3D model of a building that contains not just geometry but data - material specifications, cost information, scheduling data, MEP routing, and structural details - enabling coordination and clash detection before construction begins.
Snag List
qualityA punch list of defects, incomplete items, and quality issues found during inspection of completed work - the final checkpoint before a unit or area is accepted as finished.
How Buildrun Intelligence handles this
Buildrun tracks RFIs alongside the construction schedule, so unanswered RFIs linked to upcoming tasks are flagged before they cause work stoppages - not after.