What a site query is
A site query, often called an RFI (request for information), is a question from the contractor or a trade. A missing dimension. Two drawings that disagree. A detail that cannot be built as drawn. A product that is no longer made.
Until it is answered, someone is waiting, guessing, or building at their own risk. That is why queries need a process of their own, separate from general chat.
Most queries arrive by phone or message, and that is fine for asking. The trouble starts when the answer lives only in a call, or deep in a chat thread that half the team never sees.
Agree the process at the start
A short agreement with the contractor at the first site meeting saves weeks of crossed messages later. Settle four things:
- Where queries go: one person in your studio, or one shared list, not whoever happens to answer the phone.
- What every query includes: the question, the area, the drawing, a photo if it helps, and the date it is needed by.
- How fast you normally reply, so the contractor can plan around it.
- How answers are sent, and to whom.
Log every query the same way
Whatever tool you use, capture the same fields every time:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Question | The beam drops 150 mm at the stair. Is the head height still OK? |
| Asked by | Leo (contractor) |
| Area | Stair, first-floor landing |
| About which drawing | Stair section, revision B |
| Photo | The beam, with a tape measure in the frame |
| Needed by | Thursday 18 May, before the stair is fitted |
| Answer | A written reply, plus any drawing that changes |
| Answered | The date, and by whom |
The needed-by date matters most
Ask site when they need the answer, and write it down. It sets your priorities: a query needed tomorrow comes before one needed next month, even if the second one is older.
It also makes “late” clear to everyone. Without a date, a query gets answered when someone remembers. With one, the whole studio can see what is due.
If every query arrives marked urgent, ask one question back: what work stops if this is not answered, and when? The real dates appear quickly.
How to write a good answer
- Answer the question that was asked. If you need more information first, say what you need and by when.
- Be specific: a dimension, a product code, a drawing and its revision.
- If the answer changes a drawing, issue the revised drawing too. A message is not a drawing.
- If the answer adds cost or time, treat it as extra work and agree it first. See the extra work guide.
- Send the answer to everyone affected, not only the person who asked.
- Query
- The beam drops 150 mm at the stair. Is the head height still OK? Leo, 15 May. Needed by 18 May.
- Answer
- Yes. The lowest point is still 2.05 m above the stair. Build the stair as drawn. The updated stair section, revision C, was sent today. Ana, 16 May.
When a query is really a change
Some queries are not questions at all. “Can we use a cheaper tile here?” or “The client asked us to move this wall” are changes. Answer them as extra work, with the cost and time agreed first, and keep the query open until the change is approved or declined.
The same goes for answers that turn out bigger than expected. If your reply means new work, a new product or more days on site, say so in the answer, and start the extra work note the same day.
A routine that keeps answers on time
- Look at open queries every morning, earliest needed-by date first.
- Answer simple ones the same day.
- For the rest, reply with when you will answer, and who you are asking: the engineer, a supplier, the client.
- Go through open queries at every site meeting.
- Close a query only when it is answered and the answer has reached site.
Use queries to improve your drawings
When a job ends, read back through its queries. If the same kind keeps coming up, such as missing setting-out dimensions, unclear junctions or door hardware, that is a gap in your drawing set or your specification.
Fix it in your templates, and the next job starts with fewer questions. Over a few projects, this is one of the cheapest ways to make a studio's drawings better.
Common mistakes
- Answering on a call and never writing it down.
- Replying only to the person who asked.
- Answers that contradict the drawings, with no revised drawing issued.
- Marking a query closed before site has the answer.
- Starting a new thread when a query comes back. Reopen the original, so the earlier answer stays on record.