Civitello’s book is certainly an interesting read. I needed to take a shower when I was done though. It just feels so immorally dirty!
Don, I think what we need here is for Ralph and John to collaborate on a book entitled “Everything You Wanted To Know About Shop Drawings and Submittals, But Were Afraid (or too Stupid) to Ask”. It should be short and to the point, 100 pages or less, even spiral bound, and of course organized according to CSI Masterformat 1995 (I hate 2004)…what do you think, maybe if we all emailed Ralph and John it would convince them that we need this…especially on Friday the 13th.
Doug Frank said “Its imperative that the Contractor have all the appropriate shop drawings, product data, etc. from his subs even if you dont want to see them.”
In this situation, do people call for shop drawings to be submitted directly to the contractor? or what?
I only specify what the architect wants to see.
If the contractor wants more than that, they’ll need to add that to their contractor-subcontractor agreements. I don’t want to get into the middle of the contractor’s business beyond what the architect is required to do.
Ralph, I have a similar issue im my firm. We tend to ask for many more submittals than are necessary, but it’s difficult at best to weed out the unnecessary ones.
And you’re right - I don’t get any help from my PA’s or Project Leads.
my e-mail is rmatteo@tbparchitecture.com
Definitely don’t need samples for initial selection when the color/texture/pattern whatever is indicated. Another one I may often delete is preinstallation conference (ONLY on sections that do not involve much coordination, on simpler projects of course).
One way to give the PA a quick read on what is left is to print a MasterWorks submittals report, and if the CA is assigned to the project before it goes to bid then give them a copy first. They’ll be happy to scratch off a few before you give it to the PA for final review.
It would be great to get an Owner who is truly involved to also take a look, but I don’t see that level of interest from them very often, even though our firm does a wide range of project types. We almost have to chain them to a desk to even get them to even tell us $ amounts for liquidated damages and insurance limits. They seem to think we would just intuitively know all their desires, us being the specifiers and design professionals of course.
Many of us have had PART 3 requirements such as “have a copy of approved submittals at the worksite” and “install following spproved submittals”. Now, with the layering of submittals into informational, LEED, and action, we must take another look at those two requirements.
Must LEED submittals be kept at the trailer?
Must installation follow what is in the informational submittals?
Check your PART 3 language now.
Some of us have introduced a time dimension.
I require an Early Submittal for some things, and specify that no further submittals be made until the Early Submittal has been approved. Most frequently this is used for crucial Special Warranty text - for which I want to see the letter or form - specific to the job - that the contractor is going to submit at closeout.
I usually do not list specific Closeout Subnmittals in the Submittals article because these are much the same for all sections and can be pretty well covered in 01 78 00.