RFIs to colleagues
Ask once, from the right place
Why this one matters
Is the frame treated in the wet areas? Is the slab thicker under the garage door? Questions like these get asked in a text message at twenty to seven, answered by somebody who is driving, and remembered differently by two people six months later.
The cost is not the question. It is the rework when the answer was wrong, and the argument at handover when nobody can show what was decided or who decided it.
What you will see
- A question asked from the item it is about, not from a blank page
- Only the people on that job offered as someone to ask
- A number against it, in the same register as the questions you send consultants
- The item showing an open question, so nobody asks it twice
- Every question on every job in one place — waiting on you, and waiting on somebody else
What was said
The narration, word for word, for anyone who would rather read it than watch it — or who is on a train.
On every job, questions come up that only a colleague can answer. Is the frame treated for the wet areas? Is the slab thicker under the garage door? SmarteBuild keeps those questions, and the answers, in one place.
The My RFIs card on the dashboard shows what is waiting for your answer, with late ones in pink, then the questions you asked.
Ask from wherever the question comes up. Here it is an item in the bill of quantities. Orders, variations, tenders, the schedule, defects and colour selections have the same button.
The window says what the question is about, and shows anything already asked about it. Tick who should answer. Only people on this job are offered.
Write the subject and the question, and say what you have already checked. The answer is due in three days unless you change it.
Press Ask. Each person gets a bell, and the RFI is numbered for the job, in the same register as your RFIs to consultants.
An item with an open RFI shows its button highlighted, so nobody asks the same question twice.
My RFIs, under Dashboard in the side menu, collects them from every job: waiting for you, you asked, and everything.
Open one to read the question and what it is about, with a link straight to the item. Write your answer, say where it came from, and send it. The person who asked is told straight away.
On the questions you asked, add a message to chase it, or close it with a note on what was decided, so the reason is still there at handover.
Tick Closed too to look back over the last ninety days, or search by subject, job or person.
RFIs to colleagues. Ask once, from the right place, and keep the answer with the job.
Doing it, rather than watching it
This page is the tour. When you are in SmarteBuild with a job open and need the detail — every option, every exception, the things the video had no time for — the help centre has the full article.
Read about it instead: Documents & Drawings · Defects & Handover · Variations
Start with one job and see
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