Submittals are most often prepared by a contractor to provide the general contractor with information on a project’s design, equipment, and materials. The information is reviewed by the design team for approval before fabricating and delivering what’s needed to the job site. Submittals can take many forms, including shop drawings, cut sheets on equipment, and material samples. Architects and engineers require them to ensure a finished project confirms to the design and contract documents, for example, ensuring the right products and quantities will be installed.

Submittals should be used by any contractor who wants to get the job done right the first time, and avoid mistakes that can sink a project deadline or blow a budget. A submittal review ensures the owners’ expectations are met and that the design and materials they asked for at the project outset are accurately delivered. Submittals add another layer of verification to the build process, ensuring their interpretation of the design matches up with the owner’s vision. They also provide the opportunity to make changes if something doesn’t match. Submittals help ensure the architects, engineers, contractors, and owners remain on the same page throughout the project.

Submittals serve as a system of checks and balances over the course of a project. Failing to submit and review any mock-ups, materials lists, project data, and samples could even subject a designer to liability if a project goes off course because of an error or miscommunication. Using submittals gives every stakeholder an opportunity to ensure the project remains in compliance with the original contracted design specifications. Any changes are then reviewed and approved or rejected before action is taken on them.

Procore’s built-in Submittal Builder scans through every detail in a project’s spec book and automatically generates a submittal register. You can further organize submittals by division, add any needed shop drawings, and even mark up and stamp submittals, right from the Procore app. Procore lets you at a glance know the current status of any submittals and identify who needs to take action.

Using a platform like Procore streamlines the submittal process by keeping everything in the same place. Users can easily find any submittal they’re looking for, with the ability to organize them by status (open/closed), type (shop drawing, specs, plans, etc.) approver, or response status (pending, approved, approved as noted). Procore keeps a detailed track of every submittal, logging who created it, when it was sent, and the date it was received, even letting companies use a personalized stamp within the app to denote their response. Using a platform improves communication and supercharges workflow by ensuring every member of the project team is always working from the same up-to-date documents.