Construction Submittal Management: How to Track Submittals | Projul

Submittals are one of those things nobody talks about until they cause a problem. And by then, you’re three weeks behind schedule because the architect rejected a shop drawing that should have been handled a month ago.

If you’ve ever had a project stall because someone forgot to submit product data, or because a set of shop drawings got stuck in review limbo, you know the pain. Submittals aren’t glamorous. But managing them well is the difference between a project that runs on time and one that bleeds money from day one.

This guide covers what submittals are, how the process works, and how to track them without drowning in paperwork or losing critical documents in someone’s email inbox.

What Are Submittals and Why They Matter

A submittal is any document, sample, or piece of information that a contractor sends to the architect or engineer for review and approval before installing or using it on a project. It’s basically the design team’s way of confirming that what you’re planning to build matches what they drew up.

There are four main types of submittals you’ll deal with on most projects:

Shop drawings are detailed fabrication drawings produced by the contractor, subcontractor, or manufacturer. Think of structural steel connections, HVAC ductwork layouts, or custom millwork details. These go way beyond what the architect shows on the construction documents. They show exactly how something will be fabricated and installed.

Product data includes manufacturer spec sheets, catalog cuts, performance charts, and installation instructions. When the specs say “or approved equal,” product data is how you prove your proposed material meets the design intent. Every material, fixture, and piece of equipment on the project likely needs product data submitted.

Samples are physical pieces of the actual material you plan to use. Paint chips, countertop samples, brick samples, carpet swatches. The architect needs to see and sometimes touch the real thing before signing off on it. Color and texture don’t always come through on a screen or a PDF.

Mock-ups are full-scale assemblies built on-site or in a staging area. A curtain wall mock-up, a bathroom tile installation, or an exterior wall section. These are usually required on bigger commercial projects where the owner wants to see how multiple materials come together before you install them across the entire building.

Why do they matter? Because every submittal that gets delayed, rejected, or lost adds time to your project. If you can’t install the storefront glazing because the shop drawings haven’t been approved yet, your schedule doesn’t care whose fault it is. The work stops. And when work stops, everyone pays for it.

The Submittal Process Step by Step

The submittal process has several stages, and understanding each one helps you avoid bottlenecks. Here’s how it typically works from start to finish.

Preparation

The subcontractor or supplier prepares the submittal package. This includes pulling together the shop drawings, spec sheets, samples, or whatever the contract documents require. The key here is reading the specs carefully. Section 01 33 00 (Submittal Procedures) tells you exactly what’s required, how many copies, and what format.

A lot of subs rush this step and send incomplete packages. That’s the fastest way to get a rejection and lose two weeks right out of the gate.

Contractor Review

Before anything goes to the architect, the GC reviews the submittal. You’re checking that it matches the contract documents, that the sub included everything required, and that there aren’t obvious errors. Your stamp on that submittal means you’ve reviewed it and believe it’s correct.

This is where a lot of GCs get sloppy. If you just rubber-stamp submittals without actually reading them, you’re setting yourself up for problems later. The architect will catch the mistakes you didn’t, and now you look bad and lose time.

Transmittal

The GC sends the submittal package to the architect or engineer with a transmittal form. This documents what you’re sending, when you sent it, and what action you’re requesting (review, approve, etc.). Keep a copy. Always keep a copy.

In the old days, this meant FedEx-ing rolled-up drawings in a tube. Today it’s usually a PDF uploaded to a project management platform, but the principle is the same. Document what you sent and when you sent it.

Architect Review

The architect or engineer reviews the submittal and returns it with one of several possible stamps:

• Approved or “No Exceptions Taken” means you’re good to go. Proceed with fabrication and installation.
• Approved as Noted means it’s acceptable with minor corrections. Make the noted changes and proceed. You usually don’t need to resubmit.
• Revise and Resubmit means there are significant issues. Fix them and send it back for another review. This adds time to your schedule.
• Rejected means it doesn’t meet the design intent at all. Start over with a new submittal.

Architect review is often the biggest bottleneck in the whole process. Design teams are busy. They’ve got multiple projects. Your submittal might sit in a queue for two or three weeks if you’re not following up.

Approval and Distribution

Once approved, the GC distributes the approved submittal back to the sub and keeps a copy in the project files. The sub can now order materials, begin fabrication, or schedule installation.

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This is also when you update your submittal log. Mark it as approved, note the date, and flag any conditions. If the architect wrote “approved as noted,” make sure the sub actually reads those notes before they order anything.

Creating a Submittal Schedule

If you wait until the last minute to think about submittals, you’re already behind. A submittal schedule should be one of the first things you build after the project kicks off.

Tie It to Procurement

Every submittal connects to a material or piece of equipment that needs to be ordered. Work backwards from when you need that material on-site. If the storefront system has a 12-week lead time and you need it installed in month six, you can figure out exactly when that submittal needs to be approved, which tells you when it needs to be submitted, which tells you when the sub needs to start preparing it.

Lead times are longer now than they were five years ago. Supply chain issues turned “6-8 weeks” into “14-16 weeks” for a lot of products. If you’re not accounting for current lead times in your submittal schedule, you’re planning with bad data.

Link It to the Construction Schedule

Your submittal schedule should live alongside your construction schedule, not in a separate spreadsheet that nobody looks at. When you shift a milestone date, you should immediately see how that affects your submittal deadlines.

This is where a lot of contractors get into trouble. They build a submittal schedule at the start of the project and then never update it. Three months later, they’re scrambling because a critical submittal is overdue and nobody noticed.

Account for Review Time

Most contracts give the architect 10 to 14 business days for review. Some specs allow longer for complex submittals. Build that review time into your schedule, and then add a buffer. Because submittals get rejected. They get lost. Architects go on vacation. Plan for reality, not the best-case scenario.

If you’ve got 200 submittals on a project and each one gets two weeks of review time, you can see how the math gets ugly fast. Stagger your submissions so you don’t flood the architect with 50 submittals in one week and then wonder why nothing comes back on time.

Common Submittal Problems That Delay Projects

After managing submittals across hundreds of projects, the same problems show up again and again. Here are the ones that cause the most damage.

Late Submissions

The sub doesn’t start their submittal until you call and ask where it is. By then, they’re already behind schedule. This is especially common with subs who are juggling multiple projects and don’t treat submittals as a priority until someone yells at them.

The fix is simple but requires follow-through: give subs clear deadlines in writing, tied to the submittal schedule. And follow up before the deadline, not after.

Incomplete Packages

Half the information is missing. The spec calls for five pieces of product data and the sub sends two. Now you’ve got to send it back, wait for corrections, and resubmit. That’s a week gone, at minimum.

The best GCs create a submittal checklist for each specification section so subs know exactly what to include. It takes 30 minutes to build and saves weeks of back-and-forth.

Slow Architect Reviews

You submitted the package on time, but the architect has been sitting on it for three weeks. Meanwhile, your lead time clock isn’t ticking because you can’t order until you get approval.

Stay on top of it. Send a polite follow-up at the two-week mark. Track review durations in your submittal log so you can show exactly how long things have been in review. If it becomes a pattern, bring it up at the OAC meeting with data, not complaints.

Lost in the Shuffle

Someone emailed a submittal. Someone else saved it to a shared drive. A third person has a printed copy with notes on it. Nobody knows which version is current, and the approved copy can’t be found when the sub shows up to install.

This is the most avoidable problem on the list. Keep one centralized location for all submittals with a clear naming convention and version control. A proper document management system eliminates this entirely.

Submitting to the Wrong Person

On larger projects with multiple design consultants, submittals need to go to the right reviewer. Structural submittals go to the structural engineer, not the architect. Electrical submittals go to the electrical engineer. Sending a submittal to the wrong person adds a week of misdirection before it even gets into the right review queue.

Managing Submittals Digitally

If you’re still tracking submittals in Excel and email, you’re working harder than you need to. Digital submittal management won’t write your shop drawings for you, but it will make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

The Submittal Log

Every project needs a submittal log. This is your master record of every submittal on the project: what’s required, what’s been submitted, what’s in review, what’s been approved, and what’s outstanding.

A good submittal log includes:

• Submittal number and description
• Spec section reference
• Responsible subcontractor
• Date submitted
• Date returned
• Status (pending, in review, approved, rejected, resubmit)
• Required-by date
• Notes and conditions

You can build this in a spreadsheet, but spreadsheets don’t send reminders, don’t update automatically, and don’t sync across your team. That’s where project management software earns its keep.

Status Dashboards

When you’ve got 150 submittals on a project, you need a way to see the big picture at a glance. A status dashboard shows you how many submittals are approved, how many are in review, how many are overdue, and which ones are about to become critical path items.

The best dashboards let you filter by sub, by spec section, by status, and by due date. You should be able to walk into an OAC meeting, pull up the dashboard, and show everyone exactly where things stand in under 30 seconds.

Automated Reminders

This is where digital tools really pay off. Instead of manually checking your log every morning and sending emails to subs who are late, your system does it for you. Automated reminders go out when a submittal is due in five days, when it’s overdue, and when an architect review has been pending too long.

You’re not nagging people. The system is. And somehow, people respond better to a system notification than to your fifth email asking for the same shop drawing.

Cloud-Based Access

Your project engineer needs to check a submittal status from the trailer. Your super needs to pull up an approved shop drawing in the field. Your PM needs to review a package from home at 9 PM. Cloud-based submittal tracking means everyone has access to the current version from wherever they are.

No more “I’ll check when I get back to the office.” No more outdated printed copies floating around the job site. The latest approved version is always available, and there’s a clear record of who approved what and when.

Best Practices for Submittal Success

After years of watching submittals go sideways, here are the practices that consistently keep projects on track.

Start early. Begin your submittal schedule during preconstruction, not after you break ground. Identify long-lead items first and work backwards from installation dates. The submittals that take the longest to prepare and have the longest lead times should be at the top of your list.

Hold a submittal kickoff meeting. Get your subs in a room (or on a call) early in the project and walk through the submittal requirements. Clarify who’s responsible for what, set deadlines, and explain your expectations for completeness. Thirty minutes here saves dozens of hours later.

Review before you submit. Actually look at the submittals before you stamp them and send them to the architect. Check that product data matches the specs. Verify that shop drawings coordinate with other trades. A rejected submittal is almost always more expensive than a thorough internal review.

Use consistent naming conventions. Every submittal should have a clear, unique identifier that everyone on the project understands. Something like “05-001-R0” (spec section, submittal number, revision number) works well. When your log has 200 entries, you’ll be glad you did this on day one.

Track everything in one place. One submittal log, one document repository, one source of truth. If your submittal tracking is split between email, a spreadsheet, a shared drive, and someone’s desk drawer, things will get lost. This is exactly what document management tools are designed to solve.

Follow up relentlessly. Don’t wait for the architect to come to you. If a submittal has been in review for more than 10 business days and the spec allows 14, send a heads-up. If it’s past the contractual review period, document that in writing. Following up isn’t rude. It’s your job.

Keep an eye on resubmittals. Every time a submittal gets rejected and resubmitted, you lose at minimum two to three weeks. Track your rejection rate. If a particular sub keeps getting rejected, sit down with them and figure out why before the next submission.

Connect submittals to your schedule. If a submittal delay is going to push back a milestone, everyone needs to know about it now, not at the next progress meeting. Your project scheduling tool should reflect submittal status so you can see impacts in real time.

Want to put this into practice? Book a demo with Projul and see the difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a submittal in construction?

A submittal is a document, sample, or other item that a contractor sends to the architect or engineer for review and approval before using it on a project. Common types include shop drawings, product data, material samples, and mock-ups. The purpose is to confirm that the proposed materials and methods match the design intent of the contract documents.

How long does the submittal review process take?

Most contracts allow the architect 10 to 14 business days for review, though complex submittals may take longer. If a submittal is rejected and needs to be revised and resubmitted, you’ll go through that review window again. On a typical commercial project, a single submittal can take four to eight weeks from preparation to final approval when you factor in contractor review, transmittal, architect review, and potential resubmittals.

What’s the difference between a submittal and an RFI?

A submittal provides information for the design team to review and approve before work begins. It says “here’s what we plan to use or install.” An RFI (Request for Information) asks a question when the contract documents are unclear or conflicting. It says “we need clarification before we can proceed.” Both are essential project communication tools, but they serve different purposes in the construction workflow.

Who is responsible for preparing submittals?

The subcontractor or supplier prepares the submittal, and the general contractor reviews it before sending it to the architect or engineer. The GC is responsible for verifying that the submittal is complete and conforms to the contract documents before transmittal. The architect reviews the submittal for design intent but does not typically check means, methods, or field dimensions.

How can I speed up the submittal process?

Start your submittal schedule during preconstruction and identify long-lead items first. Submit complete packages the first time to avoid rejections. Follow up with the design team before review periods expire. Use digital tracking tools with automated reminders so nothing sits forgotten in a queue. And hold your subs accountable to deadlines by communicating clear expectations from day one. You might also want to look at Projul’s pricing to see how the right project management software can help you track every submittal in one place.