RFIs and tasks

An unanswered RFI is a claim in waiting

The problem is never raising the question. It is noticing three weeks later that nobody replied, by which time the delay has already happened and somebody is going to pay for it.

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The question, the answer, and the date of each

An RFI is worth exactly as much as the record of when it was asked and when it was answered. Those two dates are what turn a delay into an entitlement, or fail to.

QScope keeps the question, the answer and both dates on one record, and counts the days it has been open.

Question, who it was raised with, and the date raised
Answer and the date it was given
Days outstanding counted from today, not from memory
Guests can raise and answer where you allow it

RFIs

Outstanding on this project

QuestionRaisedStatus

Confirm lintel spec over new opening4 AugOpen 16 d

Drainage invert level at MH311 AugOpen 9 d

Finish to exposed soffit2 AugAnswered

Open on this project2

Counted where you will see it

A list of open items on a report nobody opens is not a reminder. QScope puts the count on the sidebar of the project, next to the tab, so the number in front of you is the number outstanding.

Tasks work the same way: an owner, a due date and a status, counted in the same place.

Open RFI and open task counts shown in the project sidebar
Tasks carry an owner and a due date
Closed items stay on the record rather than disappearing
Everything recorded in the audit trail with who and when

Tasks

Open actions

TaskOwnerDue

Measure remeasured drainage runsAdrian22 Aug

Agree star rate for VO-04M. LewisToday

Chase making good certificateAdrian7 Sep

Open tasks3

When the answer is an instruction

An RFI asks a question. The answer sometimes changes the works, and at that point it stops being information and becomes an instruction. The register keeps the two apart, so a reply that carried a cost effect is not lost among the ones that did not.

QScope holds the instruction with its own number, date and author, and flags any that changed the cost of the works with no variation raised against them.

Architect’s instruction, CA instruction, CVI and site instruction
Instructions with a cost effect and no variation, shown in red
Verbal instructions awaiting written confirmation, shown in amber
Linked to the variation it authorised, both ways

Instructions

Unconfirmed

No variation

AI-014 · Revised lintel specVariation VO-06

AI-015 · Additional drainageNo variation raised

CVI-003 · Verbal, 8 AugAwaiting confirmation

With a cost effect16 of 21

An instruction that answers an RFI and changes the cost of the works needs a variation against it, or it will not reach the final account.

When a question becomes a change

Most RFIs close with an answer and cost nothing. Some reveal that the works have to change, and the moment an instruction confirms it, the question becomes a variation with its own basis of valuation.

Keeping RFIs and variations as separate records is deliberate. A question is not a change until somebody instructs it, and pretending otherwise fills the account with variations nobody priced.

Basis of valuation from the RICS hierarchy, contract rates through to quotation
Contract clause recorded, so the valuation route is on file
Extension of time in days and whether loss and expense applies
Approved variations pull into a payment certificate as normal lines

Variations

VO-06 from RFI-011

Basis of valuationContract rates

Contract clauseJCT 5.6.1

Raised fromRFI-011 lintel spec

Extension of time2 days

Value£1,240.00

RFI-011 asked which lintel to use over a new opening. The answer changed the works, so it was instructed and raised as VO-06 with its own valuation basis.

The question sits with the rest of the record

An RFI is worth what the surrounding file can prove. The drawing it referred to, the photograph taken the day it was raised and the correspondence that followed all belong with the question, not scattered across a shared drive.

QScope keeps the RFI beside the drawings, photographs and files for the same project, so when the answer matters two years later the whole record is in one place.

Drawings versioned as they are superseded
Photographs tied to the project and the date they were taken
Correspondence filed against the job, not a mailbox
Everything exportable, so leaving QScope never means losing the record

Files and plans

Record behind RFI-011

DocumentStatus

Drawing A-102 rev C, gable elevationCurrent

Drawing A-102 rev BSuperseded

Site photographs, week 1612 files

Correspondence, RFI-011 replyFiled

Questions

What surveyors ask before they start

Is this a replacement for a site RFI system?

No. If your main contractor runs RFIs through a dedicated site platform, keep using it. This exists so the commercial record of a question that affected time or cost sits beside the valuations, rather than in a system you lose access to at the end of the job.

Can a subcontractor raise an RFI?

Yes, with comment level access. Their entry is recorded against them in the audit trail, so the record of who asked and when survives.

Do RFIs link to variations?

Not automatically. An RFI that turns into an instruction becomes a variation, and you record it as one with its own valuation basis. Keeping them separate is deliberate: a question is not a change until somebody instructs it.

What happens to open items when a job finishes?

They stay on the record. Closed and open alike, with their dates, exportable with the rest of the project.

The rest of the commercial picture

VariationsWhat happens when a question becomes an instruction. ProgrammeWhere delay becomes visible. Audit trailWho asked, who answered, and when.

Try it on your next valuation

Not your whole portfolio. One live job, one certificate. If it does not save you time the first time you use it, walk away and take your data with you.

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