Submittals, RFIs, and codes

Drawing reviews check a set against itself. Submittals and RFIs check project documents against each other and against what someone submitted or asked. Hallucination does the most damage in all of them, so each is built on retrieval and citation: a finding that cannot point at the page it came from is not one to act on.

Submittal review​

A submittal review cross-references a submittal against the governing documents and returns an annotated submittal and a report with an approval recommendation. From Automated Submittal Review.

Watch a submittal reviewed against the specifications and drawings. More on the Recordings page.

Attach the submittal and at least one governing document, such as the spec section, the drawings, or both. Without a governing document there is nothing to review against, and the agent is designed to say so rather than invent requirements.

The report has a fixed structure so reviews compare across people and projects:

1. Approval determination: Approved / No Exceptions Taken, Approved as Noted, Revise and Resubmit, Rejected, or Reviewed for Record Only
2. Submittal identification: what was submitted and what it was checked against
3. Findings: each cited to the submittal page and the spec paragraph or sheet
4. Comment for the review stamp: written to paste into the Bluebeam stamp
5. Close: any limits from missing governing documents, and how to export the annotated submittal

The determination is a recommendation. Read the findings, agree or disagree, and apply your own stamp.

The Submittal Review starter workflow under Workflows → Nomic packages this with a file-request form, so the tenth submittal is reviewed the same way as the first. See Building workflows.

RFI response​

An RFI usually turns on two documents that disagree, or one that is silent. The work is finding every spec section and sheet that touches the question, then saying which governs. Answering it is a search-and-compare job, and it suits the agent.

Paste the RFI as written. Put the drawings and specs on the project's Files page, or attach them to the session, so the answer can cite them.

RFI 112 from the contractor: "Section 09 65 19 specifies 1/8" VCT, but the finish schedule shows LVT in Multipurpose 120. Which governs, and what moisture testing is required on the new slab?" Find the spec sections and drawing references I need to answer it, then draft the response with a citation for each statement.

The RFI Response starter workflow drafts a response from the RFI text you paste in chat, with supporting drawings or specs attached for citations. The response is a draft. The person answering the RFI confirms what the documents say and owns the answer.

The same search runs the other direction. RFI Anticipator reviews drawings, and specifications when you have them, for missing, ambiguous, or conflicting information that would likely become RFIs during construction. A design team runs it before issue. A contractor runs it on a bid set or an issued-for-construction set. Both starter workflows are under Workflows → Nomic.

Code compliance​

Some questions turn on the adopted building code, not on what the documents say to each other. For those, Nomic queries more than 380 building codes and standards and answers with retrieved text. From Code Compliance, two setup steps:

1. Turn on Codes Search under Integrations/Tools on the input bar.
2. Set a default jurisdiction, as specific as the project allows. City or county beats state, which beats the model code, because amendments live locally.

Then ask as you would ask a code consultant, with the sheet or screenshot attached.

Using the adopted code for this project's jurisdiction, check the corridor on A-201 (attached) for egress width and door swing. Cite the code section for each requirement and tell me what on the sheet establishes the occupant load you used.

The answer is built from retrieved excerpts. The agent is designed never to state a clearance, slope, height, count, or section number from memory. Every requirement traces to a code citation you can open. If a number has no citation, ask for the excerpt.

A code review of a full set is a drawing review with code criteria. Issue classes are Egress, Stairs, Accessibility, Fire and life safety, and Occupancy and construction type. Where the design information is incomplete, findings come back as potential issues.

Common failure: no governing document​

The mistake is attaching only the submittal or pasting only the RFI. The agent has nothing to check against, so it either declines to make a determination or answers from general practice instead of your spec. Attach the spec section. If it is already in the project files, name it in the prompt.

The code equivalent is asking with no jurisdiction set. The answer comes from the model code, which may differ from what the building official enforces.

Next: what to do with findings.

Next: Verifying results