Short answer: every question your crew cannot settle on site needs an owner, a date the answer is needed by, and a link to the task that waits on it. Put it on the plan as its own task and you see a late decision weeks before it stops a crew.
Why do RFIs and client decisions hold up the job?
An RFI, or request for information, is a written question to the designer, engineer or client when the drawings or the brief do not settle something. Where does the outdoor unit sit now the plant area moved? Which tile did the client pick? On a small job these questions live in a WhatsApp thread or a phone call, which is exactly why they get lost.
The numbers show how long the wait can be. In the largest published RFI study, covering more than a million RFIs on 1,362 projects, the median reply took 9.7 days (Bluebeam summary of the Navigant Construction Forum study). Procore's own benchmark puts the average time to a first response at 7.3 calendar days (Procore). And in PlanRadar's 2026 survey of 1,728 project leads across 14 countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, nearly three in four said approvals often arrive after the agreed time, and one in four said late approvals typically add more than a month to the programme (PlanRadar).
Ten days is fine for a question raised a month ahead. It is a stopped crew for one raised the day before.
What is a decision date?
A decision date is the last day an answer can arrive without moving the work after it. Work it out backwards from the site task:
- Take the start date of the task that needs the answer.
- Subtract the lead time for anything the answer triggers, such as ordering the chosen fixture or revising a drawing.
- Subtract a few days of buffer for the reply itself.
If tiling starts on the 20th and the tile takes ten days to arrive, the client's choice is due by about the 7th, not the 19th. Telling the client that date early is the cheapest fix there is.
Which questions belong on the plan?
Not every query. Only the ones a site task cannot start without. On most small jobs that is a short list:
| Question or decision | Who answers | Site task it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Final equipment or unit location | Designer or client | Set out and first fix |
| Finish, colour or fixture choice | Client | Ordering and install |
| Structural or roof load confirmation | Engineer | Mounting and lifting |
| Clash between two trades' drawings | Designer | Both trades' work in that area |
| Access, shutdown or working hours | Building manager | Any work in occupied space |
If the answer changes the scope, it is no longer just a question. Treat it as a change and update the plan the same day, as our change order guide explains.
How do you run RFIs and decisions week to week?
- Log the question the day it comes up. One line with the question, who must answer and the date needed. Add a photo or drawing reference.
- Give it one owner on your side. Someone has to chase it. If it belongs to "the office", nobody chases it.
- Link it to the work that waits. When the answer is late, the linked site task shows the knock on effect straight away. Our office and field tasks guide shows how to set those links.
- Review open questions first in the weekly meeting. Sort them by decision date, and start with any on the critical path. Our 3-week lookahead guide covers that meeting.
- Record the answer and the date it arrived. A dated record beats anyone's memory of a phone call.
A small example: a solar install on a warehouse roof. The racking order needs two weeks and mounting starts on day 26, so the engineer's roof load confirmation is due by day 10. On day 8 the task is still open and marked high priority, so the project manager calls the engineer that morning instead of finding out on day 25.
Where Zace fits
Zace is a project and task tracker for construction, AC and solar jobs and the office work around them. You can add each open question or client decision as a task on the Gantt chart, assign it to the person who chases it with a priority, link it to the site task that waits on it, and mark key decision dates as milestones. When a reply slips, move the task on the timeline and everyone sees the new date. It runs on the web, Android and iOS, so a question raised on the roof reaches the plan the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Do small contractors really need formal RFIs?
Not a heavy form. Every open question just needs an owner, a date it is needed by and the task it holds up.
How fast should an RFI be answered?
Your contract or agreement should set it. Many contracts allow around ten working days, so raise questions well before that window ends, and give questions on the longest chain an earlier date.
What if the client keeps missing decision dates?
Show them the linked task and the date it moves to. Seeing handover move usually works better than another reminder.
Sources (all linked inline): Navigant Construction Forum RFI study via Bluebeam; Procore Construction Benchmarks; PlanRadar Construction Survey Report 2026.