The Role of Submittals in Construction A Critical Review and the Rise of Construction Submittals Software

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The importance of Submittals in Construction

Abstract:

Submittals are important deliverables in the construction sector, which ensure adherence to design specs and minimal errors. However, legacy submittal workflows are gripped in delays, paperwork, and miscommunication. The use of construction submittal software has the capability to transform this process, making communication seamless, enhance collaboration, and reduce project risks. This article highlights the importance of construction submittals to evaluate obstacles delivered by traditional workflows, and explores the potential of

construction submittals software with a focus on a leading provider, iFieldSmart.ai.

Introduction:

Construction projects are complex and require dependence on stakeholder coordination like architects, engineers, contractors, and suppliers. Submittals work as important communication tools to ensure construction equipment, materials, and processes used within a project align with design intent and project specs. Traditionally, submittals have been managed through cumbersome manual processes that involve physical documents, review cycles, and often silo communication channels. However, the presence of construction submittals are reshaping the construction landscape with a digital solution to enhance the submittal process.

The Significance of Submittals in Construction:

Submittals in Construction encompass a large dataset that includes shop drawings, samples, mockups, test results, product data, maintenance manuals, and O & M manuals. These deliverables are submitted by a contractor and supplier to architects and engineers for final review and approval. Primary functions of submittals include the following:

• Quality Assurance: Verify that proposed equipment and materials meet required quality standards. It includes compliance with industry standards, regulations, and codes.

• Design verification: Ensure the contractor’s interpretation of the design documents is precise and aligns with proposed installation and architects vision. This leads to lower rework in the project.

• Coordination and compatibility: Submittals ensure multiple project components like MEP systems are compatible and harmonious. 

• Risk mitigation: Identify and resolve conflicts in the preconstruction stage to lower rework, delays, and disputes.

• Communication and collaboration: Foster clear communication between project stakeholders to drive collaboration. This serves as an open channel for project success.

Challenges of Traditional Submittal Processes:

While submittals are important, legacy strategies of managing them are ridden by obstacles.

• Manual paperwork: The volume of paper documents involved in the submittal process is overwhelming and leads to issues in tracking, organizing, and retrieving data. This leads to missed schedules and miscommunication.

• Bottlenecks and delays: Manual reviews and approvals are time-draining and lead to issues in project schedules. This causes issues in fast-track construction.

• Communication silos: Lack of clarity and miscommunication between participant’s leads to errors and rework. This is elevated when multiple stakeholders are involved.

• Version control problems: Keeping track of multiple submittal version is a logistical horror that increases the risk of outdated data. This leads to conflicts and mistakes.

• Limited access: Physical submittal documents are not accessible to every stakeholder, especially those working in remote locations or on-site. This causes challenges within collaboration and decision-making.

The Rise of Construction Submittals Software:

Construction submittals software also called as submittal software navigates these challenges through digitization and automation of the complete submittal workflow. These platforms serve as centralized repositories for submittal documents, seamless reviews, and approval workflows, and foster real-time communication between project teams. Key advantages of construction submittals are: 

• Enhanced efficiency: Automating routine tasks like document distribution, reminders, and notifications reduce manual interference and expedite the review process. This helps project teams focus on critical activities.

• Better collaboration: Real-time communication tools like annotations, comments, and markups provide streamlined communication between participants to foster quick issue resolution and decision-making. This helps with a collaborative work landscape.

• Lower risk: Version control capabilities ensure that participant is working with updated documents, reducing the risk of rework and errors. This leads to an accurate and efficient construction workflow.

• Cost savings: Reducing delays, rework, and ambiguities, construction submittals software contributes to cost savings for the entire project lifecycle. This is a major benefit in the competitive market.

• Data analytics: Multiple platforms provide reporting and analytics features that provide valuable insights into the submittal process like bottlenecks, cycle times, and approval rates. This data is used to enhance the process and flag improvement areas.

• Mobile access: Cloud-based submittal software helps stakeholder’s access documents and collaborate from remote locations using mobile devices. This improves responsiveness and productivity.

iFieldSmart.ai: A Leading Provider of Submittal Software:

In the ecosystem of submittals software, iFieldSmart.ai is a leading provider of submittals software driven by AI and offers a comprehensive platform that helps the needs of the construction sector. The submittal software is known for its intuitive interface driven by AI. Its seamless integration with various construction management tools helps construction professionals connect submittals processes and enable higher efficiency.

iFieldSmart.ai is committed to a customer-driven approach and committed to innovation that has earned it a reputation for field excellence. The platform provide capabilities like customized workflows, real-time collaboration, version control, and detailed reporting driven by Artificial Intelligence optimizes the submittals process from beginning to end.   

Conclusion:

Submittals are an important component of construction project management as it plays an important role for quality assurance, design verification, risk mitigation, and collaboration. Moreover, legacy techniques of managing submittals are ridden with challenges and inefficiencies. The introduction of construction submittal management within iFieldSmart.ai showcases an important shift in submittal management.

Digitizing, automating, and making the process seamless helps construction professionals improve efficiency, collaboration, and project wins. As the construction industry continues to adopt digital transformation, construction submittals software is an integral tool in the construction toolkit, enabling higher productivity, precision, and profitability.