How Should an Architect Respond to an RFI?

Under the AIA's general conditions, A201–2017 §4.2.14, "the Architect will review and respond to requests for information about the Contract Documents". The response is "in writing within any time limits agreed upon or otherwise with reasonable promptness", and "if appropriate, the Architect will prepare and issue supplemental Drawings and Specifications in response". The contractor sends an RFI when it finds an error, inconsistency or omission (§3.2.2), "in such form as the Architect may require", so the architect can set the form.

Answers are interpretations, and §4.2.12 sets their standard: consistent with the intent of the documents and "reasonably inferable" from them, in writing or drawings, without partiality to the owner or the contractor. Your owner-architect agreement may set a response time or a fee for excess RFIs; read it with the general conditions.

1. Read the question with the cited sheets, details and spec sections open. Check the contractor's proposed solution first: often the fastest answer is yes.
2. Check whether the documents already answer it. If they do, say where (sheet, detail, paragraph) and close it.
3. Route it to the consultant whose sheets it concerns, with the date you need their answer, early enough to meet the RFI's needed-by date.
4. Answer the question that was asked, once, in a sentence or two the field can build from. Cite what you rely on.
5. If the answer needs a drawing, attach a sketch or issue a revised sheet or supplemental instruction, and name it in the answer.
6. If the answer changes the work, say so in the answer, so cost and time are dealt with now and not argued about later.
7. Return it through the contract's chain, usually to the GC, and log the date.

If the question isn't clear, ask rather than guess. The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering's RFI procedure tells the reviewer to contact the contractor "for clarification" or ask it "to resubmit a revised RFI", and when an RFI "will lead to a change order", to note on the RFI "that a change order will be forthcoming".

Three things weaken answers on most jobs. "Coordinate in field" hands a design decision back to the people who asked for one. "See specs" without a paragraph number sends someone to look again. And answering a submittal or a means-and-methods question as an RFI puts a decision in the wrong record: see RFI vs submittal.

An RFI answer interprets the documents; it doesn't change the contract by itself. The New Jersey DOT's RFI form says so on its face: the response "does not entitle the Contractor to any additional Time or increase in Price" and is "only a technical response". Under A201–2017, a contractor that believes an answer adds cost or time makes a claim under Article 15 (§3.2.4), and a change in the work is made by change order or construction change directive, which the architect prepares (§4.2.8).

So say what you know. If the answer adds work, write "this changes the work; a change will follow" rather than leaving the contractor to argue it later. If it doesn't, say "no change to the contract sum or time is intended". Some owners charge for design checks of contractor proposals: Louisiana DOTD's instruction sheet warns that modifications needing detail checks "may result in a cost to the Contractor". When the answer does change the work, the GC prices it as a change order.

On a made-up job, the Alder Street Medical Office, the GC sent RFI 007 on March 3: floor drain FD-3 lands on the footing at grid B/2 (P-101 against detail 3/S-501), and the plumber proposes moving it 18 inches east. The answer is needed by March 10 for the underground inspection on March 12. The RFI itself is written up in our how-to.

The answer is one sentence the plumber can lay out from, the engineers' checks are on the record, and the cost question is answered rather than left open. If the structural engineer had found the new location clashing with a grade beam, the right answer would have been a sketch and a note that the change may affect cost.

In Conflo's RFI tool, the RFIs waiting on you are on their own tab. Each one shows the question, the location, drawing and spec section it is about, whether the asker marked a cost or schedule impact, the due date and the attached files. You write your answer on the RFI, and comments keep the back-and-forth on the record instead of in email.

When the answers are in, the GC's RFI manager closes it and marks the official answer, or reopens it for another round. Conflo doesn't decide whether your answer changes the contract: added cost or time goes through a change order.

Answer the question that was asked, in writing, from the documents, citing the sheet and paragraph. Issue a sketch or revised sheet when words won't do, and say plainly whether the answer changes the work.

Return it before the needed-by date, through the contract's chain, and keep every answer where the whole team can find it.

Join the Conflo waitlist

1. Summary: A201–2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 17, 2026.
2. Project Delivery Manual, 16.2 Request for Information — City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering. Read October 16, 2026.
3. Request for Information, form DC-162 — New Jersey Department of Transportation. Read October 16, 2026.
4. RFI-Proposals Instruction Sheet — Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Read October 16, 2026.