How Does an Architect Write an ASI?

An architect's supplemental instruction (ASI) is the written order the architect uses during construction to clarify the documents or make a minor change in the work. Under the AIA general conditions, A201–2017, changes happen three ways: a change order, a construction change directive, or "an order for a minor change in the Work", which "may be issued by the Architect alone" (§7.1.2).

The limit is in §7.4: minor changes must be "consistent with the intent of the Contract Documents and do not involve an adjustment in the Contract Sum or an extension of the Contract Time." The AIA's form for this order is G710, and its instructions say the same: G710 "should not be used to change the contract sum or contract time." Your contract may use different names (bulletin, field order, supplemental instruction) and different rules, so read yours.

An ASI often answers an RFI: A201 §4.2.14 says the architect will issue supplemental drawings and specifications in response to RFIs where appropriate. For the line between the two documents, see ASI vs RFI.

1. A number in one sequence for the job (ASI-01, ASI-02…), never reused, and the date issued.
2. A short subject: the element and the change, such as "Relocate storefront door 3 ft north".
3. The reason: the RFI it answers, the owner's request, a code reviewer's comment or a coordination error.
4. The instruction itself, in a few sentences the superintendent can build from.
5. Every revised sheet and spec section, each sheet carrying its revision mark and the ASI number in its revision block.
6. Attachments: revised sheets, sketches or spec pages. G710's instructions say attached sheets should be "clearly identified, numbered and dated".
7. A sentence that the instruction is not intended to change the contract sum or time, and that the contractor must say so before proceeding if it believes otherwise.

Send it to the contractor through the contract's channel. Under A201 §4.2.4, communications with subcontractors go through the contractor, so the GC distributes the ASI to the trades it touches and replaces the superseded sheets in the field set.

A fictional job, the Wren Creek Branch Library. The contractor's RFI 014 points out that the book-drop opening on A-201 sits behind a downspout on the civil plan. The architect moves the opening one bay and issues an ASI.

Notice what it does: it names the RFI it answers, lists every sheet that changed, and says the change is free. If the masonry is already laid in bay 3, the contractor answers that the move costs money, and the architect turns it into a proposal request instead.

A201 §7.4 is strict both ways. If the contractor believes the change affects the sum or time, it "shall notify the Architect and shall not proceed"; if it does the work without that notice, it "waives any adjustment". Public owners build the same branch into their procedures: in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities ASI process, an ASI with a cost impact goes back to its initiator, who picks a construction change directive, a proposal request or neither.

Connecticut's construction administration manual adds the owner's side: "no changes will be made without appropriate authorization in writing." Price the follow-on with the change-order method.

• Using an ASI to add scope the owner wants, because it is faster than a change order. If it costs money, it isn't minor.
• Listing "see attached" instead of every revised sheet, so the field keeps building from a superseded one.
• Reusing a number, or numbering ASIs per discipline, so the job has two ASI-03s.
• Leaving out the reason, so nobody can trace the change back to the RFI or decision behind it.
• Issuing revised sheets without revision marks, so nobody can see what moved.

In Conflo's Drawings, the architect or the GC issues an ASI as a named set (ASI-03) with an issue date and a note on what changed. Each sheet number that already exists moves to its next revision and the old revision is kept, marked superseded, so the field sees the current set by default. Filter by set to see exactly which sheets one ASI contained, and each sheet shows the RFIs that reference it.

Conflo has no separate ASI form: the instruction lives in the set's note and the revised sheets. If the contractor says an ASI costs money or time, that goes through a change order, which can be started from the RFI behind it.

An ASI is a numbered, written order for a minor change or clarification that changes neither price nor time. Name the reason and every revised sheet, attach the sheets, and say plainly that no cost or time is intended.

If the contractor answers that it does cost money or time, stop and run it as a change. To issue ASIs and answer RFIs in the same place as the GC, join the Conflo waitlist.

Join the waitlist

1. Summary: A201–2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 17, 2026.
2. Instructions: G710–2017, Architect's Supplemental Instructions — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 16, 2026.
3. Architect's Supplemental Instructions (ASI2) process — Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, System Office. Read October 16, 2026.
4. 0600 Construction Administrator's Procedure Manual — State of Connecticut Department of Administrative Services. Read October 16, 2026.