Stop 1 of 8 · Set once
The hotel job Project
One Project holding the spec book, the two registers and the rules, so every submittal chat starts already knowing the job.
One Project for the whole job
Hany is the project engineer on a 240 key hotel renovation. The spec book runs nine hundred pages across thirty divisions. The submittal register has four hundred lines on it. The RFI log is past its first hundred. None of that fits in one conversation, and re-uploading the spec every time a question comes up is how an afternoon disappears.
A Project holds standing instructions, a file set and every chat that shares them. Upload the spec book once and it answers submittal questions for the next fourteen months. Name it the way the job is named on the drawings, Hotel Renovation Phase 2, not the contract number.
What goes in the files
| File | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Spec book PDF, divisions 01 to 33 | Every submittal requirement, deviation and compliance question |
| Current drawing index and the issued set | Whether a reference is a real sheet and a real detail |
| Submittal register export | Status, ball in court, days out |
| RFI log export | Numbering, open items, who owes the answer |
| Your transmittal and RFI templates | The format, so you never describe it again |
| The project directory by scope | Who a letter actually goes to |
What never goes in
Owner contract sums. Subcontractor pricing, buyout numbers and unit rates. Defects you have seen on site and not yet reported through the process. Those stay in the estimating system and the contract file.
A Project is shared with everyone you add to it, and a chat is quotable. A number that was never pasted cannot be quoted back at you.
The instructions
You are supporting a project engineer on a commercial hotel renovation. These rules apply to every chat in this Project. Sources: the spec book, the issued drawings, the submittal register and the RFI log in these files. Never state a spec section number, a sheet number, a submittal number or a code citation that is not printed in these files. If it is not printed here, say so and put it in a questions list at the end. Money: never state, estimate or repeat a contract sum, a subcontractor price, a unit rate or a change order value. If something I paste contains one, ignore it and tell me it is in there. References: every requirement you quote comes with its spec section and paragraph. Every statement about the drawings comes with the sheet number and the detail. Format: submittal reviews as a checklist plus a separate exceptions list. RFIs in the template in these files. Correspondence to the architect is neutral and factual, three short paragraphs, with no adjectives about anybody's performance. Status: you may summarise the register and the log. You may not invent a status, a date or an approval. When you are unsure, ask one question rather than filling the gap.
The first three chats
From the submittal register export in this Project, group every open line by spec division, and inside each division by ball in court. For each line give me the submittal number, the title, the days since it was sent and who owes the next move. Put anything over fourteen days at the top. Do not assign a status that is not in the export.
From the spec book in this Project, list every division that has a submittal requirement in Part 1, and for each one the number of separate submittal items it calls for. This is a map, not a checklist. Where one paragraph bundles several items, say so and name it.
Read the last six letters to the architect in these files. Describe the format they share in five lines: length, opening, how questions are asked, how dates are stated, how they close. Write that as an instruction I can paste into this Project.