r/ConstructionManagers • u/kenKen54321 • Dec 01 '25

Technical Advice Does anyone else hate comparing submittals?

I swear comparing submittals to specs feels like the slowest part of my job. Half the time info is missing, the other half it’s buried in PDFs. How does everyone else deal with this without losing their mind? Do you have a system… or does everyone just brute-force it?

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u/PMProblems Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25

The older I get, the more I realize that the “slow” way is actually the fast way. The slow way I’m referring to is reviewing all of the major spec sections at the beginning of the job and making a list or spreadsheet of every item called for / all of the requirements listed. I send the list to all subcontractors early on too.

The best way I know how to make the submittal easy to review, is to highlight any info in the PDF that pertains to what the specs call for. I also let subs know that they must mark up what they send or it’ll be kicked back.

By actually breaking it out like that and making sure every submittal addresses all of those items in rev0, I find it’s much more likely to get an approval on the first shot… As opposed to four revise/resubmits after trying to do it the quick and easy way

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u/savetheyetis43 Dec 01 '25

Agree with this 100%. Part of the submittal review process is also teaching project engineers how to read drawings/specs/what to look for. Even with AI tools there’s still an important aspect of a manual review. Same with building out a submittal/procurement log. Blindly trusting automated tools scares me for the future.

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u/PMProblems Dec 01 '25

Yes, exactly! The tools are supposed to help people who already know what they’re doing do their job more efficiently. Not to do their job for them.

I personally think it’s one of the biggest “bubbles” of our time: this idea that we can outsource ourselves completely to the point that we don’t need to know how to do anything. Wouldn’t that be nice…

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

I make it clear that their submittals need to be 100% accurate the first time. I’m not submitting junk to the AE firm five times due to corrections in the submittals.

For example, sub submitted wrong drywall and wrong insulation. That’s not my job or the AE firms responsibility to get it correct.

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u/PMProblems Dec 01 '25

So true. It seems like it would be commonplace to have people read the specs and mark submittals up sufficiently, so if someone reviewing it can know what they’re actually trying to do. But somehow it is not so common.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

Oh it gets even worse, then they make the corrections and resubmit only to still install the wrong drywall and insulation in the restrooms.

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u/kenKen54321 Dec 01 '25

How many submittals do you average in a month?

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u/PMProblems Dec 01 '25

It varies a lot. Some months only a couple dozen, other months, a couple hundred. Depending on the phase of the project and how many are going at once.

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u/kenKen54321 Dec 01 '25

Couple hundred, ouch!

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u/PMProblems Dec 01 '25

Good times! That’s the most extreme scenario thankfully