Glossary
Submittal
Documentation a contractor submits for approval — shop drawings, product data, or samples — confirming materials and methods meet the specs before installation.
A submittal is the package a contractor sends to the design team for review and approval before ordering or installing materials. Common types include shop drawings, product data sheets, material samples, and method statements.
The purpose is to confirm that what’s actually going to be built matches what the specifications require — catching mismatches on paper rather than on site, where they’re far more expensive to fix.
Submittals are a classic constraint on the look-ahead schedule: a task can’t start until its submittals are approved and the materials are ordered with enough lead time. Tracking submittal status against upcoming work is essential to avoid the “crew’s ready, material isn’t” trap.
Because an approved submittal is effectively a decision that gates work, keeping it linked to the tasks it unblocks keeps your plan honest.