A submittal log has a job an RFI log does not. It has to carry “approved as noted,” and it has to show whether those notes ever reached the installer. A shop drawing that reaches the field before it is approved is a separate risk on top of that. This template is built around both problems.

Treat it as a practical starting point, not an industry standard. The column-by-column explanation is in “The Spreadsheet Logs That Replace a Software Module.” The working table is in templates/H7-02-submittal-log-template.md.

What is in the template

Each row is one submittal, or one revision of a submittal if you resubmit. The columns are:

Number; spec section; description; type (shop drawing, product data, or sample); date submitted; date returned; status (approved, approved as noted, revise and resubmit, rejected); notes that must reach the field; field received, by whom, and date; link or path to the returned PDF.

Do not invent a fifth status that means “sort of.” If it came back approved as noted, say so, and put the notes in the notes column, even if it is just “see clouds on sheet 3, move the cleanout.” If that cell is empty on an AAN, you are not done.

File the returned copy, not just the one you sent. The link column should point at the stamped or reviewed PDF, named on the way into 06_Submittals.

The template includes a few example rows, clearly marked as examples, including one “approved as noted” that is not finished until the field has received the notes. Those examples are not from a named client.

How to run it each week

  1. Keep one log for the job, in 06_Submittals, shared with the people who need it.
  2. Add a row when the submittal goes out. If it comes back “revise and resubmit,” add the revision on the same row or a clearly numbered new row, but do not lose the history.
  3. When it returns, enter the date, the status, and any notes the installer must see.
  4. If the status is approved as noted, or if a shop drawing was approved with markups, it is not done until “field received” has a name and a date.
  5. Twice a week, filter to items still in review, items that are late, and items that are approved as noted but not yet received in the field.
  6. Do not let a shop drawing be used for fabrication or installation while the status is still blank, rejected, or revise-and-resubmit.

An AI tool should not “approve” a submittal or fill the status column. A person reads the returned copy and enters the status. See “Where AI Should Not Be Trusted.”

If you want the log set up or kept for you

Copy the template into the next job file, or have me build it into a full job file setup and, if you want, keep it current on a retainer. Closeout support is available, too.

If you want me to take a look, bring a recent submittal that came back approved as noted, and show me where your drawings live. The files stay yours.

If you want help, not just a checklist

Some jobs run fine on a clean file and a superintendent who gives the log fifteen minutes twice a week. Others do not: revisions are moving fast, closeout is already behind, or the field simply has no hours left for paperwork.

That is where I come in. I set up the job file, run the logs on a retainer, or prepare closeout before the scramble starts. Your files stay yours, and there is no software contract to sign.

Email travis@builtonrecord.com Get the free Job File Kit