Free template
An RFI log that holds up.
Sixteen columns, five rules, one spreadsheet your whole team can keep. Built by the people who make RFI software, given away because the log matters more than the tool.
- Sixteen columns, each one earning its place
- Overdue turns red by itself. No formulas to maintain
- The five rules that keep a log alive, in the file
- Excel and Google Sheets. No email, no signup
| No. | Subject | Status | Ball in court | Due | Days open | Sheet | Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Beam depth at grid C4 conflicts with duct main | Answered | GC to close | 07-13 | 4 | S-201 | 2 |
| 002 | Door 114A hardware set not in spec 08 71 00 | Open | Architect | 07-28 | 17 | A-601 | 1 |
| 003 | Voided. Duplicate of 002 | Void | A-601 | 1 | |||
| 004 | Storefront head detail missing at column line 1 | Open | R. Chen, Struct. | 08-11 | 3 | A-501 | 0 |
Eight of sixteen columns shown. Row 002 is past due with no answer, so it says so.
Why templates fail
Most RFI logs die in week three.
The job starts clean. Somebody sets up a spreadsheet, the first ten questions go in, and everyone feels organized. Then the architect answers question four inside an email thread. Question seven gets settled on a phone call. By week three the log says one thing, the inbox says another, and nobody trusts either. Eight months later a change order fight starts, and the log that was supposed to protect you is evidence that you stopped keeping it.
A log only counts if it is kept. This one is built to be keepable.
The columns
Sixteen columns. Every one earns its place.
Too few and the log answers nothing. Too many and nobody fills it in. These are the ones a mediator, an architect, or your own PM will actually ask for.
Number once, never reuse. Sheet and Rev pin the question to the exact drawing it was asked against, because answers age with revisions.
Ball in court is the most-read column in any log: who owes the next move, by name. Status stays coarse on purpose. Draft, Open, Answered, Closed, Void.
Issued is the day it left your desk. Due is the day an answer is owed, and your contract probably sets it. Days open counts itself until the answer lands.
Yes, No, or TBD. Flag it the day you ask, estimate later. The flag is what your PM scans on Monday.
Their words, pasted whole. A paraphrase is your claim. A quote is their answer.
Keeping it
Five rules keep it alive.
The template is the easy part. These are the habits that decide whether the log is worth anything in month eight.
A dead RFI gets voided, and its row stays. Renumbering breaks every reference anyone has already made to the log.
The log's job is to say whose court each question sits in and since when. An undated handoff is a rumor.
Paste what they wrote, word for word. A paraphrase is your claim. A quote is their answer.
Wrong entry? Add a correcting row and void the old one. A log with eraser marks loses the argument it exists to win.
The moment answers live in two places, you are back to the inbox.
In the download
One file, ready to keep.
Sixteen columns, 200 pre-formatted rows, frozen header, filters on. Status, priority, and impact dropdowns keep it filterable.
A row past its due date with no answer turns red on its own. Nothing to maintain.
The five rules and a plain note on every column, inside the file, so the log explains itself to the next person who inherits it.
Worked examples, marked as samples. Delete them and go.
The other way
Oriel keeps this log itself.
This template is the manual version of what Oriel does automatically: every question pinned to the exact spot on the drawing, answered through a link with no account, filed in a record that cannot be quietly edited. If the spreadsheet is enough, keep it. It is yours. When it stops being enough, you know where we are.