Why Submittals Get Rejected and How to Avoid Revise and Resubmit Loops

A Revise and Resubmit action adds at least two to four weeks to a submittal cycle. On a project with a tight procurement schedule, that delay can push material delivery past a critical installation window and compress the schedule for every trade that follows. Understanding what a submittal is can also help project teams avoid preventable review issues before documents are sent out.

Most Revise and Resubmit cycles are preventable. The majority of submittal rejections come from the same set of recurring problems: wrong product submitted, incomplete documentation, shop drawings that do not match the specifications, or submittals routed without an internal GC review. None of these are engineering failures. They are process failures.

This article covers the most common reasons submittals get rejected, what each review action actually means, how to identify which submittals carry the highest rejection risk, and what the GC and subcontractor teams can do before a submittal leaves the office to reduce the chance of a Revise and Resubmit response.

What the Four Review Actions Actually Mean

Before getting into why submittals get rejected, it is worth clarifying what each review action means and what the contractor is required to do in response to each one. These terms are used loosely on job sites, and the loose usage creates problems.

Review Action	What It Means	What the Contractor Must Do
Approved	The submittal meets the design intent and specification requirements without modification.	Proceed with procurement or fabrication. File the approved submittal.
Approved as Noted	The submittal is approved but with specific comments or markups from the reviewer that must be incorporated.	Incorporate the reviewer’s comments into the work. Confirm with the A/E whether a resubmittal is needed based on the extent of the notes.
Revise and Resubmit	The submittal does not meet the requirements and must be revised before approval can be granted.	Address every comment from the reviewer. Create a new submittal log entry for the resubmittal. Do not proceed with procurement or fabrication.
Rejected	The submittal is fundamentally non-compliant. This is less common but occurs when a product is clearly wrong, a shop drawing is unusable, or the submittal type is incorrect for what was required.	Start over. Confirm with the subcontractor what went wrong before preparing the replacement submittal.

One important note on Approved as Noted: some contractors treat this as a full approval and proceed without incorporating the reviewer’s comments. That is a mistake. The comments are part of the approval. If the installed work does not reflect the noted changes, the contractor is building something that was not formally approved.

The Most Common Reasons Submittals Get Rejected

The following reasons account for the majority of Revise and Resubmit and Rejected actions across commercial and institutional construction projects. Most of them happen before the submittal ever reaches the architect or engineer.

1. The wrong product was submitted

The specification requires a specific product, a product that meets a performance standard, or a product from an approved manufacturer list. The subcontractor submits cut sheets for a product that does not match any of those requirements.

This happens most often when the sub uses a product they are familiar with from past projects without checking whether it actually meets this project’s specifications. It also happens when the spec section references a named product and the sub submits an alternate without going through the formal substitution request process.

The fix is a spec review before the submittal is prepared, not after it is returned. The subcontractor should confirm the product against the specification section before submitting. The GC should confirm during the internal review that the product submitted matches what the spec requires.

2. The shop drawing does not match the contract documents

A fabricator produces a shop drawing based on their standard details without reconciling it against the architectural or structural drawings for this project. Dimensions are off. Connection details do not match the structural engineer’s design. An opening that appears on the architectural drawings is missing from the shop drawing.

Shop drawing rejections caused by drawing conflicts are particularly costly because they involve long-lead fabricated components. A structural steel shop drawing that comes back as Revise and Resubmit after a four-week review cycle has just pushed the steel delivery back by another four to six weeks.

For a detailed breakdown of what shop drawings require and how they differ from other submittal types, see our article on shop drawings vs submittals.

3. The submittal is incomplete

The architect opens the submittal and finds that a required section of the product data is missing. The cut sheet does not show the specific model or configuration being provided. The shop drawing is missing a dimension at a key connection. The sample does not include all the finish options the spec requires.

Incomplete submittals are reviewed as received. The architect is not required to guess at missing information or ask for clarification before returning a Revise and Resubmit. An incomplete submittal goes back, and another full review cycle begins.

The GC internal review exists specifically to catch incomplete submittals before they consume the architect’s review time. A GC that forwards submittals without reviewing them is passing the quality control responsibility to the design team and absorbing the time cost of the resulting revision cycles.

4. The submittal was not coordinated with other trades

The mechanical contractor submits an air handling unit shop drawing. The layout shown in the shop drawing conflicts with the structural framing that the steel contractor’s shop drawing already established. The architect returns both as Revise and Resubmit because the two systems cannot coexist as drawn.

Trade coordination failures in submittals are one of the harder problems to catch because they require the GC to review submittals from multiple trades simultaneously and check them against each other. This is exactly the kind of review that gets skipped when the project engineer is carrying too many submittals at once.

5. The specification section was misread or ignored

The spec section for a finish product requires third-party test data confirming fire rating compliance. The sub submits the product data sheet but not the test report. The spec section for a structural component requires a specific ASTM standard. The submitted product meets a different standard that the sub assumed was equivalent.

Specification compliance failures are nearly always avoidable. They require the person preparing the submittal to read the full specification section, not just identify the product name. Every required document listed in the specification section needs to be included in the submittal package.

6. The GC stamped and forwarded without reviewing

The GC’s stamp on a submittal indicates that the GC has reviewed the submittal for coordination and conformance with the contract documents. When the stamp goes on a submittal that was not actually reviewed, the GC is certifying something they did not check.

Beyond the liability issue, rubber-stamping submittals eliminates the one checkpoint in the process designed to catch errors before they reach the design team. A genuine GC review takes time, but it consistently reduces revision cycles across the project.

7. The resubmittal did not address all the reviewer’s comments

This is where Revise and Resubmit loops become multi-cycle problems. The architect returns a shop drawing with five comments. The fabricator addresses three and resubmits. The architect returns it again for the two unresolved comments plus two new ones that appeared as a result of the changes made.

Every comment from a Revise and Resubmit response must be addressed in the resubmittal. The fabricator or subcontractor should go through the comment list line by line and document what was changed in response to each one. The GC should review the resubmittal against the comment list before forwarding it.

8. The submittal was submitted too late to allow for revision cycles

A subcontractor submits a shop drawing for a long-lead mechanical unit six weeks before the unit is needed on site. The architect returns a Revise and Resubmit after a three-week review. The revised submittal goes back and takes another two weeks. The unit is now being ordered based on an approved submittal that arrived one week before the delivery date that was set three months ago.

Late submittal submissions compress the revision cycle to the point where a single Revise and Resubmit becomes a schedule crisis. The submittal schedule needs to account for at least one revision cycle on any complex shop drawing. That means submitting earlier than the procurement timeline alone would suggest.

Which Submittals Carry the Highest Rejection Risk

Not all submittals carry the same risk of rejection. Understanding which categories are most likely to come back as Revise and Resubmit helps the project team prioritize their internal review effort.

Submittal Type	Rejection Risk	Primary Cause of Rejection
Structural steel shop drawings	High	Connection details, dimensional conflicts with architectural drawings, missing details
Curtain wall and glazing shop drawings	High	Sightline conflicts, anchor conditions, thermal performance gaps
Mechanical equipment shop drawings	High	Trade coordination conflicts, clearance requirements, configuration mismatches
Fire sprinkler shop drawings	High	Layout conflicts with structure and MEP, coverage gap calculations
Precast concrete shop drawings	High	Embed locations, connection details, surface finish specs
Millwork and casework shop drawings	Moderate to High	Dimension errors, hardware specs, finish conflicts
Electrical gear shop drawings	Moderate	Clearance requirements, conduit routing conflicts
Product data submittals	Moderate	Wrong model, missing test data, non-compliant specifications
Material samples	Lower	Color or finish not matching specification, incomplete sample set
Warranties and O&M manuals	Lower	Missing sections, wrong product, incomplete contact information

High-risk submittals are the ones that need the most thorough internal GC review before they are forwarded to the architect or engineer. They are also the ones where the submittal schedule needs to build in buffer for at least one revision cycle.

How to Reduce Revise and Resubmit Cycles Before They Start

Most revision cycles can be reduced or eliminated with better preparation before the submittal leaves the subcontractor’s office and a genuine internal review before it leaves the GC’s hands.

At the subcontractor level

1. Read the full specification section before preparing the submittal. Not just the part that names the product. Every paragraph. Specification sections list required submittals, required documentation, required standards, and required certifications. Missing any of them sends the submittal back.
2. Confirm the product against the approved manufacturer list or performance requirements. If the product is not on the approved list and is not clearly compliant with the performance specification, submit a formal substitution request before preparing the submittal.
3. Check shop drawings against the current architectural and structural drawings. Do not produce shop drawings from memory or from details used on a previous project. Every project has unique conditions. Reconcile every dimension and connection detail against the current contract documents before finalizing the drawing.
4. Include every document listed in the specification. If the spec requires a shop drawing, product data, a test report, and a certification, all four must be in the submittal package. Submitting three out of four means the submittal comes back.
5. For resubmittals, address every comment from the previous review. Go through the reviewer’s comment list line by line. Document what was changed in response to each comment. If a comment cannot be addressed as written, clarify with the GC before resubmitting, not after.

At the GC level

1. Review every submittal before stamping and forwarding. The GC stamp is not a routing stamp. It represents a review for coordination and contract conformance. At minimum, confirm the product submitted matches the specification, the submittal type is correct, and the package is complete.
2. Check submittals for coordination conflicts with other trades. When a mechanical shop drawing comes in, check it against the structural and architectural drawings the team already has. If a conflict exists, resolve it before the submittal goes to the architect.
3. Build the submittal schedule with revision cycles accounted for. Long-lead, high-risk submittals should be submitted early enough that even a Revise and Resubmit response does not push the procurement timeline. A structural steel shop drawing that needs six weeks of fabrication time after approval should be submitted far enough in advance to absorb a full revision cycle.
4. Track the submittal log actively. Use the log to identify which submittals are high risk and need closer attention before they are forwarded. For a detailed guide on how to set up and maintain the submittal log, see our article on submittal log management in construction.
5. Prepare a pre-submittal checklist for high-risk submittals. Before a structural steel shop drawing or a curtain wall shop drawing leaves the GC office, it should go through a checklist that confirms dimensions match the architectural drawings, connections match the structural engineer’s design, and all required details are shown.

What to Do When a Submittal Comes Back as Revise and Resubmit

Even with a strong internal review process, some submittals will still come back as Revise and Resubmit. How the team handles the cycle matters as much as how they try to prevent it.

1. Log the Revise and Resubmit action immediately in the submittal log. Create a new log entry for the resubmittal and link it to the original. Record the return date and calculate the revised procurement timeline based on the new expected approval date.
2. Read every comment from the reviewer before responding. Do not skim. Comments that are addressed partially or incorrectly will generate another revision cycle.
3. Notify the subcontractor the same day the response arrives. Every day between receiving the Revise and Resubmit and notifying the subcontractor is a day lost in the revision cycle.
4. Set an internal deadline for the resubmittal that accounts for both the subcontractor’s revision time and the GC’s internal review before forwarding.
5. Review the resubmittal against the original comment list before forwarding it to the architect. Confirm that every comment has been addressed and that the revisions have not introduced new conflicts.
6. Flag any procurement or schedule impact immediately. If the Revise and Resubmit action has pushed a material delivery past its required date, the PM needs to know that day so options can be evaluated. Do not let the schedule impact sit undisclosed while the revision cycle runs.

How Virtual Construction Assistants (VCA) Helps Reduce Submittal Rejection Rates

A significant portion of submittal rejections happen because the process breaks down in the administrative layer. Submittals are forwarded without proper review. Resubmittals arrive without all comments addressed. High-risk submittals are submitted too late to absorb a revision cycle. The submittal log falls behind and no one flags the overdue items before they become problems.

A construction virtual assistant from Virtual Construction Assistants (VCA) takes ownership of the coordination and tracking work that keeps the submittal process tight from the first submission through closeout.

What a construction VA handles to reduce rejection cycles:

• Maintaining the submittal log with current status, return dates, and open revision cycles across all active submittals
• Flagging high-risk submittals in the log so the project engineer knows which ones need a closer internal review before they are forwarded
• Tracking the submittal schedule against procurement timelines and alerting the PM when a submittal needs to be submitted earlier to absorb a potential revision cycle
• Confirming that each submittal package is complete before it goes to the GC for review, including checking that all documents listed in the specification section are included
• Logging Revise and Resubmit actions and creating new resubmittal entries the same day the response is received
• Notifying subcontractors of Revise and Resubmit actions and setting internal resubmittal deadlines based on the procurement timeline
• Tracking resubmittals against the original comment list to confirm all comments have been addressed before the resubmittal is forwarded
• Preparing weekly submittal status reports that show the PM and superintendent which submittals are approved, which are in revision, and which are overdue

Virtual Construction Assistants (VCA) works within the project management platforms the team already uses. The construction VA does not make the review decisions. The project engineer and the architect do. What the construction VA does is make sure the process around those decisions runs without gaps, so revision cycles stay as short as possible and nothing slips through unnoticed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Revise and Resubmit mean in construction?

Revise and Resubmit is a review action returned by the architect or engineer indicating that a submittal does not meet the requirements and must be corrected and resubmitted before approval can be granted. Work or procurement on that scope cannot proceed until a revised submittal has been reviewed and approved. Each revision cycle typically adds two to four weeks to the submittal timeline.

How many times can a submittal be rejected?

There is no contractual limit on how many times a submittal can go through a Revise and Resubmit cycle. In practice, a submittal that goes through three or more revision cycles is a signal that something deeper is wrong, either the product does not meet the specification, the shop drawing has a fundamental coordination problem, or the comments from previous reviews were not properly addressed.

Does the contractor have to pay for resubmittal review?

Some contracts and some jurisdictions allow the architect or engineer to charge for reviews beyond the first or second cycle. This is sometimes addressed in the General Conditions or the agreement between the owner and the architect. Contractors should check the contract language and confirm the review provisions with the architect at the pre-construction meeting.

Can procurement begin while a submittal is in Revise and Resubmit status?

No. Procurement or fabrication should not begin until the submittal has received an Approved or Approved as Noted action. Proceeding with procurement on a Revise and Resubmit submittal risks ordering material that does not conform to the specification. If the revised submittal comes back with additional changes, material that has already been ordered may not be usable.

What is the difference between Revise and Resubmit and Rejected?

Revise and Resubmit means the submittal has reviewable content but does not yet meet the requirements. It can be corrected and resubmitted in its current form. Rejected means the submittal is fundamentally non-compliant and cannot be approved in its current direction. A Rejected action typically means starting over with a different product, a different approach, or a complete redo of the shop drawing.

How can a construction virtual assistant help with submittal management?

A construction virtual assistant can manage the tracking, coordination, and documentation work that surrounds the submittal process. This includes maintaining the submittal log, flagging high-risk or overdue submittals, logging Revise and Resubmit actions, notifying subcontractors, tracking resubmittal deadlines, and preparing status reports for the project team. The review and approval decisions stay with the project engineer and the design team.

Fewer Revision Cycles Start With a Better Process Before the Submittal Goes Out

Most Revise and Resubmit cycles are preventable. The work happens before the submittal leaves the office, not after it comes back. If your team needs support keeping the submittal process tight across a busy project, a construction virtual assistant from Virtual Construction Assistants (VCA) can manage the tracking and coordination work that prevents rejections from compounding into schedule problems.

Contact Virtual Construction Assistants (VCA) to learn how our construction VAs support submittal management, revision tracking, and document control workflow support for general contractors, subcontractors, and construction management teams.