What a Submittal Review Stamp Means and What It Does Not

Why this matters

A submittal comes back from the engineer with a stamp, a box checked and a signature, and a crew reads it as permission: the engineer looked at it, so whatever is on those pages is now the engineer's problem. It is not. The stamp is a narrow statement about one thing, general conformance with the design, and the paragraph printed beside the boxes says so in plain words. The shops that get burned are the ones that ordered on the stamp, installed what the data sheet described, and found out at the punch walk that the spec still governed every detail the stamp never promised to check.

The stamp

Wording varies by firm. The structure is close to universal:

+----------------------------------------------------+
| ENGINEER'S SUBMITTAL REVIEW                        |
| [ ] NO EXCEPTIONS TAKEN                            |
| [ ] MAKE CORRECTIONS NOTED                         |
| [ ] REVISE AND RESUBMIT                            |
| [ ] REJECTED                                       |
| Review is only for general conformance with the    |
| design concept and the contract documents. Notes   |
| do not relieve the contractor of compliance with   |
| the contract documents. The contractor remains     |
| responsible for quantities and dimensions, means   |
| and methods, coordination with other trades, and   |
| the safe performance of the work.                  |
| SUBMITTAL NO. 23-014  BY: ________ DATE: ________  |
+----------------------------------------------------+

The four boxes, and what each lets you do

Other labels you will meet mean the same things: "Furnish as Corrected" for corrections noted, "Submit Specified Item" for a rejection that points back to the spec. Some reviewers avoid the word "approved" entirely; some still use "Approved" and "Approved as Noted." A stamp reading "Received for Record Only" or "No Action Taken" means the reviewer did not review it, usually because the item was informational or not required, and it authorizes nothing about compliance.

Make Corrections Noted is the box people misread. It is a release to proceed on the corrected version, and the corrections are now part of what you are building. Ordering the uncorrected configuration because the supplier already had it in the system is ordering a rejected product.

The disclaimer, phrase by phrase

The paragraph under the boxes is the point of this card.

"General conformance with the design concept." The reviewer checks whether the product is the kind of thing the design called for, at about the right size and performance. A reviewer may catch a wrong voltage or a missing option. The reviewer is not promising to.

"Does not relieve the contractor of compliance." The spec and drawings still govern. A note the reviewer did not write is not a waiver of the requirement it would have caught.

"Quantities and dimensions." The count of diffusers, the length of pipe, the dimension that decides whether a unit fits through a door. The reviewer does not take these over by looking at a page that shows them.

"Means and methods." How you rig it, sequence it, support it temporarily, and install it remains the contractor's choice and the contractor's risk.

"Coordination with other trades." Whether the unit's electrical data matches the feeder the electrician is pulling, whether the condensate connection is on the side the plumber expects. Coordination is the contractor's work; the review is not a coordination meeting.

What about code? Many stamps add that review does not certify code compliance. The design documents are expected to meet code, and the building department has its own review. Where a submitted product would violate the adopted code, the reviewer's stamp does not make it legal, and the inspector does not read the stamp.

The one thing that does move responsibility

There is a path by which a deviation stops being the contractor's problem, and it is narrow on purpose. Under AIA A201, where the contract uses it (Article 3, at 3.12.8 in the 2017 edition), the contractor is not relieved of responsibility for a deviation from the contract documents by the architect's approval of a submittal unless the contractor specifically told the architect about that deviation in writing at the time of submittal and either the architect gave written approval to that specific deviation as a minor change or a change order or construction change directive authorized it. Other contract forms commonly say something similar.

So a deviation flagged on the cover sheet and accepted in writing is a decision the design team made. A deviation sitting in a data sheet column nobody highlighted is still yours after the stamp. What any particular contract does with that question is for the shop's own attorney; what the shop can always control is whether its deviations are listed.

Worked example: the drain pan nobody marked

A rooftop unit section requires, in Part 2, a stainless steel drain pan. The supplier's data sheet in the submittal lists "drain pan: galvanized steel, standard; stainless steel, optional." The shop's project manager assembled the package from the supplier's quote and did not mark which option was selected. The reviewer, checking capacity, airflow, electrical data and dimensions, stamped it No Exceptions Taken.

The unit arrives with a galvanized pan. The commissioning agent catches it against the spec.

Who owns it. The spec required stainless. The submittal showed both options and selected neither. No deviation was called out in writing. Under the disclaimer, and under the A201-style deviation rule where the contract carries it, the stamp did not accept galvanized; it accepted a package that did not say. The correction is the shop's: a stainless pan from the manufacturer, a crew to swap it on the roof, and the lead time on the part.

What would have prevented it. The contractor's own review before the package went out. Most Division 01 submittal sections require the contractor to review, mark and stamp its own submittals first, and that stamp is the contractor saying it checked the package against the contract documents and coordinated it. Marking the package means circling the options being furnished, striking the ones that are not, and listing any deviation on the cover (see related: How to Prepare a Submittal for Your Own Scope).

Worked example: what each box costs in weeks

The same unit has an 8 week lead time from release of order. The general contractor's schedule needs it on site in week 14. Division 01 allows the engineer 10 working days, which is 2 weeks, per review. The shop submits in week 2.

• No Exceptions Taken or Make Corrections Noted. Back in week 4, ordered in week 4, on site in week 4 plus 8, which is week 12. That leaves 2 weeks of float before week 14.
• Revise and Resubmit. Back in week 4. A week to revise puts the resubmittal in at week 5; the second review returns it in week 7; ordered in week 7, on site in week 15. One cycle cost 3 weeks against 2 weeks of float, so the unit is a week late.
• Rejected. Everything in the R&R line plus however long it takes to select and document a different product, against a schedule that is already a week short.

That arithmetic is why the cover-sheet discipline is worth the time. A package that gets Make Corrections Noted the first time costs nothing on the schedule; a package that bounces once has eaten the float (see related: How to Answer a Returned Submittal and Resubmit).

Which copy belongs in the truck

The crew installs from the returned, stamped copy, never from the package the office sent out or the supplier's cut sheet. Those three documents look alike and differ in exactly the places that matter: the stamped copy carries the reviewer's corrections, and on a Make Corrections Noted return those corrections are now the requirement. When a submittal has been through more than one cycle, the truck gets only the latest stamped version, with its submittal number and revision written on the front, and the older copies are marked superseded or pulled. An installer working from a first-round copy that was later revised is building to a document the engineer already sent back (see related: How to Confirm the Truck Set Is Current).

What changes the read

• The building department's stamp is not the engineer's. Some systems, such as fire sprinklers, alarm systems and some structural components, are deferred submittals reviewed by the authority having jurisdiction for code compliance. That approval is a permit action. It neither replaces the design team's review nor accepts deviations from the contract.
• Delegated design. Where the shop submits a sealed design under a performance spec, the reviewer is checking that a licensed professional produced it and that it fits the design, not checking the calculations on the shop's behalf.
• Design-build. Where the shop is the designer, there may be no outside reviewer at all, and the stamp is the shop's own.

References

• AIA Document A201, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, where the contract uses it (Article 3 on contractor submittals and deviations; Article 4 on the architect's limited review).
• Division 01 Submittal Procedures (commonly 01 33 00) in the project manual, for review periods and resubmittal rules.
• See related: What a Submittal Is and Why It Comes Before the Work; How to Read a Submittal Package
• See related: How to Prepare a Submittal for Your Own Scope; How to Answer a Returned Submittal and Resubmit
• See related: The Submittal Log SOP