What is the difference between a submittal and a shop drawing?

A shop drawing is one type of submittal, not a separate thing. A submittal is the broad category: anything the contractor sends the design team to prove what it intends to furnish, which includes product data sheets, material samples, color charts, and quality certificates as well as shop drawings. A shop drawing specifically is a detailed fabrication drawing, prepared by the contractor, a subcontractor, or a manufacturer, showing exactly how a component will be built and installed, like the connection details for structural steel or the layout of ductwork. So all shop drawings are submittals, but most submittals on a project are not shop drawings.

What do the submittal review stamps mean?

They tell the contractor whether it can proceed and on what terms. The exact words vary by design firm, but the common actions are Approved, meaning proceed as submitted; Approved as Noted, meaning proceed but incorporate the marked corrections without resubmitting; Revise and Resubmit, meaning fix the issues and send it back for another review before proceeding; and Rejected, meaning the submittal does not meet the requirements and a new one is needed. The stamp is not an assumption of the contractor's responsibility for the work. It confirms conformance with the design intent, while the means, methods, and dimensions remain the contractor's.

Why does the submittal log matter?

Because a late submittal approval delays the material, and a late material delays the work, often on the critical path. The submittal log tracks every submittal, its review status, how long it has been out, and when the material it unlocks is actually needed. A long-lead item like switchgear or custom curtain wall can have a submittal that must be approved months before installation, so a submittal sitting in review is a schedule risk hiding in a stack of paperwork. Watching the log, and aging the open items against the dates the field needs them, is how teams keep a submittal delay from quietly becoming a schedule delay.

Construction Glossary · Change Management

ConstructionSubmittals

Before a material is fabricated, the contractor proves it matches the drawings. That proof is a submittal, and the review cycle behind it can make or break a lead time.

Definition

A submittal is a document, shop drawing, product sample, or data sheet the contractor provides to the design team for review and approval before materials are fabricated or installed. It confirms that what the contractor intends to furnish matches the contract documents, and it is tracked and aged on a submittal log.

The review cycle

The subcontractor prepares it, the general contractor reviews and forwards it, and the design team returns it with an action. If it comes back "revise and resubmit," the loop starts over, and each loop costs time.

What gets submitted, and how it comes back

Review action	What it means
Approved	Proceed as submitted
Approved as noted	Proceed, incorporate the marked corrections, no resubmit needed
Revise and resubmit	Fix the issues and send it back for another review
Rejected	Does not meet the requirements; a new submittal is needed

Submittals include shop drawings, product data, material samples, and quality certificates. A shop drawing is one type of submittal, not a separate document.

A submittal delay is a schedule delay

A large project can carry several hundred submittals. A single long-lead item, switchgear or custom curtain wall, may need its submittal approved months before installation. A submittal sitting in review is a schedule risk hiding in a stack of paperwork, which is why the log is aged against the dates the field actually needs each material.

How POD tracks submittals

POD keeps a submittal register alongside its other project logs, so each submittal's status and age are tracked in one place rather than scattered across email threads and spreadsheets. With the open items and their ages visible together, a submittal sitting in review surfaces as the schedule risk it is, instead of staying buried in paperwork.

RFI & submittal management guide

Frequently asked questions

The paperwork that gates the work

Submittals, RFIs, and change orders are the records that keep a project coordinated. Each one is a question the field needs answered.

What Is an RFI? Back to the Glossary

Related terms

RFI Change Order NCR Punch List