Field Engineer Office Duties (RFIs, Submittals, Logs, And Documentation In Construction)

Field Engineer Office Duties (RFIs, Submittals, Logs, and Documentation in Construction)

In this blog, I’m going to talk to you about some of the office duties of a field engineer. And I do want to make the point that a project or office engineer can be field focused. So, there’s some mix there. And I want to talk to you as I start before I get to these topics about a pattern that I strongly believe in.

The Common Struggle: Assistant Superintendents Doing Engineering Tasks

I have encountered this almost countless times. That’s probably a little bit exaggerated, but where an assistant or area superintendent is overwhelmed because they are doing the job of the engineers. And I remember Dan Denen and Mike Redman from Hensel Phelps had really neat lists. They were general superintendents of a project in trouble. And one of the signs was that a leader is doing lower-level work.

Not that they’re not willing to, meaning they’re humble and they will if they need to, but consistently doing somebody else’s work. And that’s a problem.

If the Project Is Dirty, Superintendents Are Distracted

Let me just say this. If the project is dirty, there’s chaos, it’s unorganized, people are not safe, then that means that the superintendents either don’t know what they’re doing, they’re not fit for duty, or they’re distracted doing engineering tasks.

Although I’m not a huge fan of role segregation, meaning I do like overlap and cross training. I have often had to say, “Assistant superintendent, it is your job to be safety presence in the field, quality presence in the field and plan and execute work. I need these areas perfectly clean. I need them perfectly safe. I need them organized. I need the trades flowing.”

Send Trades to Field Engineers for RFIs and Submittals

If the trades are going to come and ask you questions, ask them. If it’s a request for information, if it’s a submittal question and you know your field engineers in your office and project engineers can answer it, ask them to go talk to them so that you can stay focused.

The 11 Kids Example: When It Gets Quiet, Someone’s Marking on the Walls

This is kind of a funny example, but I have a lot of kids, 11 kids. That’s a real story. They’re all mine and Kate’s. We pay taxes. They’re insured, so there’s no need to judge me. I take them out on the weekends all by myself. Or as Jack Sparrow said, “Oh, buy me onesies.” Like, I am a jamming dad. Like, I freaking love it.

Here’s what I’ve noticed. In my house, it’s noisy and chaotic. In fact, when I go on trips, I have to play like rain sounds, like white noise to fall asleep because I’m used to the noise. And in my house, if it gets quiet, I’m like, “Wait, what? What is going on?” And I’m like, “Okay.” And I’m going to go check. And sure enough, the kids are marking on the walls with markers or crayons, and they’re quiet because they don’t want to get caught.

Now, trades are not children, and I’m not disparaging anybody, but a superintendent’s got to be focused for when things get quiet and people are marking on the walls. Like, we have to have a presence, a leader in the field.

Field Engineers Free Up Time for Field Supervisors

And so, we must have field engineers and office and project engineers at the ready to do their job so that we can free up some time for field supervisors.

So, let’s talk about it.

RFIs: Field Engineers Write, Submit, and Post

A field engineer will 100 million billion trillion percent engage in writing and submitting and posting an RFI. In fact, when I was a field engineer, I loved and that was back before we did it digitally. I’d get my templates out, my little circle template, square templates, and my compass, and I would draw. I loved posting drawings. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just that meticulous side of me.

Anyway, so like a field engineer will, especially because they’re doing lift drawings. You’re going to find missing information and then you need to write, submit, and post those RFIs. Now, some people will think it’s all the project engineer or all the office engineer’s duty. If you train the field engineer properly, there’s no reason they can’t do RFIs.

Submittals: Field Engineers Track, Review, Submit, and Distribute

The other thing is if the field engineer is assigned a specific task, they can track and then review and then submit and then distribute submittals. But I don’t find this happening all the time. But like they will review the submittals and it will go back into their lift drawings.

So, field engineers have a key part to play in there because submittals are a part of lifting information from other locations and putting it into that single drawing.

Trend Charts: Tracking Concrete Yardage and Progress

The other thing is I remember this very vividly. The first project I was ever on was a massive prison. I wasn’t in prison. I was helping build a prison. But the trend chart was tracking concrete. I thought it was like 65,000 cubic yard. It was something crazy. And then we had that so the amount of yardage was on the y-axis and time was on the x-axis.

And I remember tracking that trend chart all the way to the end and working with the super. That was one of the office duties that I very much appreciated because field engineers are in charge of quantity takeoffs and doing quantity surveys and making sure that we’re tracking progress in the field. So, the trend chart responsibility was really neat office duty.

As-Builts: Critical for CFO, Don’t Lose Them

And then as-builts. As-builts obviously for working with trade partners for surveying the inverts of lines locations, as-builting the coordinates of underground utilities, as-builts anything required by the authority having jurisdiction making sure that those are done.

Let me tell you just a quick story. I remember a project that was done beautifully and the project was about to finish a week early and the owner was just like a raving fan client. But the fields and I had nothing to do with this so I’m not blaming, Jocko Willink would not be mad at me, but they lost 50% of the sewer and underground storm drain as-builts.

So, they actually didn’t get their CFO week early. They actually had to go rip out hardscape and landscape. I’m not making fun of it, but rip out landscape and hardscape and go do new invert shots with a professional surveyor and get all of those done professionally and detailed out and then submit those to the city and then finally finished right on time.

It’s very frustrating, but as-built, we got to make sure that all of those are ready for CFO. In that case, you can finish properly and we have a happy owner.

Here’s what field engineers do in the office:

• RFIs: field engineers write, submit, and post because they’re doing lift drawings – Field engineer will 100 million billion trillion percent engage in writing and submitting and posting RFI. Back before did it digitally, get templates out, little circle template, square templates, compass, draw. Loved posting drawings. Field engineer will, especially because they’re doing lift drawings. Going to find missing information and then need to write, submit, and post those RFIs. Some people will think it’s all project engineer or all office engineer’s duty. If train field engineer properly, there’s no reason they can’t do RFIs.
• Submittals: field engineers track, review, submit, distribute and put info into lift drawings – If field engineer assigned specific task, they can track and then review and then submit and then distribute submittals. Don’t find this happening all the time. But they will review submittals and it will go back into their lift drawings. Field engineers have key part to play because submittals are part of lifting information from other locations and putting it into that single drawing.
• Trend charts: track concrete yardage, quantity takeoffs, quantity surveys, progress – First project was massive prison. Trend chart was tracking concrete. Like 65,000 cubic yard. Amount of yardage was on y-axis and time was on x-axis. Remember tracking that trend chart all the way to end and working with super. One of office duties very much appreciated because field engineers in charge of quantity takeoffs and doing quantity surveys and making sure tracking progress in field. Trend chart responsibility really neat office duty.
• As-builts: inverts of lines, underground utilities coordinates, anything required by AHJ for CFO – As-builts obviously for working with trade partners for surveying inverts of lines locations, as-builting coordinates of underground utilities, as-builts anything required by authority having jurisdiction making sure those are done. Project was about to finish week early, owner raving fan client, but they lost 50% of sewer and underground storm drain as-builts. Actually, didn’t get CFO week early. Had to go rip out hardscape and landscape and go do new invert shots with professional surveyor and get all those done professionally and detailed out and submit to city and finally finished right on time. Got to make sure all those ready for CFO.
• Free up superintendents for field presence: send trades to FEs for RFI and submittal questions – Assistant superintendent overwhelmed because doing job of engineers. Sign project in trouble: leader doing lower-level work. If project dirty, chaos, unorganized, people not safe, superintendents either don’t know what doing, not fit for duty, or distracted doing engineering tasks. Assistant superintendent job: safety presence in field, quality presence in field, plan and execute work. Need areas perfectly clean, perfectly safe, organized, trades flowing. If trades going to ask questions, if RFI, if submittal question and know field engineers and project engineers can answer it, ask them go talk to them so can stay focused.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Field Engineers

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Take on your office duties to free up superintendents for field presence. Write, submit, and post RFIs. Especially because you’re doing lift drawings, going to find missing information. If train properly, there’s no reason you can’t do RFIs.

Track, review, submit, and distribute submittals. Review submittals and put it back into lift drawings. Submittals are part of lifting information from other locations and putting it into that single drawing. Track trend charts. Quantity takeoffs, quantity surveys, making sure tracking progress in field. Y-axis is amount, x-axis is time. Track all the way to end working with super.

Make sure as-builts are done. Surveying inverts of lines locations, as-builting coordinates of underground utilities, anything required by authority having jurisdiction. Make sure all those ready for CFO. Don’t lose them and have to rip out hardscape and landscape to redo invert shots.

Send trades to you for RFI and submittal questions so superintendents can stay focused. Superintendents need to be safety presence in field, quality presence in field, plan and execute work. Need areas perfectly clean, perfectly safe, organized, trades flowing. As we say at Elevate, field engineer office duties: RFIs, submittals, trend charts, as-builts. Free up superintendents for field presence. Balance office work with field duties.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should field engineers write RFIs?

Yes. Field engineer will 100 million billion trillion percent engage in writing and submitting and posting RFI. Especially because they’re doing lift drawings. Going to find missing information and then need to write, submit, and post those RFIs. If train field engineer properly, there’s no reason they can’t do RFIs.

What do field engineers do with submittals?

If field engineer assigned specific task, they can track and then review and then submit and then distribute submittals. They will review submittals and it will go back into their lift drawings. Field engineers have key part to play because submittals are part of lifting information from other locations and putting it into that single drawing.

What are trend charts for field engineers?

Track concrete yardage, quantity takeoffs, quantity surveys, making sure tracking progress in field. Amount of yardage on y-axis and time on x-axis. Track all the way to end working with super. Field engineers in charge of quantity takeoffs and quantity surveys.

Why are as-builts critical?

For working with trade partners for surveying inverts of lines locations, as-builting coordinates of underground utilities, anything required by authority having jurisdiction. Got to make sure all those ready for CFO. Don’t lose them or will have to rip out hardscape and landscape to redo invert shots.

How do field engineers free up superintendents?

If trades going to ask questions, if RFI, if submittal question and know field engineers and project engineers can answer it, ask them go talk to them so superintendent can stay focused. Superintendent needs to be safety presence in field, quality presence in field, plan and execute work.