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What a roofing RFI register should contain

The register is the part of a takeoff that protects you. It is the written record of everything the drawings could not answer, and it is the difference between an assumption you disclosed and an assumption you ate.

Why the register matters more than the number

Every estimate contains assumptions. That is unavoidable, because drawings at bid stage are incomplete by nature. The question is whether your assumptions are written down where the GC can see them, or buried in the estimator's head where they surface six months later as an argument.

A good register does three jobs. It gets you answers before the bid closes on the items that move real money. It documents the ones nobody answered, so your number has a defensible basis. And it tells the GC you read the whole set, which is worth more than most contractors realize when a bid is close.

The anatomy of a register item

Every item needs four fields. Anything less and it either does not get answered or does not protect you.

The items that belong in almost every commercial roofing register

Heights that were never dimensioned

Parapet heights, wall heights at transitions, curb heights. These drive base flashing, counterflashing, and coping, and they are missing from plan views by definition. If the elevations do not carry them either, that is a blocking item, because a two-foot error across 900 feet of parapet is real money.

Taper layout and responsibility

Taper is nearly always a quote, not a calculation, because the manufacturer designs the layout. The register needs to establish who is providing the design, whether the slope shown meets code minimum, and whether crickets behind curbs are included. Taper also changes average stack thickness, which changes fastener length and freight, so an unresolved taper item ripples.

Deck type and condition

The structural sheets should confirm the deck. When they do not, or when the set has no structural drawings, fastener selection and pull-out values are unconfirmed. On a re-roof, add the condition question: what is the existing assembly, is it wet, and who is responsible if it is.

Warranty term, type, and who is certified

A spec that says "20-year warranty" without saying NDL or material-only is asking for two very different numbers. And if the spec names a manufacturer, the register should confirm your certification level supports the term required, because some manufacturers will not issue an extended NDL to a base-tier installer at all.

Scope boundaries with other trades

The classics, and every one of them has started a fight on some job somewhere:

• Who furnishes and sets the equipment curbs
• Who provides the wood blocking and nailers
• Gutter and downspout: roofing scope or sheet metal scope
• Who flashes the mechanical penetrations that arrive after the roof is on
• Interior drain bowls: plumbing furnishes, roofing sets, or both
• Lightning protection attachment and who is responsible for the penetrations it makes

Existing conditions on re-roofs

Asbestos survey status. Number of existing layers, since code often caps it. Whether tear-off can happen in occupied conditions. Night work or weekend restrictions. Roof access and staging area, which on a tight urban site can be the single largest cost driver in the whole job.

Addenda

Always ask whether the set you were given is current. Addendum 2 landing after you priced Addendum 1 is one of the most common sources of bid-day chaos, and a one-line question prevents it.

How to write items people actually answer

GCs are managing dozens of subs and hundreds of questions. Yours gets answered if it is easy to answer.

• Be specific about location. Sheet number, detail number, grid line.
• Show what you already found. "A-201 shows the parapet but carries no vertical dimension" proves you looked, which changes how the question reads.
• Propose an answer where you can. "We have assumed 3'-0" unless advised otherwise" often gets a one-word reply, and even silence protects you because you disclosed the assumption.
• Separate blocking from nice-to-know. If everything is urgent, nothing is, and your genuinely blocking items get lost.

Documented zeros belong here too

If a roof plan shows no interior drains at all because everything slopes to a perimeter gutter, that is a finding, and it belongs in the record with its evidence. Zeros that are documented are defensible. Zeros that are just absences are how scope gets missed. The same goes for zero skylights, zero hatches, and zero smoke vents on a building where you might reasonably expect them.

What good looks like

A register on a typical commercial job runs somewhere between five and twenty items. Fewer than five usually means nobody read the specs. More than forty usually means the register is padded with noise and the GC will skim it and answer none of them. The goal is a list a busy person will read start to finish, where every item would change the number or the scope if answered differently.