Reading 01 33 00: The Submittal Procedures Section

Your first package on a job comes back unreviewed. Not rejected, unreviewed. The file name didn't follow the convention, the transmittal wasn't on the engineer's form, and the GC's review stamp was missing, so the engineer's office sent it back without opening the drawings. The review clock never started, the panel shop is still waiting on a stamp, and every rule you broke was printed in a section nobody on your side read: 01 33 00, Submittal Procedures.

This article is how to read that section once, at the start of the job, and turn it into a template and a schedule before the first package leaves.

Where 01 33 00 sits

MasterFormat puts Submittal Procedures at 01 33 00, under 01 30 00 Administrative Requirements, next to project management and coordination at 01 31 00 and construction progress documentation at 01 32 00. Some books break shop drawings, product data, and samples out into their own section at 01 33 23. Books built from 1995-era masters carry the same content at 01330 or fold it into 01300. Search the table of contents by title, not number.

The neighbors matter because 01 33 00 hands work off to them. Substitutions usually have their own section, 01 25 00, with its own form and its own deadline; that procedure is covered in substitution requests and the or-equal clause. Closeout submittals and O&M data live at 01 78 00. Quality requirements, often 01 40 00, can carry test reports and delegated design certifications.

The split of labor is simple. Your technical section says what to submit. 01 33 00 says how. The technical section's own submittals article almost always points back to Division 01 for procedure, which is why reading only your section leaves you guessing on format, timing, and review. The reading order for the technical section is in how to read a spec section for submittal requirements.

What the section governs

Every book orders it differently, but the same topics show up. Read for each of these, and write down the answer and the paragraph it came from.

Submittal classes. Action submittals get a stamp back. Informational submittals get filed. Many books add closeout, maintenance material, and quality assurance groups. The class decides whether you proceed on a stamp or on nothing, as covered in shop drawings vs product data.

The submittal schedule. Most sections require a schedule of every submittal, due within a set number of days after notice to proceed and coordinated with the construction schedule. On a subcontract the GC compiles it and asks you for your rows, usually on short notice. Check whether the schedule is itself reviewed and whether it carries required-by dates you will be held to.

Format and delivery. Electronic or paper. If electronic: which platform, which file type, the file naming convention, one PDF per submittal or one per item, searchable text, bookmarks, and any size limit. If paper: how many copies, and how many the engineer keeps. Find the sentence that says what happens to a package that doesn't conform. In many books the reviewer may return it without review, which is the scenario at the top of this article.

Identification and numbering. The number format, usually built on the spec section with a sequence number and a revision suffix, and how resubmittals are marked. The conventions that hold up on a long job are in submittal numbering and revision schemes.

The transmittal. Whether you must use the engineer's or GC's form, often attached at the end of the section, and the fields it must carry. The field list and a filled example are in what a transmittal has to say.

Contractor's review. The section almost always requires the contractor to review each submittal before forwarding it, and to show that review with a stamp or a signed certification: field dimensions verified, criteria checked, coordinated with adjacent work, conforms to the contract documents. On a subcontract that means the GC's stamp, and some GCs want yours on it too. The stamp is a statement. Signing "reviewed and coordinated" on a package you didn't coordinate is a statement you own.

Review period. How many days the engineer gets per review, whether those are working or calendar days, when the clock starts, whether it restarts on a resubmittal, and whether large or interdependent packages get longer. This number drives every order date on the job.

Review actions. The list of stamps the engineer will use and what each one lets you do. Approved as noted lets you proceed with the notes. Revise and resubmit does not. What each obligates you to do next is in what approved as noted actually requires.

Resubmittals. How to mark changes, whether every comment needs a written response, and the clause many books carry that charges the contractor for reviews beyond a set number. Check the number. If your packages tend to go two rounds and the book pays for one, that cost belongs in the bid.

Deviations. How to call out a departure from the contract documents: in writing, on the transmittal, specifically. Most sections say a deviation you didn't identify is not approved, even if the package was stamped.

Partial submittals. Many sections refuse partial packages or require related items to arrive together. A panel without its field devices, or devices without the panel, can come back for that reason alone.

Delegated design. If the job delegates any design to the contractor, the seal and certification rules are often here or in the quality section. The pricing side is covered in delegated design and deferred submittals.

The digest

Reading the section is an hour. Rereading it every time you build a package is where the hours go. Write the answers down once, on one page, with the paragraph each came from. Here is the shape, filled in for an imaginary job; every value on yours comes from your book, not from this example:

01 33 00 DIGEST               Pine Creek WRF Lift Station Upgrades
Source: Section 01 33 00, conformed set incl. Addendum 2

Submittal schedule due:   30 days after NTP, to GC        (1.4.A)
Delivery:                 PDF via GC's project portal      (1.5.A)
File name:                <section>-<seq>-<rev>.pdf        (1.5.C)
PDF rules:                searchable, bookmarked, unlocked (1.5.D)
Transmittal:              engineer's form, Attachment A    (1.6.A)
Number format:            40 61 13-002, resub 40 61 13-002.1
Contractor's stamp:       GC stamp required, ours allowed  (1.7.B)
Review period:            21 calendar days from receipt,
                          restarts on each resubmittal     (1.8.A)
Reviews included:         2 per submittal, then charged    (1.8.D)
Deviations:               listed on transmittal, clouded   (1.9.A)
Partial submittals:       not accepted                     (1.9.C)
Review actions:           NET / MCN / R&R / Rejected       (1.10.A)
Delegated design:         none in our sections

The paragraph references are the part people skip and the part that pays. When the GC's coordinator says the file naming is wrong, you point at a paragraph, not at last month's job.

Where each line goes

The digest is only useful if it changes what you do. Each line feeds one of four places.

1. Your package template. File naming, PDF rules, transmittal form, number format, and the deviation statement belong in the template, so nobody types them by hand on the fourth package of a busy week.
2. Your schedule. The review period and its restart rule set the earliest date you can order anything that needs a stamp. With 21 calendar days that restart, a package that goes two rounds burns six weeks of review plus your own turnaround between rounds. Work backward from need-by dates using that number, as laid out in sequencing submittals against lead times.
3. Your log. Use the engineer's review action names exactly, so a row's status means the same thing in your office and theirs.
4. Your bid. Extra review charges, delegated design, and unusual format demands such as paper sets or physical samples are costs. Price them before award, not after.

The submittal schedule due date is the one that sneaks up. It often lands before you have finished reading the technical sections, so read 01 33 00 first.

Pair it with 01 78 23

01 33 00 governs every package during construction. Its closeout twin, 01 78 23, governs the O&M manual, with its own format, timing, and chapter list. Read both in week one: one sets how you submit, the other sets what you owe at the end, and the second depends on the first because the manual reuses the approved submittals. The closeout side is in reading 01 78 23.

How Submittal Kit handles this

The rules in 01 33 00 get broken on the fourth package, when somebody types the number, the file name, or the review date by hand. In Submittal Kit you set them once and every package follows. Upload the spec book, claim 01 33 00 from All sections, and its demands come back quoted with their article references for you to answer. Set the numbering format and the review turnaround in days, and every cover, transmittal, and file name follows the format while the Submittal Log flags reviews past their window. A package layout fixes the sections each type starts with, and the transmittal's cover note carries your deviation statement. See submittal packages.

Disclosure: I build Submittal Kit. The digest above works the same on a legal pad.