What Is a Deferred Submittal?

Some systems cannot be fully designed until a specific manufacturer or installer is chosen. A fire sprinkler contractor produces hydraulic calculations and shop drawings for the system it will install, and a truss manufacturer designs the trusses for its own fabrication process. If the permit waited for those, projects would sit idle through the early phases.

The deferral lets the permit proceed on the design that is complete, while the dependent parts follow. It is a scheduling tool with a code process attached, and it only works if the permit documents are explicit about what is deferred and who is responsible for coordinating it.

The registered design professional in responsible charge identifies the deferred items on the construction documents, and the building official approves the deferral before the permit issues. Later, the trade produces the deferred documents and gives them to the design professional, who reviews them and forwards them to the building official with a notation that they have been reviewed and found to be in general conformance with the design of the building.

The building official then reviews and approves the deferred documents. Many jurisdictions publish a form for this step and set a deadline for submitting. The deferred work may not be installed until the building official has approved the documents, which makes the approval date a schedule driver for the trade.

The two share a word and almost nothing else. A contractor submittal goes to the architect during construction to show how the contractor intends to meet the contract documents. A deferred submittal goes to the building official for permit approval, through the design professional. A single item, such as fire sprinkler shop drawings, can need both.

Mixing them up is a common source of delay. A contractor who believes the architect’s approval of a shop drawing satisfies the permit may start installing before the building official has approved the deferred documents. The project specification should tell the trade which submittals are also deferred submittals and where to send them.

Delegated design is a contract arrangement. The contract documents require a contractor or its design professional to design a portion of the work to stated performance criteria, and to provide sealed calculations. A deferred submittal is a permit arrangement. The two often overlap, because a delegated design item is frequently also a deferred submittal.

The distinction matters for who owns the review. The licensed design professional for the contractor’s portion seals the design. The registered design professional in responsible charge for the project reviews it for general conformance before it goes to the building official.