What Is Product Data?

The submittal should identify the spec section, the product name, the model, and the options. Highlighters or stamps that say 'proposed' are the usual method. Pages that do not apply should be omitted or crossed out.

A reviewer who receives the entire catalog is entitled, under many Division 01 sections, to return it without review. The contractor's job includes selecting.

Product data asks: is this the right product? Shop drawings ask: how will this product be fabricated and installed on this project? A pump can have approved data and still need a shop drawing for pads, connections, and electrical characteristics.

Samples ask a third question: does the appearance match? Finishes often need data and a sample. Accepting one does not accept the other unless the response says so.

If the proposed product misses a spec requirement, the submittal has to say so on the front. Hiding a deviation in a footnote is how a noncompliant product gets installed under an approval stamp that nobody meant to grant.

The reviewer's stamp should restate the deviation if it is accepted. A general 'approved as noted' with no note is a poor record.

Approved means the marked product conforms. Approved as noted means it conforms if the notes are followed. Revise and resubmit means it does not, yet. Rejected means it does not. None of these stamps transfer design responsibility to the reviewer, and none of them check quantities.

The contractor remains responsible for meeting the contract. An approved submittal that contradicts the drawings is still a conflict to surface, not a silent redesign.

The approved product data goes in the project record and often in the O&M manual. The field needs to know which model was approved, not which catalog was current two years later.

Substitutions after approval start the process again. A purchase order for a different model is not a submittal.