Construction Administration Services Scope of Work Guide

Key takeaways

• A construction administration services scope of work should list six core services: submittal reviews, RFI responses, site observations, payment certificate reviews, design clarifications, and punch list support.

• Every CA clause needs five parts: the named service, the unit of measure, the exclusions, the response time, and the deliverable.

• Price each CA task with the method matching its variability: per submittal, per visit, hourly, or lump sum, rather than one lump CA line.

• Quantified limits like up to 12 site visits or 200 submittals are enforceable; as required is not.

• In design-build, replace administer with review and provide comments, and exclude payment certification and change orders from your scope.

A construction administration services scope of work should list each CA task you will perform, the deliverable attached to it, and the hours or fee tied to it: submittal reviews, RFI responses, site observations, payment certificate reviews, and clarifications. This guide gives you copy-adaptable clause language for each task, plus how to price and scope the hours behind them.

What services belong in a construction administration scope of work?

A construction administration services scope of work should list six core services: submittal reviews, RFI responses, site observations, payment certificate reviews, design clarifications, and punch list support. The AIA B101 standard agreement treats most of these as basic services during construction, while extended services like full-time site representation or resident inspection are priced separately.

The five core CA tasks

Submittal reviews, RFI responses, site observations, payment certificate reviews, and clarifications form the billable core. Name each one, state how many are included, and price the rest as additional services. Vague language like "general project oversight" invites unpaid work.

Services often left out by mistake

Punch lists, closeout document review, and warranty-period questions are routinely omitted from fee proposals, then delivered anyway. If your CA phase data lives in spreadsheets and email, you cannot see which tasks are consuming hours beyond the fee. Linking deliverables to your project records, including your Revit documentation, makes the gap visible before it eats your margin.

How do you write a CA scope of work clause for an architect's contract?

Anatomy of a scope clause

Every CA clause needs five parts: the named service, the unit of measure, the exclusions, the response time, and the deliverable. Leave out any one of them and the client fills the gap with an assumption, usually in your favour's opposite direction. "Construction administration" on its own is not a service; it is a bucket that collects every unscoped request. Write each task as its own clause so you can price it, track it, and point to it when the phone rings during CA.

Example clause: submittal review

The Consultant will review Shop Drawings, Product Data, and Samples for conformance with the design intent. Review turnaround is ten (10) business days per submittal package. Each package counts as one review cycle; a second review of a resubmittal is an Additional Service billed hourly at the rates in this Agreement. Deliverable: review stamps or written comments returned via the project email address.

Example clause: RFI responses

The Consultant will respond to Requests for Information within five (5) business days of receipt. Responses will be issued in writing on the Consultant's RFI log. RFIs requesting redesign, new design information, or changes to issued documents are Additional Services. Deliverable: a current RFI log provided with each payment certificate application.

The exclusions and unit counts are what protect your fee. If your CA phase work currently lives in email and folders, a single connected system makes clause-by-clause tracking practical; the same principle applies to fee proposal materials, as in our presentation work.

Which CA tasks are billable and how should they be priced?

Most firms lump CA into a single line in the fee proposal, then eat the losses task by task. Price each task with the method that matches its variability:

The AIA's guidance on architect's services during construction distinguishes basic from extended CA duties, and your scope should mirror that split so extra visits or reviews are billable additions, not goodwill.

Submittals and site visits lose money because they are estimated as a fraction of construction cost instead of a count of events. Estimate submittals per spec section and site visits per month, then price from those counts.

Tracking actual hours against each task is what fixes the estimate next time, which is why we keep CA time logged against the same task codes in our systems.

What is the difference between basic and extended construction administration services?

Basic services under standard agreements

Basic CA covers what standard owner-architect agreements assume: reviewing submittals, answering RFIs, issuing payment certificates, and periodic site observations. These belong in every construction administration services scope of work as a defined baseline. If you price them as a percentage of construction cost or a fixed fee, state the assumed submittal volume and site visit count so overages become a change order, not free work.

Extended services to price separately

Anything beyond that baseline is an extended service: a full-time site representative, LEED or commissioning support, FF&E installation oversight, or attending weekly site meetings through CA. Each needs its own line item, hourly rate, and trigger in the scope, because clients assume "architect" means all of it unless you write otherwise.

The same discipline applies internally. If your spec and submittal records live across folders and email, extended services bleed into basic ones and you lose the record of what you actually did. One connected system, where you enter a submittal or RFI once and it links to the project, keeps basic and extended hours separable when the fee proposal or invoice goes out (https://www.househousesystems.com/work/specs/).

What CA deliverables should be listed in the scope of work?

Name the tangible outputs. A CA scope that lists "construction administration services" without naming deliverables invites unpaid scope creep.

Deliverables checklist

List these in the scope of work, each with a quantity or frequency:

• Submittal review stamps and logs — reviewed submittals returned with actions, plus a running log.

• RFI responses and RFI log — each response in writing, logged with date and distribution.

• Site observation reports — issued after each visit, with deficiencies noted.

• Payment certificate recommendations — your review of the contractor's progress claim.

• Punch lists and closeout documents — final inspection list, warranties, as-built review.

Quantities matter more than descriptions. "Up to 12 site visits" and "review of up to 200 submittals" are enforceable; "as required" is not. Submittal volume alone can consume a large share of CA hours, so cap it or price overages (AIA contract documents at aia.org cover these deliverables as named line items).

Logging and record-keeping as a deliverable

The logs are deliverables too, and often the ones that save you in a dispute. Specify that the RFI log, submittal log and payment log are maintained by you and issued on request. If your CA records live in email and folders, assembling that history later is unbilled work — one reason firms outgrow spreadsheets and move to a single relational system like Househouse Systems, where each RFI, submittal and site report is entered once and stays linked to the project.

How do you scope CA hours for submittal reviews and site observations?

Estimating submittal review hours

Start from the submittal log, not a gut feel. Count expected submittal packages from the spec sections, then assign hours per package. A useful illustrative range: 1-2 hours for a straightforward shop drawing or product data sheet, 3-6 hours for a coordinated package that crosses trades, and more for anything touching structural or MEP coordination. Multiply, then add 15-20% for review cycles, since most packages come back at least twice.

The variables that move the number: spec complexity, how many submittals the contractor bundles per package, and whether your CA scope includes reviewing substitutions. If your fee proposal assumes one review per submittal, you are underpricing.

Sizing site visit frequency

Site visit hours are driven by construction stage, not contract value. During foundations and rough-in, biweekly visits of 2-3 hours plus travel are common; near completion, weekly or twice-weekly visits are typical. Price travel separately for out-of-town projects, and decide upfront whether field reports and punch lists are inside the visit rate or billed as additional deliverables.

How does the CA scope change between design-build and traditional delivery?

Traditional delivery CA role

Under traditional delivery, the architect administers the contract between owner and contractor: certifying payments, reviewing submittals for conformance, responding to RFIs, and issuing change orders. Your scope clause should list each of these as a distinct service with its own hour estimate.

Design-build CA role

In design-build, the architect often works as a consultant to the design-builder rather than administering the owner's contract. You review submittals and drawings for design intent, but payment certification and change orders belong to the design-builder. If your clause still says "administer the contract," you are accepting liability and workload you cannot bill for.

Clause adjustments for design-build

Replace "administer" with "review and provide comments." State explicitly that payment certification, change order preparation, and contract interpretation are excluded, and flag them as additional services if requested. The AIA's guidance on scope exclusions and additional services supports this structure: AIA Contract Documents.

How do you keep CA phase work out of spreadsheets and email?

The CA data problem

An RFI answer changes a spec. A submittal rejection changes an FF&E order. A site observation becomes a payment certificate deduction. When each of these lives in a separate spreadsheet, folder or email thread, you re-enter the same fact three or four times and hope the copies stay consistent. They usually do not, and the gap shows up in project forecasts and fee proposals.

Running the same test on our own system

Our answer is one relational database underneath everything: projects, submittals, RFIs, site reports, people and deliverables stay connected, so you enter data once and everything updates. Pricing is a $9,000 base plus $200/user/month for six months, which suits firms with real project-delivery budgets rather than solo practitioners.

The honest limits: it is custom-built, so implementation takes longer than signing up for Monograph or Programa, and if your firm already runs happily on one of those tools, switching may not pay back. The case for us is strongest when you have outgrown spreadsheets and are paying for several disconnected tools that still do not talk to each other.

FAQ

Can I limit the number of submittal reviews or RFIs in my scope?

Yes, and you should. State a quantity in the clause, such as review of up to 200 submittal packages with one review cycle each, and price resubmittals or volume beyond the cap as additional services. The same applies to RFIs: include a stated allowance, then bill hourly above it. Quantified limits are enforceable; as required is not.

What happens if the contractor sends work outside the CA scope?

You decline, redirect it to the owner, or accept it as an additional service with written confirmation. The clause protects you here: named services, unit counts, and exclusions give you something to point to when requests arrive. Without them, the request lands in the construction administration bucket and you perform it unpaid. Respond in writing so the record exists.

Do I need to include punch list services in the CA scope of work?

Yes, either as a named inclusion or an explicitly excluded additional service. Punch lists and closeout document review are routinely omitted from fee proposals, then delivered anyway because the client assumes they are covered. Listing them with a quantity or hourly basis forces the decision at proposal stage, when you can still price the hours instead of eating them.

How long should a CA phase scope of work run after substantial completion?

Define an end date or a maximum duration, typically a stated warranty period such as 12 months from substantial completion. Name which tasks continue, usually warranty-period questions and closeout document review, and exclude anything else. Without a stated endpoint, the CA phase has no boundary, and requests arriving months after completion arrive as obligations rather than billable additional services.

Is construction administration always a separate fee from design fees?

Not always, but it should be separately stated. Many agreements bundle CA into the design fee as a percentage allowance, which hides the task volumes you are accepting. State CA as its own line with assumed submittal counts and site visit frequency, whether the fee is fixed or hourly, so overages become change orders rather than absorbed losses.