Mistake 1: Submitting Everything at Once
A 400-sheet submittal lands on the reviewing engineer's desk like a brick. It waits until they can block out days to review it, and one problem area can hold the entire package in limbo. Submit in fabrication-sequence packages instead — anchor bolts first, then main steel by area, then miscellaneous metals. Smaller packages review faster, and an issue in one package doesn't freeze the others.
Mistake 2: Not Defining What the Stamps Mean
'Approved as Noted,' 'Revise and Resubmit,' 'Furnish as Corrected' — every EOR uses slightly different stamps, and the differences matter. Can you fabricate from 'Approved as Noted' after incorporating the notes, or must you resubmit first? Settle this in writing at kickoff. Guessing wrong in one direction wastes a resubmittal cycle; guessing wrong in the other means fabricating steel the engineer never cleared.
Mistake 3: Letting Review Time Float
Most contracts specify fabrication duration but stay silent on approval turnaround — so review time silently consumes the schedule. Get a committed review duration (10 business days is typical) into the submittal schedule, log actual dates against it, and report overruns immediately with their downstream impact. An untracked approval cycle always expands to fill the schedule slack, and then some.
Mistake 4: Resubmitting Without a Change Summary
A resubmittal that arrives as a fresh stack of sheets forces the reviewer to re-review everything — slow, and it invites brand-new comments on content that was already accepted. Cloud every change, respond to each review comment point-by-point, and state explicitly which sheets are unchanged. Make the second review a confirmation, not a do-over.
Mistake 5: Treating Approval as the Finish Line
Approved drawings still have to reach the shop floor at the right revision, with review notes incorporated and the drawing log updated. A surprising number of fabrication errors trace back to the gap between 'approved' and 'released' — notes that never got picked up, or an approved Rev 1 fabricated after Rev 2 was already in motion. Close the loop: approval, incorporation, log update, release. Every time, in that order.