RFI ball in court and due dates
How Procore and Autodesk Build show who has the ball in court on an RFI, and how Procore sets the due date, so you can see who owes the next answer.
Treat the ball in court holder and the due date as fields the RFI record must show at every step. Nobody should have to reconstruct them from email. A workable rule: every forward or return shifts the ball visibly, and the due date comes from a project default that counts working days. Only a named manager changes either. This rests on Procore’s RFI documentation (Forward an RFI for Review, RFI Field Descriptions, the RFIs email notifications FAQ) and Autodesk’s BUILD Help page on processing RFIs.
Who owes the next answer on this RFI?
Picture an illustrative case. The RFI log says Open. The architect’s assignee forwarded it to the structural engineer last week. The superintendent is holding a pour and asks who has it. Nobody on the call can say whether the engineer has answered, or when the answer is due. The question stalls in a review chain while the schedule impact field still reads TBD.
The vendor documentation treats this as a tracked role. Autodesk’s BUILD Help says each RFI lists the responsible parties (Ball in court), their responses, and response details such as date and type. Procore’s RFI Field Descriptions state that when an RFI is created as Open, the users designated as the RFI’s Assignees have the first Ball In Court responsibility.
How the ball moves in Procore, and how the due date is set
Before an RFI opens, Procore’s RFI Field Descriptions keep the ball with the RFI Manager. Create a Draft leaves it there, and Send for Review shifts it there.
Procore’s Forward an RFI for Review page covers what happens next. An assignee with the current Ball In Court responsibility can forward the RFI to one user at a time. The ball shifts to that reviewer, who must answer by the same due date as the other assignees. After the response is submitted, the ball shifts back to the assignee who forwarded it.
The Due Date field is automatically populated from the default number of days on the RFIs tool’s Configure Settings page. It also respects the project’s working days. On the RFI form, it is only visible and available to users with ‘Admin’ level permissions on the RFIs tool.
This means a forward never adds time. In an illustrative case, a reviewer brought in on working day 8 of a 10-day window inherits 2 days.
How Autodesk Build ties the ball to status
BUILD Help describes a review driven by status changes. The manager assigns up to 10 reviewers and changes the status to Open. The Submitted for review on date is recorded when an RFI enters review. Required reviewers block workflow progression and must be Ball in court to respond. Optional reviewers do not block and can respond at any point while the RFI is open. The manager can also skip a reviewer. The activity log records status changes and responses in chronological order.
For stalls, this split matters. Optional input never holds the RFI. A skip moves the RFI past someone, so it belongs with a named manager, not with whoever is chasing.
Which rule should decide who holds the RFI next?
The decision is how the ball may move when the current holder cannot answer alone.
| Option | We would choose it when | What we would check first |
|---|---|---|
| Forward for review (Procore) | One specialist must clarify and the assignee stays accountable | The reviewer is in the Project Directory with Standard or higher permissions |
| Add a required assignee or reviewer | The official answer cannot go out without that party | Whether the original due date still fits |
| Optional reviewer (Autodesk Build) | Input helps but must not block the answer | Who reads it before the official response |
| Manager skips a reviewer (Autodesk Build) | A required reviewer is silent and the date is at risk | Who approves the skip and where it is logged |
What to do this quarter
- Pull every open RFI and record the ball in court holder, the due date, and the Date Initiated (Procore) or Submitted for review on date (Autodesk Build).
- Measure days held per ball in court holder, not only total RFI age, so each forward shows up as its own wait.
- Check the default number of days, the project working days, and whether ‘Ball In Court Shift’ emails are enabled. Procore’s email notifications FAQ says that when they are and the ball is shifted manually, Procore emails the user it shifted to, even if no user checkboxes are marked in the RFI Emails table.
- Name one RFI manager per package who approves due date changes, skips and reassignments.
What this means for a bottleneck worth $1M or more
RFI stalls become a domain problem when they repeat across projects and feed rework, change order requests and claims. Then we would redesign the flow as one domain, with the drawing register around it: revisions and RFIs. Rules set due dates and ball in court shifts. AI reads the messy part, long threads and attachments, and drafts a summary. People approve skips, official responses and anything with cost or schedule impact. AI never decides alone. To choose who runs it, compare a founder-led team with a Big Four firm.
Limits of this evidence
These pages describe how Procore and Autodesk Build can be configured and how their RFI workflows behave. They do not show how often RFIs stall, how long forwarded RFIs take, or whether a visible ball in court shortens answer times. Procore notes that fields may differ by company or project settings, so your screens may not match. The BUILD Help page used here does not describe how RFI due dates are set. Other RFI tools and contractual response periods are not covered.
Questions buyers ask
Does forwarding a Procore RFI give the reviewer more time?
No. Procore's Forward an RFI for Review page says a forwarded reviewer must submit the answer by the same due date as other assignees on the workflow.
Who holds the ball in court after a forwarded reviewer answers in Procore?
According to Procore's Forward an RFI for Review page, the ball shifts back to the original assignee who forwarded the RFI once the response is submitted.
Can an optional reviewer in Autodesk Build hold up an RFI?
BUILD Help says optional reviewers do not block workflow progression and can respond at any point while the RFI is open. Required reviewers do block it and must be Ball in court to respond.
Sources
Sources give context. Dates show when each was last checked.