Resubmittal checklist: how to package your response so the city accepts it

A resubmittal is accepted when it contains three things the intake counter is checking for: a response letter that answers every comment in the letter's numbering, revised sheets with the changes clouded and the revision dated, and every supporting document the comments asked for. Get those right and the package moves to the plan checker. Miss one and it comes back before anyone reads it.

Here is the checklist, in the order the counter looks.

Does the package answer every comment?

• A response letter or response table, one entry per comment, in the letter's own numbering and order. Include the comments you pushed back on and the ones that were already satisfied; a skipped number reads as an unanswered comment.
• Each response names a location: sheet and detail, calculation page, or attachment. "Revised" alone is the most common reason for "comment remains outstanding" in the next round.
• Responses from every discipline, collected into one document. If the structural engineer and the energy consultant each wrote their own, merge them, or the city will ask which one is current.
• The letter's project data on your first page: address, permit or plan check number, cycle number. The counter matches it to the file by these.

Are the drawings marked so the reviewer can find the changes?

• Clouds around every revised area and a revision triangle with the cycle number. Reviewers go straight to the clouds.
• A revision entry in the title block of every revised sheet, dated, with the same revision number.
• An updated sheet index on the cover sheet if you added, removed, or renamed sheets.
• Stamps and signatures on every sheet that requires them, including the newly added ones. A new detail sheet without the engineer's stamp is a new comment.
• Deferred submittals listed on the cover sheet if any part of the design is being submitted later.

Full set or only the revised sheets?

Cities differ, and the wrong choice bounces the package.

• Full set. Many jurisdictions, especially those with electronic plan review, want the complete drawing set every cycle, as one file, with the revised sheets in place. They replace the whole set in their system.
• Delta sheets only. Some cities want only the sheets that changed, so they can slip-sheet them into the approved set at the counter.

Look for the instruction in the letter's resubmittal section or on the city's plan check page. If you cannot find it, call the counter before you upload; the question takes a minute and the bounce takes a week.

Does the file meet the portal's rules?

Electronic review portals have rules of their own, and they are enforced by software before a person looks.

• File naming. Many cities require a pattern, such as the permit number followed by the cycle and the document type. The pattern is usually in the letter or on the portal's upload page.
• One PDF per document type. Drawings in one file, calculations in another, the response letter in a third. Some portals reject merged files or split files.
• Size limits. Portals cap uploads, commonly between 100 MB and 500 MB. Flatten and compress large sheets before upload; do not rasterize text.
• Searchable PDF. Text must be selectable, not scanned images, so the reviewer can search and mark up. Export from your CAD or BIM tool; do not print to PDF from a scan.
• Unlocked. No passwords, no editing restrictions. Reviewers add their stamps and comments to the file.
• Landscape, to scale, with a scale bar. Reviewers measure on screen.

Did you include every supporting document?

Go back through the comments and list each one that asked for something other than a drawing change.

• Revised structural calculations, stamped, with the changed pages identified
• Title 24 energy compliance forms, re-run if the envelope or systems changed
• CALGreen checklist or waste management plan, on the city's form where one exists
• Soils or geotechnical report, and its letter of review if the city asked for one
• Specialty letters: truss calculations, special inspection agreements, acoustic or drainage reports
• Any form the letter attached, filled in and signed

Are fees and deadlines handled?

• Resubmittal fee. Some cities charge after the second or third cycle. Unpaid fees hold the package at intake.
• Expiration. Most codes let an application expire after 180 days without action by the applicant. If your response is running long, request an extension in writing before the date.
• Parallel reviews. If Planning, Fire, or Public Works sent separate letters, they usually need separate responses through their own channels, on their own schedules.

What bounces a resubmittal most often?

In rough order: a missing response letter; a response letter that does not follow the comment numbering; unclouded changes; a partial set where a full set was required, or the reverse; a file name the portal does not accept; and a new sheet without a stamp. None of these is about the code. All of them cost a cycle.

How commentletter.com helps

The commentletter.com report produces the response letter part of this list from the letter itself. It extracts every comment in the letter's numbering, drafts a response with the sheet to point at, and, when your letter is a Word file, writes the responses back into your original document under each comment so the numbering and formatting stay the city's own. Where we have read your city's own submittal rules, the report's chat can tell you how that city wants the package named and assembled.