Submittals
Submittals, assembled from a library instead of from last job’s folder.
You submit the same forty products for the rest of your working life. The gypsum board, the fire caulk, the panel, the valve, the hardware set — same manufacturers, same data sheets, different job. And every time, somebody rebuilds the package from the last one they can find, re-downloads a data sheet that is now one revision old, and types a cover sheet in Word. SubMark holds the products once and assembles the package from them.
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- One material library: category, subcategory, manufacturer, size, spec section, data sheet.
- A branded cover sheet, then every item’s product data merged behind it, in one PDF.
- Save a package as a template and apply it to the next job of the same kind.
Why the submittal log is the first thing to fall behind.
The package is rebuilt from the last one somebody can find
Nobody holds a product list, so each package starts as a copy of a previous job’s folder. The wrong manufacturer survives three jobs that way, and the data sheet attached is the one that was current in 2023.
Approval dates live in an inbox
You submitted on the 9th. Something came back. Whether it was approved, approved-as-noted or rejected is in a thread, and the stamped PDF is an attachment in it. Three months later, the question is which revision the GC actually holds.
Nobody connects approval to the order
Material gets ordered when somebody remembers, not when the submittal clears. On a long-lead item that is the difference between a delivery that beats the install and a crew standing around in June.
The cover sheet is retyped every time
Project, address, GC, who it went to, the numbered list of materials. Twenty minutes of typing per package that is identical to the last one except for the list.
A resubmittal erases the first attempt
Revision 1 overwrites Revision 0 in the folder, so the record of what you sent first — and when — disappears exactly when a delay argument needs it.
How a package gets built.
The library is the work, and you only do it once. After that a package is a selection, and the document is an export.
- 01 Build the library once
Manufacturer brands, then categories and subcategories that match how your trade actually thinks — Metal, then Type C, Type X, Tile Backer. Every material goes in with a name, a size, its manufacturer, a material type, a spec section, notes and its product data PDF.
- 02 Open a package on the job
A submittal number, a title, the spec section and who it is going to. Notes if the package needs explaining. It starts as a draft, which is the only status from which it can be submitted.
- 03 Pick the materials
Select items from the library and order them the way the package should read. Picking an item never changes the library entry, so the next job starts from the same product list.
- 04 Export the package
Two PDFs, both built on demand. The cover sheet carries your logo and company block, the project name and address, the GC company, who it went to, the date, and the materials numbered under subcategory headings, each row carrying its category, size and manufacturer. The merged PDF is that cover sheet with every item’s product data appended behind it, in your order.
- 05 Move it as the GC moves it
Submit, then Approve, Reject or Resubmit Required — the five states the log needs and nothing more. The submitted date and the approved date are recorded on the package.
- 06 Keep the revision, do not overwrite it
A resubmittal is a new revision that keeps its parent, so Rev 0 and Rev 1 both survive with their own dates. "We submitted on the 9th and resubmitted on the 6th" is two records in the log rather than somebody’s memory of an email.
- 07 File the stamped return on the package
Upload the GC’s stamped PDF to the package it belongs to and the package is marked approved, with today as its approved date if it had none. Replace it if a cleaner copy arrives, and it is on the job for good. A submittal that was approved before you started using SubMark can be added as an approved submittal on its own, with its number, title and spec section — so the log is complete from day one rather than from the day you signed up.
- 08 Save the good one as a template
Save a finished package as a template with a name, and apply it to the next job of the same kind. The second medical-office-building package is a selection you adjust, not a package you build.
Everything above ships today and none of it is a tier you upgrade into. The core modules are on in every trade pack from setup; a few extras, like the invoices inbox, are a switch in Settings. The full list is on the product page.
In the app
What the record actually holds.
Submittals are on by default in all 29 trade setup packs, because every commercial trade submits. Here is the vocabulary you will find:
- The library
- Manufacturer brands, categories, subcategories and items — tenant-wide, so every job builds from the same product list.
- An item
- Name, size, manufacturer brand, material type, spec section, notes and one product data PDF.
- A package
- Submittal number, revision, title, spec section, Submitted To, notes, submitted date, approved date.
- Five statuses
- Draft, Submitted, Approved, Rejected, Resubmit Required — with Submit, Approve, Reject and Resubmit Required as the actions that move it.
- Package order
- Drag the items into the order the package should read, and the merged PDF appends their data sheets in that order.
- Cover sheet PDF
- Your logo and company block, the project and its address, the GC company, the date, who it went to, and the numbered materials grouped under subcategory headings, with category, size and manufacturer in the row.
- Merged package PDF
- The cover sheet with every item’s product data PDF appended behind it, in the order you set.
- Approved PDF
- The GC’s stamped return, stored on the package. Replaceable, removable, and deliberately not carried onto a new revision — a revision is not approved.
- Templates
- Save a package as a named template; apply it to the next job of the same kind.
- Lower-tier read access
- A sub you invite to your project can see approved submittals and nothing else. It is on by default for a new invitation, you can switch it off per invitation, and the request is filtered to approved packages on the server.
Who can touch submittals is a permission. Admins, project managers, commercial PMs and estimators manage them; an invited collaborator reads approved ones only, unless you switch that off on their invitation. Nothing a lower-tier sub can reach includes a package still in draft.
Straight answer
What it does not do.
A product page that only lists wins is a product page you stop trusting in week two. These are the gaps, in our own words, before you find them yourself.
- There is no required-by date on a package. Only the submitted date and the approved date exist. The approve-by date you worked backwards from belongs on your start-up checklist or your schedule, somewhere a person will see it pass — and because there is no due date, there are no submittal reminders either.
- The day a package comes back rejected is not stamped. The status changes; the date does not record itself. Write it down when it lands.
- SubMark does not submit for you. There is no transmittal to Procore, Textura or a GC portal, and nothing is emailed to the GC on your behalf. You export the merged PDF and send it the way that GC requires.
- It does not read a spec to tell you what to submit. The spec section is a field you type, not a CSI library, and deciding the package list is still a person reading Division 9.
- An item with no product data PDF is skipped in the merged package. It still appears on the cover sheet, so the list stays honest — but the data sheet has to be in the library before it can be behind the cover.
- Approval here means recording what the GC decided. SubMark holds no opinion about whether a substitution will fly, and an approved submittal in your log is not a warranty that the GC agrees.
Which trades feel this most.
Same problem, different shape. Each trade page leads with that trade's own phases, schedule of values and wording.
Doors, Frames & Hardware
The hardware schedule is a submittal with dozens of products in it, and the whole delivery hangs on when it clears.
Electrical
Gear, fixtures and devices all submit separately, and the switchgear release date is set by the approval, not the install date.
Drywall & Framing
Board types, assemblies and fire caulk — the same forty products on every job, submitted again from scratch each time.
Questions
Submittals: what a sub’s office actually asks.
Does SubMark build the submittal package PDF?
Yes. It builds a cover sheet with your logo, the project and its address, the GC company, who it went to, the date and the materials numbered under subcategory headings with their category, size and manufacturer — and a merged PDF with every item’s product data appended behind that cover sheet, in the order you set.
Can I set a date the submittal has to be back by?
No. A package records the date it was submitted and the date it was approved, and that is all. The approve-by date you worked backwards from install belongs on your job start-up checklist or your schedule — and since there is no due date on a package, there are no submittal reminders either.
What happens to a resubmittal?
It becomes a new revision that keeps its parent, so the first attempt survives with its own submitted date. The GC’s stamped PDF is deliberately not carried forward onto the new revision, because a revision has not been approved yet.
Does it submit to the GC’s Procore for me?
No. There is no transmittal to Procore, Textura or any GC portal, and nothing is sent to the GC on your behalf. You export the merged package and send it the way that GC requires, then record what came back.
Can our lower-tier subs see submittals?
Only the approved ones. It is on by default when you invite them, and you can switch it off on their invitation. The request is filtered to approved packages on the server, so a package still in draft is not reachable by a collaborator even by accident.
We have ten years of approved submittals already. Is the log useless until we rebuild it?
No. An approved submittal can be added on its own — number, title, spec section and the stamped PDF — without being assembled from the library first. The log is complete from the job you are on, not from the day you signed up.
Read next
The submittal log for subcontractors
The log itself: what to put in it, how to number packages, and why the resubmittal is the entry people lose.
Long-lead material tracking
The order date is set by the submittal approval. This is the five dates you work backwards from install to find it.
A job start-up checklist for subcontractors
Where the approve-by dates go, since the package itself has no required-by field to hold them.
Load twenty products, then build one package.
Start the trial, put the twenty materials you submit on every job into the library with their data sheets, and export a merged package. It is the one setup task that pays for itself on the second job.
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The rest of the job
Change orders
From the day the field finds the change to the day it is in the schedule of values, with an audit trail at every step.
T&M tickets
Priced in the office off your own rate lists, signed on site, and several tickets roll into one change order.
Schedule of values
One SOV per job, built from your trade’s own breakdown, locked when the first draw goes out, and approved change orders added to it automatically.
Draw tracking
Fifteen jobs, nine GCs, nine cutoff dates and nine submission methods — in one calendar and one log, with drawn, certified and received as three different numbers.
Retainage tracking
Five or ten percent of everything you have ever billed, sitting somewhere, on jobs some of which finished last year.
Daily logs
The record that wins an argument nine months later, written in two minutes by a foreman who wants to go home.
Lien waiver tracking
Which waivers went up the chain, which the GC has received, and which draw is sitting still because one of them has not.
Job costing
The overrun you can still do something about, instead of the one you find in the end-of-job autopsy.
Crew scheduling
Who is on which job on Monday, across every job — and a flag the moment the same crew is promised to two of them.
QuickBooks
Bills and card purchases pull back as job costs. Draws and POs push across with a click. Your books stay your books.
Time tracking
Hours per worker, per job, per day — signed by the worker who worked them, approved by the office, and read straight into job costing.
Safety records
Toolbox talks signed off per person, scored site inspections, and certification and COI expiries you see 30 days out instead of on the day.
Purchase orders
The order, the price you agreed, and the money committed against the job — in front of you the day you place it, not the month the bill lands.