EngineeringID Staff
Submittal & Shop Drawing Stamps: Review Stamps Explained (with Free Templates)
A submittal stamp records an architect's or engineer's review action on contractor submittals and shop drawings. Here's what each stamp status means, who applies it, and free Bluebeam-ready templates.
A submittal stamp (or submittal review stamp) is the mark a design professional applies to contractor submittals and shop drawings to record the review outcome — typically "Approved", "Approved as Noted", "Revise and Resubmit", or "Rejected". It documents a review action, not a licensure act, and that distinction changes who may apply it and what liability it creates.
What a submittal stamp is
During construction, contractors send the design team submittals — product data, samples, and shop drawings — to confirm that what will be fabricated and installed conforms to the design intent. The design professional reviews each one and records the result with a submittal stamp: a titled block, a set of check-box statuses, and space for the reviewer's initials and date. The stamp is a communication tool. It tells the contractor whether to proceed, proceed with corrections, or resubmit, and it creates a dated record of the review for the project file.
Submittal stamp vs. shop drawing stamp vs. PE seal
These three are easy to conflate and legally very different. A submittal stamp and a shop drawing stamp record a review action — the design professional checked the contractor's document against the design and is returning a status. A PE seal is a licensure act: it certifies that a licensed professional takes responsibility for engineering work they prepared or supervised. A review stamp is not a license seal, and it does not adopt the contractor's work as your own design. If you need the licensure side, see what a professional engineer stamp actually certifies and our explainer on what a PE stamp is.
The liability follows the function. A review stamp exposes you to the standard of care for the review you performed; sealing exposes you to responsibility for the underlying design. Reviewing a shop drawing "for conformance with design intent" is deliberately narrower than certifying the fabricator's engineering — and the stamp language is where that boundary is drawn.
The four standard review statuses and what they commit you to
| Status | Meaning | Liability note |
|---|---|---|
| Approved / No Exceptions Taken | Fabrication may proceed as submitted. | You reviewed and found it conforming to design intent; you own the adequacy of that review. |
| Approved as Noted / Make Corrections Noted | Proceed, incorporating the marked corrections; no resubmittal required. | Your notes become part of the record; ambiguous notes shift risk back to you. |
| Revise and Resubmit | Corrections are substantial; a corrected submittal must come back for review. | Work should not proceed on the rejected items; document why. |
| Rejected | The submittal does not conform and is not acceptable. | Clear record that the item was not approved for construction. |
The exact wording varies by contract. AIA and EJCDC families use different phrasing — "No Exceptions Taken" is the common approved variant on many EJCDC-based stamps — but the four review actions map across them. Match your stamp's language to the contract's submittal procedures article so the status you mark means what the contract says it means.
Who stamps: architect vs. engineer submittal review
Review responsibility follows discipline. The architect reviews architectural submittals; each engineer reviews the submittals in their discipline — structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, civil. On a coordinated set the architect of record often routes and logs submittals, but the discipline engineer performs and stamps the technical review of their own items. If you are sorting out who owns which seal on the design side, our guide to the architect stamp covers where architectural responsibility begins and ends.
Free submittal stamp templates (Bluebeam-compatible)
Most reviewers now stamp digitally. In Bluebeam Revu, a submittal stamp is just a PDF or PNG imported into the Stamp tool: add it once to your Stamps list and it becomes a reusable, one-click stamp you can drop on any submittal, with editable date and initials. Any clean PNG or vector PDF of a review block works — export it at high resolution so the check boxes stay crisp at print scale. To generate and preview a compliant seal or block image to import, use the free stamp preview tool, and if you publish submittal guidance for your team, the embeddable stamp widget lets readers render one on your own page.
Placeholder and "preliminary — not for construction" stamps
A placeholder stamp — often reading "PRELIMINARY", "NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION", or "FOR REVIEW ONLY" — marks a drawing that is intentionally not yet a construction document. It protects everyone: it signals that the sheet has not been sealed for construction and must not be built from. Use it on progress sets and design-development issues, and remove it only when the sheet is actually sealed and released. A placeholder stamp is the opposite of a seal — it is a disclaimer, and treating one as the other is exactly the confusion these labels exist to prevent.
Frequently asked questions
Is a submittal stamp the same as a PE seal?
No. A submittal stamp records a review action on a contractor's document; a PE seal certifies engineering work the licensee prepared or supervised. They create different responsibilities, and a review stamp does not adopt the contractor's design as your own.
What do the submittal review statuses mean?
The four standard actions are Approved (proceed as submitted), Approved as Noted (proceed with the marked corrections), Revise and Resubmit (correct and return for review), and Rejected (not acceptable). Contract wording varies — "No Exceptions Taken" is a common approved variant — so match your stamp to the contract's submittal procedures.
Can I import a submittal stamp into Bluebeam?
Yes. Export the stamp as a PDF or high-resolution PNG and add it to Bluebeam Revu's Stamp tool; it then becomes a reusable one-click stamp with editable date and initials. Generate a clean image to import with the free stamp preview tool.