Examining the Daily Report
- Contractor superintendent: This person must complete a report of all work done by construction crews for the day. The superintendent would record the various laborers, equipment and materials installed by all crews out on site, such as the excavation crew, a crew laying pipe, a crew pouring pavement, and any subcontractors.
- Field or project engineer: Depending on the type of work being done, a project engineer may complete a report that documents decisions made and materials ordered or delivered to the site.
- Foreperson or supervisor: Responsible for a particular crew, this person might log the activity of their crew alone.
- Subcontractor: This person keeps track of the work they’re doing as a subprovider to the contractor.
- Inspector: Acting on behalf of the owner, the inspector verifies that the work is fulfilled in accordance with plans and specifications. Each inspector completes a report based on what they’re overseeing for a particular day.
- Senior inspector or resident engineer: This role usually supervises other inspectors and may make note of higher-level details such as weather conditions, the overall work plan, any issue-specific field meetings, and special information such as visitors, stakeholder interactions or other incidents.
- Materials tester/sampler: Responsible for verifying proper materials and material qualities, this role needs to document things like concrete strengths, soil densities, and other test results.
- Utility coordinator/inspector: Sometimes a utility professional is in the work zone to confirm the location of overhead and underground utilities. This person’s observations also need to be logged.
This is just an example of the various personnel that would complete daily reports. No two people will make the same observations, so without a uniform daily field report template, work reports for the same day could miss important information or have conflicting details.