Construction Daily Report Template

When it comes to getting a job done, you’ve heard of an individual keeping a journal or a log that documents their thoughts and feelings. You could think of a construction daily report or daily work report as one entry of several for a project. Contractors and construction management professionals are required to make a record of everything that happens each day on a construction daily report form.

This document is one of the most critical records for a project. For the contractor, it’s a record of the work fulfilled by crews. For an owner’s representative or inspector, it’s verification that bid items were installed. For the owner, it’s an auditable document for confirming compliance. Everyone needs a daily report form.

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.

Creating a Construction Daily Log Template

One way to imagine a daily log or work report is like a project transcript. Let’s take a closer look at what should go into a report template. At a minimum, your template must capture these details:

• Project or contract information: This includes the project name, the client, construction company, contract or work authorization number, and other identification details.
• Date: Each day of the contract will have at least one report, including days when there is no work, so the month, day, and year should be logged.
• Weather conditions: Include the high and low temperatures as well as whether it’s sunny, cloudy, overcast, etc. It’s not recommended to do certain construction activities, such as pouring concrete, when it’s too cold or too hot. If there’s a dispute over workmanship and quality, weather and temperatures are one of the first things to look for.
• Site/field conditions: After a heavy thunderstorm, the site may be too wet for work. Some projects may have a separate document for a site report on building construction, but site or field conditions should be included in the daily log.
• Personnel: Make note of the number of workers, their roles, and the hours worked.
• Equipment: Include any equipment used and the number of hours they were active, idling or on standby.
• Description of work: Clearly and concisely describe the work that was completed.
• Bid items installed or paid: For some jobs, the contractor is paid based on the installation of bid items. A crew preparing to pour concrete may spend multiple days building the formwork and installing rebar, but a daily report wouldn’t include payment for concrete until it was poured.
• Materials on hand: If items are delivered but not installed, for example, precast concrete inlets or steel girders, include the quantity on your form. Some contracts have a separate report, so there’ll need to be a consensus on the daily material report format.
• Signatures: Each daily report needs to be signed by the person completing the form and any managers who approve or accept the report. This makes things official.

While there are other construction documents that must be tracked for the entire duration of the project, your construction daily report form is the basis for job progress management. Given the various information that must be tracked and the people involved, it would be wise to have initial training that includes how to write a construction report example.

Reviewing and Distributing Daily Work Reports

In many construction projects, the contractor is paid at the end of each month based on items installed or work completed, as per the contract. Daily work reports must be signed and approved before the monthly payment estimate is completed and submitted to the client. We’ve talked about the personnel completing these field reports, but there are also several people who will need to access these reports on a project:

• Contractor PM: The project manager will prepare a payment estimate, using the daily report to confirm labor and items installed. Determining monthly cash flow issues also requires checking the work done against expected payment.
• Owner’s PM or Consultant PM: Depending on the contract, this person may be responsible for generating the official payment estimate which may be presented in draft form to the contractor PM for concurrence. It’s important for anyone creating estimates to check daily reports.
• Scheduler: The scheduler’s job is to provide regular updates to the baseline schedule and forecast future performance. A scheduler also examines time impacts in delay claims. This person may look at daily reports to establish productivity rates and performance trends.
• Project coordinator or engineer: This person looks at daily work reports to verify hours worked for payment of employees and subcontractors.
• Project recordkeeper or auditor: This role may fall under document control or compliance and is required to check field reports for completeness, correctness, and compliance.
• Change order specialist: When reviewing a change request or claim from the contractor, a change order specialist should analyze daily reports to verify labor, equipment, materials, and subcontractor costs. If a change order needs to be negotiated, these field reports may provide insights to field productivity and efficiency, which may impact approval or denial.

Not only is it critical to have a consistent form for daily reports, but there needs to be a consistent, streamlined process for accessing these documents, especially when it’s time to cut checks.

Bringing It All Together

Project managers and supervisors also rely on daily work reports to provide data needed for reporting progress. This is easier to accomplish through the use of templates, which provide consistency and make sure staff captures the important details. Given the potential to have multiple personnel recording and reviewing field activities, you need a process that makes completing these forms convenient and as streamlined as possible.

The Fluix platform gives you a powerful, construction field productivity software reports quickly and consistently. Field personnel often use mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones to log project details. Fluix doesn’t require knowledge of programming or proprietary operating systems. It’s easy to use and accessible by anyone with an internet connection. You can distribute reports, automate review and approval processes and even share a daily jobsite report example.

See how Fluix has transformed workflow execution in other industries and companies. The platform is fully customizable to address the unique needs of your operations. Manage and organize your construction paperwork better with Fluix. We offer a free, no-obligation, 14-day trial that gives you a hands-on look at superior project and records management.