Preparing Daily Construction ReportsKristoff Hendrick Amata

Why do we need Daily Construction Reports?It is part of the business and daily routine.

• To review important notations in weekly meetings to set up action lists/agendas and improve performance through discussion

• To compliment good reports that briefly convey important items

• Daily Reports are working documents of the business

It is needed for legal aspects and purposes.

• Daily Reports are documents that can testify the activities that did happen, or did not happen but should have happened on site.

• It can be introduced in court as evidence of the activities on site

Things to Avoid in Daily Reports:

Inaccuracies

Self-serving Statements

Inconsistencies

Loss of Records

Things/Factors that a Daily Report Supports:

Time and Material Costs under the “Change” clause

Constructive Changes

Acceleration of Work

Suspension of Work

Impacts and Delays

Changes in the Sequence of Activities

Disruptions

Force Stoppage of Work

Termination of Work

What do you need:

• A hard-backed pad or clipboard and a pen

• A small durable tape or digital voice recorder

• A digital camera with date and time stamp

• A flashlight and tape measure

Be sure to have an answer to the following:

• Actual start of an activity. If it’s delayed, why?

• Were all items needed to start on-hand/ready?

• Were any activities stopped /postponed for any reason?

• When is the completion of an activity?

Other noteworthy items:

Tests and their results

Inspections with pass/fail information

Major material deliveries (complete, damage, correct, etc.)

Jobsite visitations and reasons (arrive/leave info)

Shared crane usage

People issues

Important Aspects on a Daily Report:

Get and list names.

Note time of day.

Be specific about location.

Separate fact from opinion.

Think cause-and-effect.

Include lots of photos.

Think safety!