10 Items in a Construction Daily Report

A construction daily report is a document that is submitted at the conclusion of each day spent working on a construction project, often by the site manager or overseer. It covers every task completed, any delays or successes, safety occurrences, equipment usage, site visitors, and any other pertinent information that happened throughout the day.

The daily report process is crucial because it allows the project owner, site manager, subcontractors, investors, and all other project stakeholders to have access to thorough information on the status of the work without having to physically visit the site or get in touch with someone.

Additionally, it ensures that everyone working on the project is using the same document and has access to the same data, minimising confusion and errors.

The construction daily report protects the Contractor or team memebrs from being unfairly held responsible for errors or delays, which is perhaps its most significant benefit. The project owner could point the finger at the team members or project managers if a project milestone or deadline is missed. The construction manager can ensure that there is proof when delays are brought on by events beyond their control, such as weather conditions, delivery problems, or other challenges, by keeping an accurate record of daily logs.

A thorough construction daily report contains a lot of information, which we have summarised here. Use ProCost's FREE DPR App to create a well-prepared daily log in less than 5 minutes!

Weather

The document should also include that day’s weather report, including a general description of the conditions as well as temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. If weather conditions caused work delays, this information must be entered in this section and under Potential Delaying Events.

Activities Perfromed

The project site manager should evaluate what progress was made on that day, including progress on individual tasks as well as the overall project. The preparer should write down each project activity and its status — starting, completing, making progress, delayed, etc.

Labour Attendance

The construction manager should list all craft labour who were on the site on that day. This list should be organized by team (general contractors, machine operators, plumbers, electricians, etc.) and include the number of workers present from each team, as well as the total number of man-hours worked by each group.

You can calculate man-hours by adding up the number of hours worked by each craft.

Construction Machinery / Equipment in Use/Idle

Just like all craft labour on a construction sites must be documented, the project manager should also make a list of all construction equipment present on the work site and number of hours each machine was used.

Make a list of all heavy machinery present on the work site and the number of active hours each piece of equipment was used each day. If a piece of equipment is on the work site but left idle, it should be recorded on the report accordingly.

The site manager should also document when each piece of equipment arrives and leaves a work site. For instance, a crane will not be brought to and from the work site each day — it will arrive at the beginning of its use on the project and will be dismissed when crane work is complete.

Keeping an accurate record of equipment use on a work site allows stakeholders to identify opportunities to increase efficiency. If a piece of equipment is left idle for a long period of time, a project owner will likely look to rearrange their next project to only rent that equipment for the days it will be used in order to cut back on costs.

Material Consumption Data

The site manager should also perform a daily inventory of materials available and used during that day’s work. This helps measure work performed on each task in a more specific and measurable way.

For instance, a crew may spend days or weeks laying steel beams, during which time the site manager would write “in progress” for that task under the Work Accomplished section of their daily report. However, this doesn’t offer any information as to how much progress was made in a day. By recording how much material is used, the site manager can give a clearer picture of how fast or slow their crew worked that day.

Material Deliveries

After recording material quantities, the site manager should also record any material deliveries that occurred or were scheduled to occur that day, along with the type and quantity of materials delivered.

If a material delivery was scheduled for that day and did not arrive, this should be recorded in this section as well as under Potential Delaying Events, if it has the potential to slow down work progress.

Potential Delaying Events

Incidents that have the potential to delay overall work progress should be recorded at least twice on the daily report: once in the appropriate section relating to the type of task that was delayed, and once in the Potential Delaying Events section.

For instance, an equipment malfunction would be recorded under the Equipment in Use/Idle section, since that machine in question logged idle time for however long it was out of commission that day. But if that malfunction was significant enough that it may have set back overall work progress by any length of time, it should also be recorded as a Potential Delaying Event.

Meetings

Occasionally meetings do happen in the field. In this case, they should be included in the documentation for that day. Even if no significant decisions were made at the meeting in question, the event itself should be listed on the daily report along with the names and titles of those in attendance.

Safety

Include whether or not a job site inspection was performed as well as a record of any hazards, incidents, or other event that occurred.

This section should also include a daily safety toolbox topic, inspections performed and all persons present on the worksite that day held the appropriate licenses and were safety compliant.

Visitors

Not all individuals present on a worksite will necessarily be crew members or project owners. Occasionally project investors, board members, off-site coordinators, local reporters, and even family members may visit the work site. All of the people visiting the site must be documented on the daily report.