A stack of sheets at month end
The contractor's application includes a bundle of daywork sheets. Some are signed by a site manager who has since moved to another job. Some are signed by nobody. One claims two operatives and an excavator for a day on work that you thought was covered by a variation already valued. The dates are three weeks old and nobody on site is quite sure what happened.
You can reject what cannot be verified, but that turns into an argument, and the contractor feels they are losing money for work they did.
Why dayworks cause so much friction
- Sheets are filled in after the event, from memory, often at the end of the week.
- Signatures are collected late, from whoever is on site, who may not have seen the work.
- There is no link between the sheet and the instruction that authorised daywork.
- Hours, plant and materials are described loosely, so pricing them is a negotiation.
- The QS sees the sheet weeks after the work, with no photos.
Daywork is a legitimate way of valuing some work. The friction comes from the paper process around it, not from the principle.
What the paper process costs
Disputed dayworks slow valuations and the final account. Some genuine work goes unpaid. Some work already paid another way gets claimed twice. Site managers are asked to sign things they cannot verify, and the relationship between site and commercial teams gets strained.
| Question you need answered | Paper sheet | Digital record |
|---|---|---|
| Was daywork instructed? | Often unclear | Linked to the instruction |
| Who worked, for how long? | Written later | Recorded on the day with names |
| What plant and materials? | Loosely described | Chosen from the job's list, with quantities |
| Who confirmed it? | Late or missing signature | Signed on the phone the same day |
| What did it look like? | Nothing | Photos attached |
The daywork record we build
- The contractor's supervisor opens a daywork record on their phone, choosing the instruction it relates to from the job's list.
- They record operatives, hours, plant and materials, picking from lists set up for the job so descriptions are consistent.
- Photos of the work before and after are attached.
- The site representative who is there on the day reviews and signs on the same phone or receives a link to sign on theirs.
- The signed record is timestamped and sent to both commercial teams straight away.
- Rates from the contract's daywork basis, as set up by the surveyor, are applied to produce a priced sheet for review.
- Approved dayworks flow into the valuation and the final account, linked to the instruction.
A signature on a daywork record confirms the resources used. Whether the work is payable as daywork is still a contractual question for the surveyor, and the record says so.
Dayworks without the arguments
Records reach the QS the day the work happens, signed by someone who saw it, with photos. Queries get raised while people remember. Month-end bundles become a list of already-seen, already-signed records, and the disputes that remain are about principle, not about who was on site.
Daywork totals are visible as they build up, too. If a contractor is running a lot of work on daywork, the client's surveyor sees it during the week rather than in the next valuation, and can decide whether a quotation for the remainder would be more sensible.
Is this your problem?
- Daywork sheets arrive weeks after the work.
- Sheets are unsigned or signed by someone who was not there.
- You cannot tell which instruction a daywork relates to.
- Dayworks are a regular source of dispute in final accounts.
- Site managers complain about signing sheets they cannot check.